By Graeme O’Rourke.
Australian Snow Gums #2
By Graeme O’Rourke
This photo was taken near the top of Mount Baw Baw in Victoria, Australia, at an altitude of about 1,567 metres.
The Snow Gum grows in cold areas above 700 metres and it is among the hardiest of all eucalyptus species as it survives the severe winter temperatures of the Australian Alps.
Sometimes the bark of the Snow Gum is made up of white, green, grey or yellow patches revealed when the bark peels off – the patches of bark are often red/orange on the underside.
The Snow Gum has the ability to shed its bark and the different coloured patches are a result of this characteristic and this ability allows the Snow Gum to recover from any damage caused by cold weather, ice, snow or fires.
Don’s response
Photographer Graeme O’Rourke has taken a very challenging composition problem and has revealed the order hiding in apparent disorder.
It would be so easy to have photographed this scene from a slightly different angle and not achieved the strength of Graeme’s image.
My eye is drawn to the nearest tree on the right and then, an instant later to the balancing group of trunks on the left. After a brief pause to take in that quartet with its skirt of snowy vegetation, my visual journey continues into the picture, finishing at the subtle vanishing point on the other side of the clearing.
Thoroughly satisfying and acutely observed.