Here are a couple of links to photos of atlas cedars in Morocco.
TREE ONE (The photo is about half-way down the page)
This is a pretty decent photo of a cedar about to enter advanced age. It still has all of its major limbs. The pads have plenty of space for the birds to fly.
Ryan’s tree has a similar columnar shape and he’s open up the pads nicely. The proportions are a bit different. Ryan’s tree appears to be short for its width. That’s okay, here’s why. The tree in Morocco is taken from close up and thus has a different perspective than Ryan’s tree. As we saw last night, Ryan’s tree is a very large tree. The top has good taper and if the top is leaning forward, someone close to the tree would get the feel of a taller tree tapering off as it ascends.
TREE TWO
This tree has seen a bad day or two. The pads are not as spaced out as tree one, above. That is, where pads exist. The base has a wonderful display of damage. It looks as though that this has caused the death of many limbs above it. Near the top, it appears the tree has managed to get vascular support around to the damaged side and new branches are growing.
Ryan’s tree has similar damaged limbs. From the chat, I asked him why he wasn’t keeping the finer detail of the branches for the deadwood. He replied that ancient cedars will have lost all the finer detail. With great age, the lost limbs have been worn down to their cores. Looking at Tree Two, I can see he’s exactly right.
TREE THREE (Select the first photo on the second row)
Flat-top cedar. The deadwood on this tree is fantastic.
I participated in a couple of workshops with Ed Trout. By the time I was working on one of the last trees, he’s looking at my work and said “What is it with you people from New Orleans and your flat-tops?”
Ryan announced intent was to create an ancient tree that was outside of the traditional Japanese forms. Imagine the tree’s reception if he had styled this like Tree Three with a flat-top. Heads would explode.
TREE FOUR
I believe this is the tree I linked in last night’s chat. Now THIS is an ancient tree. The branches have been worn away to their cores. If I’m seeing the photo correctly, all the branches in the lower two-thirds of the tree are actually the branches of the tree behind it. That leaves the upper-third of the tree as the only place where live branches appear.
Ryan’s tree has plenty of branches. I think he needs to remove more. I want ancient ancient.