Tom Zetterstrom

The artist Tom Zetterstrom has been photographing trees for over 40 years, depicting their natural grandeur in a mythic light, and responding to issues of local and global sustainability. His black-and-white images span across a range of topographies, ecosystems, species, and variations, including elm, maple, red pines, poplars, and shagbark hickories, among others. Zetterstrom's photographic eye illuminates a distinct endurance and life within each tree, poignantly illustrated in his series Portraits of Trees, which depicts trees as they are affected by climate or age. In another series, Moving Point of View, Zetterstrom takes an innovative approach to capturing the landscape from the perspective of moving vehicles. "I work with trees constantly," Zetterstrom says. "I anticipate their beauty by day, breathe their air throughout the night, and presume to speak for them." Zetterstrom is a recognized lecturer on trees and an advocate for the preservation and reintroduction of the American Elm. He has designed and planted hundreds of trees in the built environment and, in 1999, he founded Elm Watch, a regional community forestry organization.