Tree art

A short while ago, black and white photos of trees went viral. Amongst the many old landmark trees there were a few inspiring photos. Unfortunately, the black and white format was not the right choice for all the photos and the lighting could often have been improved with a bit of patience and care. Hopefully it will motivate people to go and explore and enjoy forests.

1
Aboriginal art motive painting
(no artist name known and - as it is out on public land in the forest - photographed without permission)

 This painted tree trunk totally caught us by surprise. It is just stunningly beautiful and it is great to see art happening out in nature. There were more such pieces of art to discover, some of them hardly surviving the back-burning of the bush and almost turned into charcoal, some weathered down by the rain, sun and wind. This piece of art is making me reflect on art in public places rather than museums. It makes me reflect on the conservation of art, its vulnerability to the elements. Far out in my mind, it also provokes me to think about graffiti, the ugly tags that we are forced to be involuntarily consuming in every smaller or bigger city of the world.

2
Termite face

The term termite is terminally linked to death, destruction and decay. It is the job of terminators or pest control specialists to go for the termites, eradicate and keep them off your ground. But wait a minute, they are important for the balance of ecosystems. So, despite their bad reputation they are us human's friends and helpers more times than not. They even serve as nesting ground for birds and ... produce art on trees.

3
The bend

With some photos there is simply no need for colour. The story for me is about the bend, the hard conditions under which the bend happened. Did it lead to the tree's death? It is great to have dead trees that are left to stay and that are not cleared up. They are important beyond death, maybe become even more important to the ecosystem than when they were alive. Maybe the bends is just an interesting topic for Scuba divers. Some of us underwater photographers also know to appreciate a picture with a lack of a special, natural lighting of the scene.