Michael Wilkins
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Photograph of a row of bare winter willows standing in still lake water at Glenorchy, each tree perfectly mirrored, with a long snow-covered range filling the background.

The Willows

Glenorchy, New Zealand · August 2020

1D X Mark II, 24 millimetres, f 22, 20 seconds, ISO 100

Dead flat water, bare trees, and the Humboldts behind. Nothing to do but not ruin it.

The head of Lake Wakatipu in August, water absolutely dead, the willows bare and each one landing its own reflection. Behind them the Humboldt range runs right across the frame. I put the horizon dead centre, which you are told never to do — here the whole picture is the symmetry, and moving the line anywhere else just breaks it for no reason.

Part of The Southern Alps, a series.