University YMCA's new photo display shows how 'That Tree' helped reignite creativity

Oct. 8—CHAMPAIGN — After a car accident left him recovering from a brain injury, Mark Hirsch made an unlikely friend: an oak tree.

Hirsch started his career as a photojournalist and eventually became the visuals editor for the Telegraph Herald in Dubuque, Iowa, until he lost the position due to changes in the newspaper industry.

He remembers the exact date: It was Friday, Oct. 13, 2006.

"If I hadn't lost my job, I think I would still be comfortably miserable in the newspaper industry, I'm sorry to say. It inspired me to achieve a lot of things that I never would have achieved," said Hirsch, whose photography featuring the tree is currently on display in the Murphy Gallery at the University YMCA.

Hirsch took up freelancing and was recruited to follow the presidential campaign trail in 2007.

He traveled across the Midwest and established a presence, taking photos for AP, Getty Images and other large publications.

This was also his chance to make connections, which helped him to transition to commercial photography after the election.

Commercial photo gigs brought him to Watertown, S.D.

"Watertown is an interesting town," Hirsch said. "There's no interchange. The highway goes right through town."

He couldn't recall the exact date it happened, but Hirsch remembers changing lanes on his way through town, planning to stop for a cup of coffee.

Then he remembers a woman's voice asking if he was OK.

A concrete truck with 16-foot-long chutes sticking out the back had been driving parallel to the highway. The driver turned and the chutes swung into traffic and through Hirch's windshield, peeling back the top of his truck and hitting him in the head.

A friend was able to get Hirsch back home to Wisconsin, but the effects of his injury lingered for months.

"I really wasn't doing any photography, I wasn't working, I was literally at home on the couch, hoping my headaches would subside and I'd stop having bad thoughts about myself," Hirsch said.

Since he didn't have photos to share online, Hirsch did end up posting to Facebook about his brand-new iPhone in January 2012.

This prompted one of his friends, a fellow photographer, to reach out.

"She said, 'Isn't the camera great?' I said, 'Carrie, what are you talking about? I didn't buy a camera, I bought an iPhone,'" Hirsch said.

Her claim that the phone camera was worthwhile stuck with him, but he didn't try it out just yet.

Then came another date Hirsch remembers exactly: Jan. 20, 2012.

He was on his way home, driving in the snow, when he took notice of a burr oak tree in the middle of a cornfield.

The advice about his phone's camera came to mind and he pulled over, snapping a few photos as he figured out how the app worked.

Hirsch didn't get a good look at the pictures until he got home and transferred them to his laptop.

"I was really blown away and pretty much inspired by what I saw," Hirsch said. "It was a lovely composition: overcast light, yet I could see the snowflakes cast against the contrast of the trunk of the tree."

The following day, Hirsch decided to start taking a photo every day, just to get back behind the camera and share with his Facebook friends.

"Every day, no matter what I was doing, I would find a moment and I would make a picture," Hirsch said.

On March 13, 2012, Hirsch was on his way home once again when he realized he hadn't gotten his daily photo.

The sunset was beautiful, but he needed something to put in the foreground.

"I parked my truck, walked down the valley and created a really nice composition of that same beautiful tree cast in silhouette," Hirsch said.

Nine days later, another friend, Greg Gunther, reached out to ask, "What's with you and that tree?"

Gunther suggested Hirsch focus on the tree for his daily photos.

"Well, I guess if Greg challenged me to jump off a bridge, I would jump off the bridge," Hirsch said.

On March 24, 2012, Hirsch went out and created one of the first photos that would start a years-long journey with the oak.

His book, "That Tree," was published in 2013, but Hirsch continued taking the photos through June 2020.

"I became so aware of the sounds in the valley and the smells, and the interactions and the role that tree played, whether it was a roosting spot for the red-winged blackbirds or a place for the deer to gather and eat acorns," Hirsch said. "That tree became my solace. She became my friend, kind of my refuge of sorts."

The book led to public-speaking opportunities, both on his story with the tree and on phone photography.

He also sold calendars featuring new photos of the tree taken after the book was published.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought another big change to Hirsch's life as those speaking opportunities dried up.

Around the same time, he lost the tree to a derecho that swept through Wisconsin.

"I never could have anticipated the emotional duress I experienced at the loss of that tree. It was incredibly difficult," Hirsch said. "But such is life."

He kept pushing through, finding work where he could, and photography has become a smaller part of his life now as the publisher for three magazines: Neighbors of South Dubuque, Marion Neighbors and Iowa City Neighbors.

That tree hasn't quite left his life, though.

Before the pandemic, the University YMCA had reached out, expressing interest in displaying his photography.

COVID-19 changed a lot of plans, but as the University Y planned to plant an oak tree for its 150th anniversary in 2023, the idea of showing Hirsch's photos of his own oak came back up.

"That Tree: Photographs by Mark Hirsch" will be on display through Oct. 20 in the Murphy Gallery.