Scott Leggo, WINTER EMBRACE (PLACES WILDERNESS 2025)

With its famous belly button, this ancient snow gum represents what many associate with snow gums - a twisted trunk, ever changing bark patterns, and a location in one of the windiest areas in Australia. This tree truely is an iconic representation of the Snow Gum in the Australian Alps. I first photographed this tree nearly twenty years prior. In that time it's become an increasingly popular tree to photograph. Despite that, I've been determined to capture this tree in winter. I've returned many times over multiple winters and the conditions have never been quite right. Either the tree has been covered in too much snow to even recognise anything, or there was too little snow, or the lighting conditions weren't right. On this trip however it all came together and I was finally happy to capture a photograph I was happy with. While the snow cover wasn't that deep, it allowed the opportunity to still see the trees trunk and bark colours that has become a bit of an icon to photograph.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.