Sometimes thoughts and feelings can get overwhelming and you need more than just people to hold them for you. Trees in city spaces can provide wide reaching arms that hold you, wrap around you and protect you. The span of a tree can build a cocoon of stillness with a roof and walls, yet with openness to avoid constriction. Space for your emotions to wander and escape yet anchoring the self in one place.

The beautiful mature trees in the botanic gardens in Edinburgh have held this role for me many times when I’ve needed a place to think. The deeply creased bark and the endless shifting light through the leaves provide meditative distraction when peace and calm is needed. Some trees form houses that you can sit in, sheltered from the outside world while others rise around you as an amphitheatre rises around a stage when you need a podium to sit upon and project your thoughts. Mysterious others provide tunnels and dens for the playful times when you seek an adventure.

Standing for hundreds of years, these majestic beings are always there to be loved and admired. They are consistent, reliable and always soothing, and they are a real treasure to be found here in the city.

Photo taken on Ilford FP4 plus film, 6x12cm format.