In the spring of 2024, I went to Asheville, North Carolina to visit family, and I stayed with my mother’s cousin, Dave Donahue. We went for a drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was easily accessed from his home. We traveled along it for quite a while, me mostly looking at not only the scenery but for potential photographs. When I saw this tree, I literally slammed on the brakes. This tree, known as “The Wise One,” stands beside the lot for the Laurel Knob Overlook. I quickly set up and quickly made three exposures—the clouds were approaching and clearing so fast that each image is entirely different—and this one, the first, I chose for my first experiment in lith printing. For that process, I use Fomotone Semi-Glossy warm tone paper developed in Moersch Easy Lith. It produces an image with an array of moody coloring that I like. Not long after this trip, the storms and floods ravaged North Carolina, and sections of the Parkway were closed. Like many, I was relieved to hear that this tree withstood the storms.