2005 Banff Mountain Photography Competition
Best Photo — Mountain Environment
Patrick Stoll: “The Red Queen’s Forest”
“I often drive past this poplar tree farm when travelling from my home in Idaho to the Oregon coast. Something about it always seems a bit surreal and somewhat sinister. Maybe it’s the ever-present darkness under the dense canopy of leaves or the way the parallel rows of trees create a shutter effect as one drives past; the distant vanishing point blinks on and off but seems to remain in the same location. It reminds me of the Red Queen’s comment to Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass: ‘Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.’ In evolutionary biology, the Red Queen Hypothesis states that a species must constantly be moving (adapting and evolving) in order to stay in the same place (remain in existence). For me, the tree farm picture symbolizes a future where the only remaining forests are those that can adapt to the selective pressure of commercialization.”
Patrick Stoll has been working as a freelance photographer since 1992 and specializes in both fine-art and commercial landscape photography. His work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Outside, Travel and Leisure, Men’s Journal, Conde Nast Traveler and numerous regional publications. In addition to a background in photography, Stoll has degrees in both environmental science and education. He frequently teaches photography classes and workshops. Stoll lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife, Helen, and their cat, Max.