"Oak Tree in the Winter" By William Henry Fox Talbot review

                     "Oak Tree in the Winter" Photographed by William Henry Fox Talbot 

The first undeniable and noticeable aspect of "Oak Tree in the Winter" By William Talbot was the seemingly large Oak tree that is placed in the forefront of the photo. Having been lectured for an hour on the methods that William uses I summoned the opinion that when Talbot took a photograph, he was trying to capture the environment in its exact form with no edits or props. I realized then that he is the exact opposite to the photographer Henry Peach Robinson who photographs images to create a picturesque (picture perfect) moment and will usually base his photographs on scenery that has already been captured centuries before hand. Such an example of a picturesque artist is Thomas Gainsborough who's commissioned paintings would idealize the aspect of wealth and strength by a representation of Oak trees and free land for higher class families.

After studying the photo of the Oak Tree in the Winter further, I began to notice that the way he has positioned his camera is seemed to be deliberate as there are smaller trees in the background that are not as in focus as the big oak which in a sense is similar to Robinson's purpose; focusing of environmental objects. However, most of the foreground that Robinson photographs is flat or at the same level that he is on, whereas the way that Talbot has captured this tree is as if it is overpowering him, he has tilted his camera up to make it appear like the oak is dominant.

I began to look into the reference and meaning behind Oak tree's especially in the 19th Century given that that was the time of the photograph. Oak tree's appear to have this strong, powerful and almost knowledgable aura about them. Given that they live to be 200 years old, having been around for so long their structures are almost the eyes of the countryside, they outlive everything that has been planted there before it.

After further research I discovered the Oak tree is also hugely symbolic for mythology and folklore and is also the national tree of Britain which in the 19th Century would have made sense for William to capture this image due to the domination of the British Empire.

I could stress that the tree in a way is a metaphorical representation of the British Empire dominating the world at that period in time and the 'smaller' trees in the background are the other countries that are part of the British Empire;following behind. The tree appears knowledgable and powerful hence why that particular Oak tree is pictured to be tall and strenuous over all the other trees representing it's dominance, its strength and of course the way it has been portrayed to purposely be the main focus.

References
http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/mythfolk/oak.html