Atlantic White Cedar Swamp

But the White Cedar Swamp is so magical, so rich in wordless meaning… a deeply mythic place, encompassing a watery underworld, a silent and muffled Middle-Earth, with glimpses of a celestial overworld.

— Robert Finch, 2014

Just live into that quotation of Robert Finch. It captures the essence of the Atlantic White Cedar Swamp in South Wellfleet. I don’t believe I could have cast such words when I made this early photograph. Had I tried, I would have conjured fairies and gnomes that they might give form to the magic imbued in this place.

I entered the swamp not knowing my way. I had in my mind just the hope of a good photograph. Among the white cedars, I felt magic all around me. Embowered, I let it guide me to center. I drifted about vaguely spiraling inward until there was no other place to be. Standing there, I looked round to see a sweeping view nearly perfectly composed.

Light and shadow, tension and balance. It all makes sense from the center. The center moves, the center changes, and the center changes you. I left the swamp that day knowing my way… to the center.

Swirling spinning trees
Clockwise and counterclockwise
Pilgrim embowered