Dendrophile

Photo by: Tim Bindner Photography

I want to reveal something personal to you.  I am a dendrophile.  Now before you go calling the police, let me explain what a dendrophile is.  The purist definition is a person who loves trees, forests.

My love for trees began at a young age when I was part of a local 4-H club in Louisville, Kentucky.  Part of a project was for a small group of kids to plant a tree, or in my case, a few trees.  Digging the hole, removing the dirt, placing the tree and roots in the ground and covering it back up all were very satisfactory to me.  I was one of a few responsible for watering the trees close to my house and reporting back on their progress.  I can only remember one tree that I planted and when I drive by it I see how much it has grown.  A maple tree that stood 4+ feet when I was a kid is now healthy and over 50+ feet tall.  I drive my wife crazy because every time we pass it I say “I planted that tree!”  She knows, but to me it was a thing I did as a kid that I can still appreciate today.

As I have aged, I have learned through my photography to love trees even more.  I am not great at identifying various species, but I know my favorite sights come from the color changes of fall to the bare nakedness of trees in winter.  As the trees first start with the colored leaves, then eventually reveal their correct shape after the leaves have fallen, this is what I enjoy shooting the most.

The white bark of a birch tree has to be my favorite, however, the smell of a cedar tree, with its pine needle carpet at the base of its trunk, is also alluring.  I also love the old pine trees I have seen in the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina.  Especially those that have been battered by strong winds and only have their skeletal remains left.  A true testament to the will to survive.  Imagine a lone tree on the side of a mountain that has been there 25+ years.  Imagine what is has had to weather, what is has seen, what it has been through.

Group a ton of trees together, and then there is the forest or as we say in this area “the woods”.  There is something about a large area of trees together and walking in and among these giants that is very humbling.  On a winter day when the wind is blowing, the creaking of the bark, the rubbing moans of these trees as they scrape together, is not a sound duplicated anywhere.  Have you stopped to listen to the wind blowing through the trees, or the rain tapping on the leaves as it makes its way from the sky to the floor below?  Watch a weeping willow trees leaves dance in the wind, or stand and admire a mighty oak stretch to the sky and fight thunderstorms as it seems to almost puff its chest and welcome the challenge.  Forests are very mysterious yet cathartic to me.

Most people, especially when hiking, ignore the trees.  Most are too busy talking to even really see them, but not a dendrophile.  We look up; we look around; we listen and we even touch.  We know these are homes for various creatures; we know that though these trees tower above us, they also spread out like spider webs beneath our feet in all directions, mostly out of sight.  That those fingers dig deep in the dirt and grip the earth in a loving embrace.  Trees provide shelter from the storms, are used to build with, and provide shade and protection.  People have gotten lost in forests and died, people have found happiness in forests.  There have been movies, stories and poems written about forests.  I even have lost my anxiety and worries (more than once) in the forest.

I have taken pictures of trees and even displayed many of them throughout my blog posts.  The one above is my favorite picture of a tree.  Often because of size I cannot capture what I want to display, but hiking I can and often stop, look, listen and touch these wonders from God.  I often practice forest bathing.

The next windy day, go outside, put your phone in your pocket, sit on the ground or a bench, shut your eyes and just listen to the trees.  Give it a few minutes, slow down your mind and tell me what your experience.  Trees do talk, and I have heard them.  Maybe you will too.

Hi my name is Tim, and I am a dendrophile.

Until next time,

Tim