Author Ruthie Rosauer’s interest in photography came about when she moved to Hendersonville five years ago. Her book, These Trees, is a collection of the many, many photographs she has taken since of trees at home and in her travels.
“The word ‘love’ doesn’t quite do justice to my feelings about trees,” Rosauer says. “There are trees that just make me drop to my knees in wonder. Trees that stop me in my tracks and draw me in to trace their bark with my fingers or peer through their leaves to try to see the landscape framed through the foliage.”
She carries camera and tripod almost everywhere she goes. “For the past few years,” she says, “we have chosen our travel destinations based on the trees I hope to see.”
Eventually she decided a book was the perfect means for sharing her collection with others. Many of her photographs are from Western North Carolina, but trees from Pennsylvania, Florida, Washington, California and Hawaii also found their way onto the pages.
With trees selected for inclusion in the book, she put out a call for complementary poetry and received hundreds of submissions. “Much to my amazement,” she says, “there were many poems that fit perfectly with photographs I already had. Others fit together because the mood or season just meshed.”
Regional poets included are Carol Pearce Bjorlie and Jean Cassidy of Asheville, Annelinde Metzner of Black Mountain, Robert Ratliff of Boone and Kate Stockman of Hendersonville.
These Trees, 2017, photography/poetry, softcover, $25, by Ruthie Rosauer, and published by Rose River Press, Hendersonville, NC. A book signing will be held Wednesday, October 11, at 6 p.m. at Malaprop’s Bookstore and Café. To learn more, visit ruthierosephotography.com.
