The Music of Trees: A Journey Through Three Series of Tree Photographs, and Three Ways of Seeing

The Music of Trees: A Journey Through Three Series of Tree Photographs, and Three Ways of Seeing

For more than twenty-one years, trees have featured prominently in the critically-acclaimed fine-art photography of Ryan J. Bush Ph.D., so it is only fitting that his first monograph is devoted to trees. This beautifully-printed book, with 55 generously-sized 8" x 8" photographs, includes three of his series of tree photographs, each of which played a seminal role in his evolution as an abstract artist. When we slow down and listen to the music of trees, who knows what mysteries we'll uncover?   The first of these series, Tree Portraits, shows how his work evolved from relatively representational images of trees, gradually becoming more abstract, helping him find his voice as an abstract photographer. The second series, Memoria, uses multiple exposure photographs to depict not the physical form of the tree, but an experience of the tree, a type of 'inner' reality. And finally, Multiple Visions, takes the multiple exposure technique into large-scale works filled with vibrant, all-over patterns of color, like finding Abstract Expressionist canvases in the middle of a forest.   These three series of photographs also reflect three different ways of seeing -- from relatively representational images that are closest to our ordinary way of seeing (in which we may barely notice things around us as we rush around multitasking, or are caught up in our thoughts), to the imaginal world of creativity, intuition, and the psyche, and the visionary world of connection and Oneness.   Throughout, this book points to a way of being, inspired by the quiet, resolute, power of trees, that can help us meet any of life's challenges, and is desperately needed in our conflict-filled world. The book includes a foreword by Kate Ware, Curator of Photography at the New Mexico Museum of Art, and an introduction by the artist. Bush's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is in numerous public and private collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. "These photographs resound with beats of movement and stillness, always conveying the sense of something captured but not arrested. A book of great vision and continuity, The Music of Trees orchestrates a journey from the admiration of beauty to a place that vibrates with its own internal frequency." - Letitia Montgomery-Rodgers in Foreword Reviews "There is a kaleidoscopic wonderment to these compositions, an invitation to use the images as a springboard into the recesses of one's own mind. ... These are pictures that invite us to notice what is around us, to be alive to the vividness of this world, and to recognize that our part in the grand symphony sounds best when we play well with others. A tree is grounded yet soaring, it is enduring yet flexible. It is irrevocably at one with its environment in a way that most of us have forgotten. Perhaps we can learn from the music of trees." - from foreword by Katherine Ware, Curator of Photography, New Mexico Museum of Art Ryan J. Bush, Ph.D. is a fine-art photographer, writer, and Reiki master/teacher based in Los Gatos, California. He has been photographing seriously since 1996, using techniques such as abstraction, multiple exposure, 3-D photography, and video art to explore themes of consciousness, the visionary experience, our connection with nature, and the sacred hidden in the mundane. Bush earned a B.A. in Linguistics and Russian from Swarthmore College in 1995, and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2000. He has taught photography and Reiki in the US and abroad, and has a strong interest in collaborating with musicians, writers, and all kinds of creative people. Bush also has a background in classical music, including playing the flute and piccolo in orchestras for years, which helps him to hear and see the music of trees. Whether photographing trees, overhead wires, reflections on water, or any other subject, Bush's style tends to be meditative and reflective, inviting us to enter a way of being that's calmer and deeper than our ordinary selves, with our constantly-spinning thoughts and our tendency to keep wanting more, more, more. Bush's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is in many public and private collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Stanford Medical Center, and the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. With all the challenges we face in our modern, chaotic world, it is easy to get too distracted by materialism and superficiality, to be too daunted by obstacles, or to feel too busy to do more than just survive. So, we need as many reminders as possible that there is more to this world than meets the eye. Everything we need to know is whispered in the music of trees.