These portraits of English oak trees were inspired by the photographs of the Endurance, taken by the Australian photographer Frank Hurley during the Shackleton Antarctic expedition, and by O. Winston Link’s night photographs of the last steam locomotives in America.

Once the composition has been established, sticks are positioned to mark the extremities of the frame. At dusk, and on a still, moonless night at the moment when the tree appears as a black silhouette against the evening sky, the shutter is opened. Between twenty and thirty bursts of a very powerful portable flash are directed at different parts of the…

These portraits of English oak trees were inspired by the photographs of the Endurance, taken by the Australian photographer Frank Hurley during the Shackleton Antarctic expedition, and by O. Winston Link’s night photographs of the last steam locomotives in America.

Once the composition has been established, sticks are positioned to mark the extremities of the frame. At dusk, and on a still, moonless night at the moment when the tree appears as a black silhouette against the evening sky, the shutter is opened. Between twenty and thirty bursts of a very powerful portable flash are directed at different parts of the tree from each of the marker sticks which are just out of frame.

The exposure can last for up to ten minutes, during which time the photographer has passed in front of the camera several times before the shutter is closed. Only about three exposures can be made on any one night before the night sky fades to darkness.

George Wright was born in 1950. He studied Graphic Design at Wimbledon School of Art and has been a photographer since 1975.

His work has appeared in magazines and books worldwide, and is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery.