Trees Are Us
Trees Are Us is a flip book of my photos celebrating the seasonal changes in one pecan tree, taken each week over one year at Barton Springs pool in Austin, Texas. Each image is accompanied by a haiku created by the 59 members of the Barton Springs community who were inspired by the trees, creatures and natural spring waters of this uniquely beautiful environment.
a book by Rich Armingtonin community with 59 friends and a tree2024 armington@gmail.com
Proceeds from sales will be donated to non-profits in Austin:
• Treefolks
Since 1988. TreeFolks is the big-hearted and fierce protector of trees which is responsible for the planting of more than three million trees in the Austin area.
treefolks.org
• Save Our Springs Alliance (S.O.S)
The equally fierce and invaluable protector of Barton Springs and the wider ecosystem, created in 1992, S.O.S. has a strong emphasis on education, community engagement, and legal protections.
sosalliance.org
Trees are Us
“We rarely see trees change. Rather, we see that trees have changed. We notice a bud has sprouted, a leaf has fallen. A branch that stretched high over the roots now lies at the foot of the trunk. We catch these shifts piecemeal over time because we’re bound by the slow ticking of the clock.
But what if, with a flip of your thumb, you could follow the life of a tree through the seasons?
With Trees Are Us, you can. Once a week for a year, Rich Armington photographed a dear friend of his – “the best pecan tree this side of Barton Springs pool” – then bound those images into a book ideal for holding. Flip through it, and you witness this tree change, its leafy arms that proudly shade the summer lawn becoming the stark skeleton of winter then returning to full foliage under a bold blue spring sky.
That change is a wonder to behold, one that inspired poems by the community that frequents the springs and knows Rich’s friend and the world around it. They relate the tree’s tale – and its kinship with the the sun and wind, the water and birds, the squirrels and swimmers – through the elegance of haiku: three lines, with syllables of five, seven, and five, distilling into a handful of words an image, an observation, an insight.
The tree beckons you to hear the life you haven’t heard, see the change you haven’t seen.”
Robert Faires
