Mark Hirsch
Public Speaker, Photographer, and Project Manager in Dubuque, Iowa
Photojournalist and artist Mark Hirsch is the author of “That Tree.” Hirsch of Platteville, Wisconsin is an editorial, corporate,and landscape photographer based out of Dubuque, Iowa. Hirsch spent 20 years in the newspaper industry as a photojournalist, photo editor and visuals editor before embarking on a freelance career in 2006. His clients include GettyImages, The New York Times, and John Deere Corporation.
While recovering from a serious car accident in 2012, Hirsch was inspired by a friend to use his iPhone to document a year-long photo a day project focusing on an old bur oak tree. Hirsch embraced the challenge resulting in a transformative experience of healing, self-discovery, inspiration, and enlightenment. The year long project along with Hirsch’s essays and reflections have been published in a coffee table book, “That Tree”, available at www.thattree.net
Hirsch’sproject has gone viral producing widespread international attention from the world's most noted broadcasters, magazines, newspapers, and online outlets including CBS Sunday Morning, NBC, PBS, NPR, The Sierra Club, Chicago Tribune, The Daily Mail (UK), The Guardian (UK), Le Monde, The San Francisco Chronicle, TheHuffington Post, and many more.
That Tree An iPhone Photo Journal Documenting A Year in the Life of Lonely Bur Oak:
THAT TREE is a full color, 10x10 inch, 192 page hardcover book documenting a year in the life of a lonely bur oak tree. Mark created this inspirational story exclusively using the camera in his iPhone.
Artists Perspective
Trees resonate deeply in the souls of millions of people. As a photographer and a person, That Tree spoke to me. She spoke of patience and dedication, hidden beauty and personal healing.
Nestled in a valley between two cornfields, That Tree has witnessed a dramatic metamorphosis of the land. For an entire year using only my iPhone, I would quietly coax her stories and share in her wisdom through my visual discoveries in and around her realm.
Where once tall grass prairies flourished, ox and plow have transformed the land. Through it all, That Tree has stood as a silent sentinel adapting to all the challenges, be they from man or nature.
My wish is that the viewers of my images will find themselves in my place on the landscape mesmerized by the sunset while listening to the blackbird’s song.