A city gets its character from what passes through it, and a tree gets its character from staying put. The Skull Cart Passes is a multiple-exposure photograph of a single tree at Benton Park in St. Louis on Halloween, its crown dissolving into layers of leaf and pale sky while the trunk holds exactly where it stands and a decorated cart rolls by on the bridge behind it.
The eye lands on the lit face of the trunk, climbs the fork, and follows the long right limb out into the ghosted foliage. Warm light pools on the leaf-covered mound at the base. Then the picture lets you in on its joke: behind the iron railing of the bridge, a golf cart trimmed with beads and hanging skeletons, a pale skull riding on its canopy and a driver at the wheel, easy to miss on a first look and impossible to forget on the second. Below, the still water repeats the trunk whole, dark and steady.
The image is made from many exposures taken while walking around one tree, blended in Photoshop, in the tradition of Pep Ventosa's layered tree portraits, with the soft color of Ernst Haas and the dry, observed humor of Elliott Erwitt's street photographs, where the real subject is the small thing happening at the edge of the frame.
Design & Styling
The Skull Cart Passes suits dens, dining rooms and hallways, as well as restaurants, brewpubs, bars, boutique hotel lobbies and offices that want a conversation piece with a calm, painterly surface. The vertical format fits a narrow wall or the space beside a window. Olive, amber, warm oak, walnut, cream and soft gray-blue all sit comfortably beside it. The cart is small enough that the picture reads as an autumn tree first and a Halloween story second, which keeps it on the wall well beyond October. It is a natural gift for anyone with ties to Benton Park or to the city's quirkier side.
Curated Pairings
For the same tree, without the cart: Pair with The Held Tree, the same walk around the same tree at Benton Park, with the bridge empty and nothing passing, the quiet counterpart to this version.
For the same city, seen up close: Pair with What the Tree Kept, a mature St. Louis tree at bark distance, its trunk slowly closing around an iron fence, a second picture about what a tree holds on to.
For another St. Louis park after hours: Pair with Evening at the Pavilion, the Nathan Frank Bandstand glowing at dusk in Forest Park, public space in the same warm light.
Fine Art Presentation
Available as a signed, numbered limited edition print (edition of 15) in Gallery Metal, ChromaLuxe® Metal (Gloss, Semi-Gloss or Matte), TruLife Acrylic, archival paper, canvas, and wood. Archival paper is the strongest choice: the soft, layered edges of the crown and the gentle gradients of the sky reproduce like a painting on paper, without a sheen that would compete with the blur. TruLife (Low-Glare) Acrylic is the choice for restaurants, bars and lobbies, where the dark water of the reflection keeps its depth without picking up room glare. ChromaLuxe® Metal in Matte suits a modern interior that wants the warm trunk and the small cart to carry from across a room.
Note: Custom and oversized photographic prints are available. Please contact the studio directly to discuss custom framing, matting, or specialized museum glass options.
A city gets its character from what passes through it, and a tree gets its character from staying put. The Skull Cart Passes is a multiple-exposure photograph of a single tree at Benton Park in St. Louis on Halloween, its crown dissolving into layers of leaf and pale sky while the trunk holds exactly where it stands and a decorated cart rolls by on the bridge behind it.
The eye lands on the lit face of the trunk, climbs the fork, and follows the long right limb out into the ghosted foliage. Warm light pools on the leaf-covered mound at the base. Then the picture lets you in on its joke: behind the iron railing of the bridge, a golf cart trimmed with beads and hanging skeletons, a pale skull riding on its canopy and a driver at the wheel, easy to miss on a first look and impossible to forget on the second. Below, the still water repeats the trunk whole, dark and steady.
The image is made from many exposures taken while walking around one tree, blended in Photoshop, in the tradition of Pep Ventosa's layered tree portraits, with the soft color of Ernst Haas and the dry, observed humor of Elliott Erwitt's street photographs, where the real subject is the small thing happening at the edge of the frame.
Design & Styling
The Skull Cart Passes suits dens, dining rooms and hallways, as well as restaurants, brewpubs, bars, boutique hotel lobbies and offices that want a conversation piece with a calm, painterly surface. The vertical format fits a narrow wall or the space beside a window. Olive, amber, warm oak, walnut, cream and soft gray-blue all sit comfortably beside it. The cart is small enough that the picture reads as an autumn tree first and a Halloween story second, which keeps it on the wall well beyond October. It is a natural gift for anyone with ties to Benton Park or to the city's quirkier side.
Curated Pairings
For the same tree, without the cart: Pair with The Held Tree, the same walk around the same tree at Benton Park, with the bridge empty and nothing passing, the quiet counterpart to this version.
For the same city, seen up close: Pair with What the Tree Kept, a mature St. Louis tree at bark distance, its trunk slowly closing around an iron fence, a second picture about what a tree holds on to.
For another St. Louis park after hours: Pair with Evening at the Pavilion, the Nathan Frank Bandstand glowing at dusk in Forest Park, public space in the same warm light.
Fine Art Presentation
Available as a signed, numbered limited edition print (edition of 15) in Gallery Metal, ChromaLuxe® Metal (Gloss, Semi-Gloss or Matte), TruLife Acrylic, archival paper, canvas, and wood. Archival paper is the strongest choice: the soft, layered edges of the crown and the gentle gradients of the sky reproduce like a painting on paper, without a sheen that would compete with the blur. TruLife (Low-Glare) Acrylic is the choice for restaurants, bars and lobbies, where the dark water of the reflection keeps its depth without picking up room glare. ChromaLuxe® Metal in Matte suits a modern interior that wants the warm trunk and the small cart to carry from across a room.
Note: Custom and oversized photographic prints are available. Please contact the studio directly to discuss custom framing, matting, or specialized museum glass options.
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