After spending about a month photographing the forests of the Appalachian area in the autumn of 1993, I was headed north through the sideroads of Kentucky and Tennessee, headed toward West Virginia. In the very easternmost tip of Tennessee, I was passing through the Cherokee National Forest when, winding down the steep mountain road, I came upon this stunning group of trees.

The sun had just gone down below the mountain ridges and the wind gradually came to a halt.The evening light had a wonderful warm glow from the sunset colors in the clouds. The strong structure of the dark trunks and the balance in the dynamic color values throughout the scene immediately struck me.

As in many of my photographs, the image presented itself to me in an instant, complete and certain. It was then simply a matter of setting the camera up at the appropriate spot and taking care with all of the mechanics of getting the image on film. I took only this one view of the scene.

This photograph signaled to me the end of that photo trip, and Ruth and I drove straight home to Oregon in a matter of a few days, as I could hardly wait to develop the film and print this image. I believe it to be the best image from that trip, and it is one of my personal favorites.

It conveys to me a powerful sense of the vitality and exuberance of life throughout the natural world.