William Guion has photographed the land and trees of the South and West for more than 35 years. His black-and-white and colored images are often described as meditative, reflective, and even spiritual. This mirrors his long-time interest in meditative practices and his slow and contemplative approach to making photographic images. His current focus is on documenting and preserving America’s national tree—the oak.
Guion has published five books. His prints are contained in a variety of corporate and private collections across the country as well as the public collections of the Louisiana Folklife Museum, the Louisiana State Museum, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. His photographs have been used for several book jacket cover designs (for Simon and Schuster, Random House, Crown Books, W.W, Norton Books, Harper Collins and Warner Books) and in the feature film (The Wishing Tree starring Alfre Woodard).
My goal with my work is to point out the individual qualities and essence of each tree or place that I photograph. Because when a thing becomes an individual in our minds instead of a vague impersonal idea, it is harder to ignore its significance.
