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Berkeley landscape architect Stefan Thuilot has spent over six years taking thousands of photographs of California forest ecosystems in a project he’s dubbed the California Forest Project.
Thuilot’s high-resolution photos, up to 13 feet tall, aren’t your typical mid-hike shot taken on a smartphone camera. Each image is a composite of multiple photos digitally merged in an effort to minimize lens distortion and maximize detail.
While his photographs are indeed works of art meant to inspire awe, they also function as scientific tools for fire and forest researchers and conservancy groups. Thuilot often returns to the same spots and aims to take photos under uniform lighting conditions so they can be used by researchers to make direct comparisons. His work has taken on increasing urgency in recent years as wildfires, drought, beetle infestations and diseases like sudden oak death have drastically altered California’s forest scenes.
“California’s treasured heritage forests are in danger,” Thuilot’s website reads. “My desire is to capture many of them through my lens, preserving their essence for future generations amidst uncertain times.”
Berkeleyside caught up with Thuilot over email to discuss his California Forest Project, on display through August. Thuilot will be giving a public lecture at the David Brower Center’s Goldman Theater. Tuesday, June 25, 7 p.m. FREE (RSVP recommended)
What have conservation, fire and forest researchers used your photographs for?
The project has recently caught the attention of fire and forest researchers, resource managers, conservancy organizations like Save the Redwoods League, and educators. My goal is to help tell the story of their efforts and create a data bank for future research. A key aspect of the project is ‘repeat photography’, where I revisit forest scenes over time. The most dramatic sequences involve fire, sudden oak death, and beetle infestations. These photos provide valuable visual and historical information.
What inspired you to start documenting the evolution of forests in your photography?
The project’s seeds were planted in the late ’90s while [I was] attending lectures at UC Berkeley’s Environmental Planning Department, where few good photos of the examined forests existed. In 2016, recalling my mentor Joe McBride’s lectures while walking through a High Sierra Forest, I used a gimbal head tripod [which adds stability] to capture multi-row panoramic photos, creating a 180-degree view to show as much context as possible. When I digitally stitched these photos together, a comprehensive very high-resolution image emerged with little to no distortion. Inspired, I set the goal to document all major and sub-forest ecologies in California, using these photos as typologies for research, education, and art. I believe photography is a powerful tool to portray how changing forest environments threaten to lose their historic and ecological legacy.
Are there any takeaways you’d like people to have after seeing your exhibit at David Brower Center?
The size of the prints, being up to 5’ x 13’ large, and the broadness of the perspective immerse the audience into the forest scene. With no single vantage point, these contextual scenes challenge viewers to ‘explore,’ much like being in the forest itself. My photography aims to make viewers pause, ask questions, and spark a desire to learn more. I hope the photos convey the sublime nature inherent in forests. Additionally, the project objectives are to showcase the incredible and unique biodiversity of California forests and bring this awareness to the visitors of the exhibit and the evolving website. The sequential photos of before and after fire forest scenes are often the ones that captivate the audience first.
In addition to photographing forests, you also work as a landscape architect. Does your work as an architect inform your photography, and if so, in what ways?
For me, the key question lies in how forest photography shapes my approach to design. While design often aims to impose order on nature, forests represent a blend of chaos and diversity that cannot be artificially recreated. Their aesthetics are endlessly intricate and untamed, which is truly captivating. Forests serve as a reminder that true natural beauty thrives when left unbounded. These insights help me at times to bring more natural algorithm to my designs.
You’ve spent a lot of time in California forests. Which one was the most challenging one to photograph, and why?
Navigating the untamed Southern Grove in Calaveras Big Tree State Park is my ultimate forest adventure. My mission is to methodically capture this dense, expansive, and completely overgrown sequoia habitat through photography. Maneuvering through the labyrinth of tangled undergrowth proves disorienting, hindering clear photo vantage points and covering a mere 500 feet can entail an hour of scrambling. With the looming danger of a catastrophic fire, my task gains urgency.
Can you name some photographers whose work inspires you?
Hilla and Bern Becher pioneered the concept of ‘typologies’ in photography, documenting European industrial sites. They photographed these structures under consistent lighting and arranged them in grids, prompting viewers to reflect on their design and function. Richard Misrach, for the immersive and large landscapes of the West and the mastery of color. August Sanders, for his many-decade-long ambition to photograph the ‘common’ people of the early 20th century, resulting in an invaluable document for future generations.
