On a chill October morning in New York's Adirondack Mountains, I photographed these paper birch trees against a mountain cliff cloaked in morning shadow. The resultant image is a kind of reverse silhouette, with the light trunks against a dark background, that I find immensely beautiful. I also like the graceful forms of the birch trunks and branches.

Not content to leave the photograph alone, I was hit by an inspiration. In the field I photographed a dark stone flecked with white. Back in the darkroom, I combined the two photographs by printing them independently onto the same sheet of photographic paper.

The result reminds me of an illuminated birch in a snowstorm.

Lee Rentz