Snow Gums on the Bogong Plains

Snow Gums on the Bogong Plains

By Trace O’Rourke

Sony A7R II; FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS lens; ISO 250; 1/50s; f/8 @ 24mm

The majestic Snow Gums of the Bogong Alpine Plains.

For me these are one of many iconic symbols of our varied Australian landscape.

Don’s response

If you’re an aspiring landscape photographer you could do worse than spend a little time looking closely at this image from the lens of Trace O’Rourke.

Photographing the Australian bush is exceptionally challenging. Our vegetation is often given to a kind of scrubby busyness that challenges photographers to find a unifying pattern in the resolutely random tangles.

So when you see a forthright image like this, it’s worth the effort to think about why. What has the photographer done to make the tree both the star of the show, as it were, and the beckoning guide, gesturing toward the more subtle visual patterns to be found in the background? And how are light and shade balanced?

The best photographs draw you in with such questions.

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