Cottonwood Tree

Danielle Castano for Resuer Magazine Issue 10.

Not often do I believe in fate. But when it comes to photoshoots, I tend to think the “Photo Gods” come visit me every so often. A shoot where every piece falls into place but then I am surprised with one thing beautifully out of my control. Whether it’s a crazy shadow from the sun, or a bird that flies into a shot at the exact right moment. For this shoot, it was this cottonwood tree in Denver, Colorado.

I was running late. Danielle was running late. So out of hunger and desperation I yelped the closest coffee shop and asked Danielle to meet me there. During my .7 mile walk over, I started noticing that falling from the sky were tiny little puffs of cotton. The closer and closer I got to the shop, the sky was completely consumed with them from this one cottonwood tree next door. It felt like the sky was underwater and millions of bubbles were floating amongst us and then into the sky.

I moved to Los Angeles in February 2016 from New Jersey and Philadelphia to pursue photography fulltime. This past May, I decided to visit Denver because I hadn’t seen my New Jersey mother in over five months and she was in town for The Oncology of Nursing Convention. I booked my cheap flight and Air B&B and was on my way.

I was running late. Danielle was running late. So out of hunger and desperation I yelped the closest coffee shop and asked Danielle to meet me there. During my .7 mile walk over, I started noticing that falling from the sky were tiny little puffs of cotton. The closer and closer I got to the shop, the sky was completely consumed with them from this one cottonwood tree next door. It felt like the sky was underwater and millions of bubbles were floating amongst us and then into the sky.

I remember just standing in the midst of them thinking, “Is this real? Like this doesn’t just randomly happen? The day that Danielle and I shoot for the first time after years of waiting, and it’s literally raining tiny little clouds?”