Trees from an Imaginary Memory

Zero Image pinhole taken May 2014

For whatever reason, this forested path reminds me of Russia. Not that I've ever been there or that the trees are the same trees you'd find there. Perhaps it's the result of having read so many Russian novels. There were frequently dachas described in the books (especially in Tolstoy), so perhaps this is the image of the environs surrounding the dachas I imagined while reading.

It's interesting how I create "views" for settings I read about in books. In a lot of cases, the imagined location actually has nothing to do with the book. Perhaps it's a location association built from the era in which I was reading the book and my daily travels. I remember associating a particular corner of 42nd St. by Grand Central Station in NY with Faust. Obviously it had nothing to do with Goethe's novel, but perhaps I think of that corner because I was frequently in that area while reading the book. Then again, I associate a particular scent from my childhood with pharmacies (actually a very pleasant smell...not medicinal at all...I can't even describe it). I know that Proust talked about scents triggering memories so maybe it's all part of the same apparatus of building memories - places, descriptions, scents, flavors - all tucked away in obscure areas of the brain to be triggered by what appears to be random.

So this photograph is my triggered memory of a place I've never been. An imaginary memory.