a walk among the giants

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some film photos from a trip up to the Avenue of the Giants in September 2020.

this weekend was exceptionally hot, and before I knew it marked the first of a series of fires that devastated California this year

at the time, I took these photos thinking about the scale of time, how we measure it, and how it appears in biological systems. I see the detailed lines tracing out each layer of new growth as a tree ages, and I also see the marks we leave as desperate attempts to feed our own egos, telling ourselves “we were here”, “we are here”, wanting to put this out into the universe and to somehow be recognized for it. I think there is some solace in knowing that regardless of what happens to us, life outside of the human race will find a way – it’s just a matter of time

Most of the film came out blurry, but I managed to get a few shots that captured the feelings of impermanence and magnitude and relativity to the grand scale of time that these trees experience life on while I was here

Like Carl Sagan said, “we are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.”

If you want to experience close-to-infinity as you can on Earth, the Avenue of the Giants is one of those places to go and ponder just how small you are.

trees keep track of time much more elegantly than we
there is little more in the world more beautiful than those that remind us how small we are
tree stars
I could get lost in the little details
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Published by Hannah Hansen

I am a landscape designer and engineer-in training currently practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area. I grew up in Arizona, where I developed a deep appreciation for water and resilient desert landscapes. I obtained my Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering from Arizona State University before achieving my Masters degree in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning from UC Berkeley in 2023. I currently practice at Restoration Design Group in West Berkeley, where my work integrates ecological restoration and watershed principles with grading, infrastructure design, and thoughtful site planning. I'm currently pursuing licensure as a professional landscape architect in California and am interested in expanding my work further into the American Southwest. Along with my design practice, I enjoy practicing alternative photography to creatively explore landscape, texture, and light. Photography has challenged me to deepen the way I observe and understand environments and the relationship between people, water, and place. This online portfolio is intended to share my work and to express creativity, curiosity, and appreciation for the environment. I'm always interested in collaborating, whether it be related to landscape and drainage design or a photography project.

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