Nude Photo Shoot Focuses on Saving 1,500-Year-Old Oak Tree, Draws Police Attention (Video)

by Jaymi Heimbuch

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Photo courtesy of Jack Gescheitdt
 
Jack Gescheidt, a California-based photographer, wanted to bring people's attention to a construction project happening on a large tract of land right next to Angel Oak, a tree believed to be over 1,500 years old and possibly the oldest living tree in North America. With the threat of development encroaching on this beautiful tree, and more importantly, the habitat in which it lives, Gescheidt figured it was time to make a statement, and that meant photographing 25 nude people posed around the tree. However, the photo shoot drew some unwanted attention... from police.

The Charleston City Paper reports that Gescheidt has used the beauty and inarguable visual draw of nude people as a way to bring attention to ancient and threatened trees, bringing together both art and activism for the greater good of the environment. The Angel Oak project is part of his larger project, called TreeSpirit.
Gescheidt's photographs are absolutely gorgeous, at times juxtaposing the textures of smooth skin and rough bark as the models drape themselves around the tree and at other times positioning the models almost as if they alone could protect the tree from potential demise.

Such is the case with Angel Oak -- the tree's health could be impacted by the new development, and the photo shoot is aimed at drawing attention to, and possibly stopping, the development next door.
While the police were not thrilled with the photo shoot, the artists were able to still capture the shot. Photographs from this shoot can already be purchased online. All the proceeds go to further photo shoots that promote the conservation of ancient and threatened trees.

Follow Jaymi on Twitter for more stories like this

The 11 Best Places to Watch The Sunset Around The World

See The World's Most Beautiful Sunsets.

Wed May 25, 2011 09:04

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Photo: Microsoft Bench at sunset

If you accidentally catch one, you suddenly become incredibly calm, contemplative and feel like you’ve snuck in on a romantic moment—I’m talking about sunsets. And snuggled up couples have been watching them since long before Glee and American Idol took up our evening free time. Some of us still skip out on modern entertainment just to go watch the sunset. Some people are sunset connoisseurs, constantly seeking out the highest rooftop, quietest beach, or most off-limits location to sneak into and watch it. For those of you out there, here are 10 spots to watch the sunset that have probably appeared on a postcard.

Ayers Rock in Northern Territory, Australia

The sky is streaked in red here when the sun goes down. That is because Ayers Rock is the seat of Uluru, a 348-meter high, 500 million year old red rock and the world’s largest monolith. When the clouds move across the sky at sunset, they reflect the rock’s blood-orange hues into the sky.


Photo: Google Earth Ayers Rock Australia 

Academia Bridge in Venice, Italy
Of course one of the most romantic cities on earth offers one of the best spots to catch the sunset. Academia Bridge stretches over the Grand Canal, and from here you can watch the dying rays of light flutter across the 15th century architecture. For a more ethereal feel, go in the fall when fog makes the whole place feel like an old mystery movie.


Photo: Microsoft Sunset in Venice, Italy 


The Matterhorn in Zermalt, Switzerland
No, it’s not just a ride at Disneyland. The Matterhorn is a great Alpine peak. Visitors can hike across Gornier Glacier to Monte Rosa Hut for the best view. It’s best caught at sunrise, when the sunbeams climbing up the peak light up the tip to make it look like a candle.


Photo: Microsoft Alpine Peak Switzerland 

Mallory Square in Key West, Florida
Also a favorite spot for locals, Mallory Square pairs the view of the sun setting over the Gulf of Mexico with street performers, amazing food vendors, and the freedom to enjoy them all with a mojito in hand.


Photo: Microsoft Romantic couple at sunset 

Masai Mara in Kenya
Catching the sun set here might bring back memories of a beloved childhood film, The Lion King. This is a great destination for wildlife lovers as a large wildlife migration passes through. Elephants, rhinoceros, Cape buffalo, leopards and lions get particularly active and night time and visitors can watch their silhouettes move across the sun setting over this vast desert.


Photo: Microsoft Wildlife at sunset 

Gay Head in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
The sun can play with a variety of shapes and colors here. Clay cliffs peek out of the Atlantic Ocean and North America’s last glacier disintergrated here 10,000 years ago, leaving behind boulders and clay deposits. From the lighthouse, you can watch the sun move across this entire scene with water on three sides of you.


Photo: Microsoft Gay Head Martha's Vineyard 

Pre Rup Temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Already a popular destination for visitors because of its majestic temples, Pre Rup has reflective pools that face west. When the sun sets, the pools catch the reflection of these enchanting structures and light up with the rusty red from the brick and laterite.

Mount Heleakala in Maui, Hawaii
Mount Helealaka is a dormant volcano that rises over 10,000 feet. The volcano serves as the only display of colors on the baron landscape when the sun rushes over it’s blackened sides, lighting it up like water on hot asphalt.

Sentosa Island, Singapore
Sentosa is a small island just off the coast of Singapore.From the shore, visitors can watch the sun set over the dozens of oil refineries sitting on the water, with their rising smoke playing off different colors in the sun.


Photo: Microsoft Oil Rigs in Singapore

Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
If you sit on the beach just far enough from the pier, you can watch the silhouettes of people playing miniature golf, the waves crashing, and the lights from the Ferris wheel reflecting on the Pacific Ocean.

Photo: Microsoft Sunset over pier in California
They’re free. They’re accessible to everyone. And somehow, they always enchant us. Hopefully this gives you a good date idea for the next time you’re running low on money or you’ve just seen every movie on TiVo.

have to include Jerome Arizona: 

There is nothing I love taking pictures of more than sunsets. We spent a cloudy day in Jerome taking some photos. On the way home the clouds starting to clear perfectly and I pulled off of I-17 to take some shots. There wasn’t anything in the way of a focal point around so I decided to let the sunset speak for itself. This is one of the things I love the most about Arizona. Enjoy!Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: with the Nikkor 18-105mm
Processing: Photomatix Pro 4, Adobe Lightroom 3

Posted in: Arizona, D90, HDR, Jerome
By: Jason Hines

Views from the Porch
Jerome, Arizona

The views from the town of Jerome are nothing short of spectacular.  The following series of photos were taken in the winter of 2010 and were all taken from the the same porch.

Winter Sunset over Jerome

Sycamore Canyon as Snow Storm clears

Roiling Clouds over Jerome 

Chelsea Flower Show Opens with a Blast (of Wind)

by Bonnie Alter

from: http://www.treehugger.com/

Photo: B. Alter

This year's Chelsea Flower Show in London has been beset by a series of natural problems. First there was the unseasonable cold weather, then the unseasonable warm weather, then the rain drought. But opening day featured glorious sun and celebrities, albeit with gale force winds.

That didn't stop this year's show, now in its 98th year, from being as big (with 17 gardens competing for top prizes) and beautiful as ever. The themes: "wild" rather than formal, vertical green walls, lots of insect habitats, roof gardens and a series of 7 natural and sustainable small gardens. Where to begin...

Photo: B. Alter

You can't miss the B&Q Garden as the spectacular green vertical wall rises to 9 metres. Beside it is an insect hotel which is 5 metres high. And then there is the field of herbs: everything in the entire garden can be eaten. B&Q (like Home Hardware) have done an excellent job of showing sustainability, with wind turbines, solar panels and water butts to collect rain water. Tomatoes and herbs cascade from the vertical wall. There are vegetable plots and culinary herbs as well as fruit trees and lime trees included in this sustainable wonder. It may be considered too corporate since it is pushing the B&Q company line, but it should win a Gold medal.... News Update: Gold Medal winner

Photo: B. Alter

The artistic and aesthetic favourite seems to be the Wild Garden sponsored by the Royal Bank of Canada. Canadians can't take much pride in the splendour since there is not one aspect of Canadian content in it except our good old Canadian dollar. However, it was created by one of the eco gurus of the gardening world and it contains a recycled container that serves as an artist's studio, green roof, native plants combined with garden plants and a lovely stone wall with an insect hotel. It will be reconstructed and relocated to a Wetlands Centre after the show. Definitely a winner. News Update: Silver Gilt winner

Photo: B. Alter

The M&G Garden consists almost entirely of planters that are filled with vegetables and herbs. It is a modern interpretation of the traditional kitchen garden. As well as having raised planters of fruits, herbs, vegetables and flowers, there is a sitting area and a water feature. The raised beds are built from willow and topped with cedar. Cabbages mix with clematis, and beans with roses. It is a bit sprawling and seems crammed but the idea of updating the kitchen garden for modern use is good. News Update:Silver Gilt winner

Photo: B. Alter

This has to be one of the loveliest gardens in the show. The Laurent-Perrier Garden--Nature & Human Intervention (love these conceptual/obscure titles) is the most elegant and sophisticated in design and planting. There is a delicate bamboo structure at the back with a long stream with rocks leading up to it. The flowers are a delicate planting of dusky pinks and browns and creamy colours, planted amidst 11 multi-stemmed trees. There are some huge sculptural stones which give it a Japanese feel, in keeping with the "pagoda" structure. News Update: Gold Medal winner

Photo: B.Alter

Here's a retro, super luxury and super glam garden from the Principality of Monaco. The Monaco Garden is a blast from the past when Chelsea consisted of high-end fantasy gardens (so what has changed?). It was conceived as a way to show how high density living ( Monaco is tiny) can be achieved through roof gardens and balcony gardens, fruit trees and green living walls. Love that swimming pool and the lilac lounge chairs--where is James Bond? News Update: Gold Medal winner

Photo: B. Alter

The most controversial is the Irish Sky Garden, a bright pink pod known as the Wonkavator, containing plants that will be suspended 82 feet in the air from a crane. Created by Diarmuid Gavin, it's being called "lupins in the sky with Diarmuid" and only VIP's can take a ride, 8 at a time, in it. Helen Mirren has been in it, Gwyneth declined. Too gimmicky by far for many, Diarmuid is the bad boy of the gardening world--and relishes it. News Update: Gold Medal winner

More on Chelsea Flower Show
Cold Unseasonable Weather Affects Chelsea Flower Show :
Chelsea Flower Show Features Biodiversity As a Theme
Chelsea Flower Show Features Vegetables

Madrid's Green Wall is Flourishing as is the Caixa Forum

by Bonnie Alter

from: http://www.treehugger.com/

Photo: B. Alter

Madrid's green wall is a veteran... First noted here in 2008, it was designed by Patrick Blanc, who has created some of the most famous vertical gardens in Europe.

It was installed on an exterior wall of a former power station which was renovated by equally famous architects Herzog & de Meuron. The garden and the building have been braving the pollution, hot sun and elements for four years and we are pleased to announce that both mother and child are doing well.

Photo: B. Alter

First the building: it was a former power plant built in 1899 and one of the few examples of industrial architecture left in the old section of the city. Caixa Forum is a cultural and arts centre that hired Herzog & de Meuron to convert the building and retain the industrial feel. A Swiss firm, they renovated the Tate Modern in London which was formerly a power plant as well.

Photo: B. Alter

Their master stroke was to remove the base of the building so that it seems to hover over the ground. That created a large plaza which provides a place to sit and meet away from the burning sun. The building goes underground, for an auditorium, and three stories above with gallery space, shop and cafe. The rusted iron cladding on the top level has aged and corroded and is a warm bronze colour.

Photo: B. Alter

The vertical garden, designed by Patrick Blanc, is 4 storeys high and takes up one outside wall, overlooking the plaza. It has 15,000 plants from more than 250 different species and most of it is flourishing.

There is an irrigation system which seems to be ongoing, given the gentle mist of droplets that emanates from the garden. The architects said that they wanted to "create a very unusual encounter between the rough and the natural, ...to incorporate nature so there can be the smell of a garden where you would not expect it."

The building, and garden are in the cultural quarter where the other famous museums are located. Caixa Forum has become an urban oasis in contrast to the more formal, and much older, buildings in the vicinity.

More on Green Walls
Green Walls are Growing Inside and Outside in London
Europe's Largest and Newest Green Living Wall is in London
National Theatre Grows Green
Madrid Gets a Vertical Garden Too

Carnivorous Plant Lures Bats to Feed on Their Guano

by David DeFranza

from http://www.treehugger.com

The plant in question: Nepenthes rafflesiana. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Carnivorous plants tend to make their homes in peat bogs and heaths—environments that have notoriously nutrient-deficient soils. They deal with these deficiencies by trapping insects, lizards, and even small mammals, absorbing nitrogen and other nutrients from their prey as they are slowly digested inside the plant.
For one pitcher plant however, survival is less dependent on snaring unsuspecting prey than it is on making a cozy home for a particular species of bat.

SLIDESHOW: Horrifying Plants That Eat the Living

According to recent research, Nepenthes rafflesiana—native to Borneo, Sumatra, Malaysia, and Singapore—has adopted several unique adaptations that makes it less apt at catching insects and more hospitable for roosting Hardwicke's woolly bats.

Typical pitcher plants have a conical shape and interior walls coated in a slippery liquid. When curious prey wanders into the pitcher's mouth, they begin to slide to the bottom, where a pool of digestive liquid drowns them and slowly breaks down the carcass.

Nepenthes rafflesiana has considerably less slippery liquid and a more shallow pool at the bottom of its pitcher. In addition to this, it has a girdle, mid-way down, the helps keep bats from slipping to the bottom. This makes it easy for bats—which sometimes roost as whole families in one plant—to make their home in the pitcher, a container that provides parasite-free protection from the bat's predators.

READ MORE: The Training of the Shrew: Pitcher Plant Evolves Into Toilet 

In exchange, the bats provide nutrients for the plant, delivered in the form of nitrogen-rich guano dropped down the pitcher.

It's only the second known instance in which a carnivorous plant has developed a mutualistic relationship with a mammal species.

10 Creepy Plants That Shouldn't Exist

By David Dietle

From http://www.cracked.com/

We spend a lot of time here at Cracked pointing out horrors of nature that slither on the land and lurch through the sea. But staying under the radar in nature's landscape of nightmares is the twisted carnival of things that grow out of the ground. Like ... #10. Bleeding Tooth Fungus The bleeding tooth fungus looks kind of like a wad of chewing gum that leaks blood like a rejected prop from The Shining. They're also called the strawberries and cream, the red-juice tooth, and the devil's tooth. Whoever is in charge of naming scary bullshit seems really insistent that this thing looks like a tooth, while mostly skirting over the fact that it freaking sweats blood. Oh, and they are listed as "inedible," which implies that someone attempted to eat one at some point. On the other hand, the bloodlike substance has anticoagulant and antibacterial properties. It's nature's next penicillin! All you have to do is lick it. Go ahead. #9. Chinese Black Batflowers There's a good reason that Batman uses bat imagery to strike terror into the hearts of Gotham's criminals, rather than, say, some kind of shrew. Bats are freakin' scary. For the same reason, nature has decided to use that same mold to make plants that can induce spontaneous bowel movements, with the addition of some tentacles just to be sure, like we have on the Chinese black batflowers. It is kept as an ornamental plant by gardeners who prefer to cultivate nightmares, and have the balls to live in the presence of a plant that looks like it crawled out of a Bosch painting and wants to plant its young in their head. Their dangling fruit even looks like bats sleeping upside down, as pictured here ... ... and here ... Oh, sorry that last one was an actual bat. Though you can't tell the difference until you get to the bottom, by which point it's far too late. #8. Doll's Eye At best, this thing looks like the plants you'd find on some hostile alien world. At worst, it looks like eyeballs on bloody stalks, tied together by their stems like the deranged trophy of some serial killer, used to mark the grave of half a dozen victims. It's called the doll's eye plant, also known by the equally unsettling name "white baneberry." Just in case you were actually thinking of eating this thing, those eyeballs are highly poisonous. Obviously. #7. Sea Anemone Mushroom/Octopus Stinkhorn We tend to think that pretty much all fungi came out of God's adolescent goth phase. Sure, some mushrooms look cute and taste good on pizza, but many of them look more like the dog-beast from The Thing and smell like a rotten asshole. For instance, we have the sea anemone mushroom above and the similar-yet-horrifying-in-a-different-way octopus stinkhorn below: Both are closely related and smell about as pleasant as they look. Would you believe both are from Australia? We weren't surprised either. We're pretty sure that Australia sits right next to Cthulhu's sunken city of R'Lyeh. They start out looking like traditional Mario-style 'shrooms, but that's just so they can gain your trust. Once they mature, they "erupt" their red tentacles of smelly horror to attract flies, which then transport their "gleba" to another location to reproduce, which is about the closest thing to the plot of a Lovecraft story that you'll find in reality. Seriously, Hugh Jackman is cool and all, but fuck Australia. #6. Devil's Claw Devil's claws are kind of like those little thistle burs that get stuck to your clothes when you walk through a field, except instead of being tiny, mild annoyances, they look more like some unholy spider beast from some twisted American McGee version of our childhood. They come from Arizona, where they are used by Native Americans to weave baskets and likely as a ward for enemies who are probably smart enough to stay the fuck away from anything that looks like a minefield of headcrabs: The horrifying seed pods are designed to latch on to the feet of passing animals, which will then transport them to another location before crushing them underfoot and releasing the seeds. Funny how nature knew people would stomp the shit out of that after finding it on their feet; evolution is kind of intuitive sometimes. #5.  Porcupine Tomato The porcupine tomato is one of the crops you'll find growing in Pinhead's vegetable patch after he retires from abstract horror and turns to horticulture. It hails from Madagascar, the island nation that brought us the Hellbeast lemur and Dracula ants, earning it the Cracked.com nickname "Little Australia." Quick, take a picture of the word "pain." Good job. Aside from being sharp and poisonous, the porcupine tomato is a potentially invasive species, since it is difficult to kill, even in drought. Among the features you don't want in a poisonous dagger monster, "hard to kill" has to be way up there. Did we mention that it spreads quickly, and can reach 8 feet tall by 8 feet wide in a relatively short amount of time? What we're saying is that you should be careful stepping out your front door in the morning, because you never know when a toxic, razor-filled hedge may have sprung up in the middle of the night. #4. Cedar-Apple Rust Fungus What looks like a piece of rotting fruit giving birth to either a family of worms or a single, tentatcled horror? If you said "cedar-apple rust fungus," then ... well, you probably just read the title of this entry, we guess. CARF is a fungal infection that attacks, you guessed it, cedar and apple trees. It produces globular fungal balls anywhere from a 1/4 inch to 2 inches in diameter and inflates "spore horns" when the weather gets wet, transforming it into the Koosh ball from hell. Or, if you prefer, gummi Cthulhu. Or what happens when slugs mate with mac and cheese. #3. Buddha's Hand We don't know what kind of Buddha they were thinking of whose hand looks like a writhing ball of giant maggots. It looks more like what Brian Lumley envisions when his wife asks him to pick up a bushel of grapefruit. Buddha's hand is a citrus fruit popular in China and Japan for its strong fragrance. It fails as a fruit since it's pretty much all zest and no pulp, but it has other uses, such as being a feature in Stephen King's fruit basket centerpiece. #2. Chinese Fleeceflower The Chinese use this plant in their traditional medicine for kidney health, strong bones and hair restoration, and as a mild laxative, and it's ... Hey, wait a second ... OK, weird, it's a root that looks like a little dude. But that's a rare, onetime fluke, right? It's not like that's what this species typically looks like or anything. OK, now nature is just straight fucking with us. According to traditional Chinese herbalists, these little dirt trolls are a cure-all for everything from high cholesterol to vaginal discharge ... They also ... um ... We here at ... uh ... We don't know. We just don't know. #1. Various Dick-Shaped Plants This will make us feel better. First off, we have the above Peter Popper Red Hot Peppers, and yes, that is a link to Amazon, where you can pick your own peck of pecker peppers. Then we have the below mushroom, which is actually related to the Cthulhu mushrooms further up the list. It's a common stinkhorn, though its proper name is Phallus impudicus, literally, immodest wang. Next is the penis cactus, a variation on a Bolivian cactus that breeders have encouraged. That's right, someone actually discovered a mutant variety of cactus that looked like dick and worked to encourage it. Makes that hunt for the boob-shaped watermelon you've been on since you were 15 seem almost noble, doesn't it? We'll just leave the rest of these here: Stay classy, nature.