How Photography Led Me to Write a Children’s Book
Author, artist, and creative entrepreneur Louise Wannier shares how photography led her to write a children’s book about tree spirits.
My years behind the camera taught me to notice the quiet details in things I saw around me—light, texture, emotion. When I started taking photographs it was a way for me to try to capture what, for me, feels like the spirit of what I am seeing.
I remember the first time I saw a tree spirit. It was in the front park along the road leading up to my primary school in Twickenham, Chase Bridge, a neighborhood south of the River Thames near London. I remember we were still allowed then to play with what we called conkers on a string, a simple game of tying chestnuts on a piece of old yarn. I remember quite vividly looking up at this huge, old oak tree and seeing my first tree spirit. This one was, or felt to me, to be a grand lion watching from its branches.
In London and subsequently in Pasadena where we moved when I was eight years old, there were many many trees in our neighborhood. To me, those old trees each had personalities of their own. I was captivated by how each one was individual. In the art room at school or using coloring pencils at home, I first began by drawing organic patterns and shapes. Writing for me came later.
When we moved to Altadena, California, everything felt strange but my imagination remained a comfort to me and I used it to spend hours, often with my younger brother, wandering and noticing and observing. As I looked at things around me, things in nature, trees especially, I can’t really explain why but their spirits began taking shape.
As an adult, I started seriously taking photos when I was on break, taking a pause between building new business ventures. I had recently met my second husband and I had decided to take the kids for a proper holiday one last time. We decided on visiting the Galapagos. I bought a new digital camera for the experience, we packed our bags, and away we went.
I was completely captivated by The Galapagos. I felt as if all of nature’s energy and vibrancy was palpable, true spirits coming to life. So began my journey of photographing trees around the world.
Stepping behind the lens sharpened my attention to every knot and gnarled edge of the trees—the twists and turns of their branches. And then, almost magically, the spirit of the tree would reveal itself. Those subtle details would come alive, transforming the tree into something far more than just an old trunk—it became a character, a story, something entirely new. Doesn’t it look like a lonely lion? Or how about this one that looks like a happy giraffe? That same attentiveness sparked a desire in me to tell stories that extend beyond the frame.
Photography became a gateway to creating photographic books for children, where the patterns of the tree bark and limbs and branches transform within our imagination and come alive as animal characters, each one expressing a unique emotion. It's my way of connecting with nature, engaging with future generations, and reminding them of the beauty of imagination, the joy of storytelling, and the wonder that lives in both.
Check out Louise Wannier's Tree Spirits Around the World here:
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