DREW REESE
// Santa Fe–based photographer Drew Reese is self-taught and deeply intuitive in his approach. He has been photographing since his youth. His work is shaped not only by his long-standing engagement with photography, but also by the influence of painting—especially abstract and expressionist traditions. He captures the subtle, shifting language of trees in his series Tree Whispers, a beautiful collection of double exposure studies made during the quiet winter and early spring months in New Mexico.
Introduced to art by his sister, a painter, Drew finds more resonance in the brushstrokes of a canvas than in the lens of another camera. “I see an abstract painting and think, how can I achieve that same sensibility in my photographs?” he says. His reverence for the natural world runs deep. A favourite quote comes from 19th-century painter Théodore Rousseau, who also found inspiration among the trees. That language—part poetry, part mystery—lies at the heart of Tree Whispers. Through Drew’s lens, we are invited not only to look, but to listen.
“When I heard the voices of the trees; the surprises of their movements. Their varieties of form and even their peculiarity of attraction toward the light had suddenly revealed to me the language of the forest.”
Theodore Rousseau
What draws you to the arts?
“My first mentor was my sister, who was an abstract painter. She first introduced me to the Impressionists and later to the Abstract Expressionists. I’ve always enjoyed a wide range of art from early Dutch landscapes to Modern and Conceptual art. I look at art constantly. I find my biggest influences are painters as opposed to photographers. I see an abstract painting and think, how can I achieve that same sensibility in my photographs.”
What do you like best about this photo project?
“I like to pick a ‘spot’ and ‘work it’. In this instance, I noticed these trees downtown by a park during the day and came later, when the light was right and shot for a couple of hours. It’s all very intuitive and somewhat by chance. It takes a little while to get into the rhythm, but when I do, it goes very quickly. I’m constantly moving and changing my focus. I love this way of shooting, you never know what you have, until you’re in front of the computer.”
In this series, that painterly approach is unmistakable. The images are not simple portraits of trees—they are translations of feeling, of gesture, of form. To make them, Drew often returns to the same “spot,” observing the light and atmosphere until something clicks. Using double exposures—photographing one tree and then another on the same frame—he conjures layered compositions that feel as much like memories as they do landscapes. There is movement, rhythm, even breath, within the lines.
What fascinates Drew most about these photographs is the process itself. It’s this embrace of uncertainty—a trust in the unpredictable—that allows his images to hum with quiet intensity. The trees, twisted and layered, seem to echo emotions too subtle for words.
Working primarily with Siberian Elms, Drew uses a combination of double exposures and long shutter speeds to reveal the movement and energy that pulses through these bare-branched giants—even in stillness.
In Drew’s world, trees are no longer background—they are protagonists in a quiet drama of presence and perception. His photographs invite us not just to see, but to feel our way into the natural world: to slow down, look again, and listen to the silence between the branches.
Click on the photos to see a larger image with its title. Some images may be cropped for layout.
ALL PHOTOS © DREW REESE
We strongly encourage you to take a look his Instagram page.
SPECTACULUM MAGAZINE 
2 replies on “TREE WHISPERS”
The description of the origin of his inspiration is poetry in itself. Almost like being the camera and having a hint of Drew’s intentions. What inspiring, joyful and spiritual
Love these, very creative.