The Timeless Beauty of America’s Ancient Forests Captured in Stunning Image

Gnarled, Wild and Majestic: these two very different trees in California are part of Mitch Epstein’s quest to photograph the ancient forests of the United States.

Photographer Old growth The project was put into shape in the summer of 2020. He learns that western Massachusetts has an unusual pocket of old growth forests. One third of the world’s forests today are old growth, but since 1990, its range has declined 81 million hectares.

Over the next four years, Epstein found an ancient native tree and traveled to remote parts of the United States to document what we would lose due to climate change. He captured fir, oaks, birch, and maple, including this resident of the ancient Bristol Corn Pine Forest (above), photographed in White Mountain, California in 2022.

The photographer said the project was a departure for him. “I didn’t think I could bring anything new to what I meant to nature photography,” he said in an interview included in his new book. American Naturecollect photos of his works. “Maybe I’ll be filming some of my decisions. Old growth What this was recognized is that even if it wasn’t immediately clear, there is no wilderness now that it has not been touched by humans in any way. ”