I have a longtime affinity for photographing tree stumps, most recently in “Moonlit”, in which the craggy, peak-like structures on stumps are magnified into mountains. In “Moonlight Burning”, I have experimented with different imaging techniques to create large panoramic portraits of tree stumps appearing more like mountain ranges and cliffs. The scale is magnified to emphasize the importance of these decaying remnants of forest trees. In addition, the images are constructed over time from multiple vantage points leading to entirely novel perspectives. While the stumps are at the end of their life cycle, they are covered with all sorts of living things, fresh moss, ferns, and mushrooms. These provide evidence of life in the stump despite its late stage, as well as hints to the viewer of the actual scale of the stumps. Why amplify and expand on a rotting tree stump? Because I wish to emphasize the importance of the continuity of life at a moment when nature is being challenged. Why employ moonlight and public domain Hubble Space Telescope images of nebulae to add to the otherworldly nature of these images? Because I wish to set the stump and the life processes that it is undergoing apart from these threats, and to provide the opportunity to appreciate them unspoiled. Why composite images from multiple angles over prolonged periods of time? Because I wish to introduce an alternative space and time, a new timeline, a reconstructed reality, where the beauty I experience is preserved despite these threats. Why “burning”? Because rotting, like living is a slow burning process, and because the challenges to nature that we see all around us is truly a burning problem.