Leaving home forever must be terrifying. So, when Zhang Xiang, whom we called “Hope” in English, was about to become the first captive-born female giant panda released into the wild, I did the only thing that seemed sensible: I dressed as a tree.

As I sat in a blind photographing pelicans, I thought about how different my life had become. Twenty years ago, I sat in a windowless office, inside the enormous building that is the IBM Research Center in Westchester, New York. In front of me, numbers and symbols chased one another across a computer screen.

As a travel photographer, I see trees everywhere I go while exploring the world. They all look different, but they’re usually considered “background” or “part of the scenery.” However, I’ve come to see trees as more than just part of the landscape.