It was late spring 2016 and the Boise river had just receded from its historic high flow. The high water had cleaned all the leaves and mud from the base of this and the other trees on the banks of the river. I was seeking to make an exciting, lively photograph. One that demonstrated the chaos and beauty found in the riverine area.

But I didn’t just think of this idea in the moment.

I’ve been fascinated about the concept of a chaotic story that slowly reveals its structure since the early 1990’s. My first experience with this concept was the movie Grand Canyon in 1991. The movie, known as a Hyperlink Narrative, opens with the disconnected stories of characters played by Steve Martin, Danny Glover and Kevin Klein. The characters seem unrelated until they’re interwoven in the final act where they take a pilgrimage to the Grand Canyon and acknowledge their relative insignificance together. 

This concept germinated when I saw the film at eighteen, tumbling in my mind for twenty-five years before this photograph was taken. The branches and detritus appear chaotic until their relationships emerge. Resolving the confusion and revealing a hidden, rhythmic structure.

Ideas can germinate and grow for decades before they’re fully realized.

Admittedly, this is a long description about the origin of this photograph but everything comes from something.