I made this photograph while working with driftwood along the East Coast of Florida earlier this Spring. There were a number of trees washed up on the beach at that time and I was slowly working from one to the next, looking for inspiration, when I came across this one tree which yielded a number of the prints currently featured in the 'Driftwood' gallery. It was very, very different than all of the others. It really had an amazing quality that none of the other trees had - it just seemed to glow in the late morning light. The sun played along it's polished wood like nothing I've seen before,or since, and it had to just pause to admire it for a short time before I started photographing.
I came across this particular point of view after examining the tree from a number of different angles. When I first saw it, the impression of a nude profile hit me like a physical blow, hence the title 'The Wood Wife'. I've photographed this beach before, but I've never seen any tree like this one before - it was quite moving. Shortly after making this exposure the tide began to come in with the inexorable persistence of the ocean, and I only had about half an hour before the entire beach would be under water once again. It was time to pack up and head for higher ground.
