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Winter Trees
December 2001
Many of us watch carefully as the last of the golden leaves fall to the ground and all we have to stare at are the bare skeleton-like branches that remain. But then we discover once again how beautiful those bare branches can be, and when the snows come we feel enriched by the fantastic shapes created by that white powdery stuff that blankets the mountainside.
For this issue we have a collection of photographs of trees in a snowy world bringing us joy for the holiday season. Our cover photograph, by Hardie Truesdale, shows a myriad of snow-covered branches glistening in a brilliant sunny day, with a deep blue sky seen in the few open spaces in between. Our portfolio begins with a mighty birch tree trunk with two ear shaped fungi covered with snow. What follows is a traditional and beloved vision of great evergreens carrying a heavy cover of fresh snow on their outstretched arms - again with a beautiful blue sky above. Our double spread for this issue is a forest of trees after what must have been a storm of strong winds that sealed the snow on to a dizzying number of trunks and branches. One photographer singles out the beautiful form of a dead tree with holes carved by nature into its trunk like a Henry Moore sculpture. The tree on the opposite page is also dead and bare of bark and has just a few traces of snow. There is something magical about the way its branches stretch out like fingers reaching to the sky. And we end our portfolio with a beautiful image of a lone tree, with its black spindly lines seen above a sea of gray snow and the first blushing hints of the setting sun visible in the clouds above.
We can be grateful that our photographers for this issue show us the beauty of trees in this colder season and have contributed a wonderful set of images to celebrate the spirit of winter.
— David Finn
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