East Bay Photographer

“Oak Scars No. 3, Orinda, California, 2023,” a series of photographs of oak trees by East Bay photographer Jeff Heyman, was selected to hang in The de Young Open 2023, an exhibit showcasing Bay Area artists at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. The exhibit runs from September 30, 2023 to January 7, 2024. 

Heyman’s series of  black and white photographs – presented together in a single 20-inch by 20-inch print – consists of nine closeup images of the “scars” on oak trees after their limbs have been removed. Each photograph captures the many  unique scars left on these old growth oak trees from decades of serial delimbing.

“A tree endures many scars during its lifetime and I have documented a number of the sometimes strange markings on oak trees in Orinda where I live,” said Heyman. “These oak scars, in many ways, mirror the scars we acquire over the course of our own lives,” he added.

Heyman first took photography classes at San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, Calif., during which time he learned Ansel Adams’s Zone System and met noted photographers, including Ruth Bernhard. He went on to earn a degree from San Francisco State University in Fine Art Photography, studying under photographers Catherine Wagner, Melanie Walker, Jack Welpott and Don Worth, as well as painters Paul Pratchenko and Robert Bechtle.

This is Heyman’s first piece to hang at the de Young Museum, a place he visited frequently with his parents while growing up in San Francisco. He has had his work exhibited in a number of solo and group shows. Heyman’s photographs are regularly featured in the Lamorinda Weekly, The Orinda News, and other publications. You can see his work, including “Oak Scars No. 3,” at https://heymanfoto.smugmug.com. More information about The de Young Open 2023, including exhibit hours, can be found at https://www.famsf.org/exhibitions/de-young-open-2023.