Widowed Willow

This is the story of a tree; a tree that's more famous for the damage we've done to it than for the magnificent story of how it came to be.

Almost a century ago, someone used a branch of a willow tree as a fence post along the shore of a lake in New Zealand. Determined to live, the branch eventually rooted itself into the sandy soil sprouting a smokey-shaped willow tree that broke through the surface of the water in Lake Wanaka. Some saw shelter and a resting place among the branches. others saw hope and perseverance. In 2020, some fell jealous of its beauty and took an axe to its lower branches.

This tree no longer looks like it does in the photograph I took just a few months before it’s devastating attack. Most people only know about the attack on the tree, but only a few know that this tree existed against all odds. I'm humbled and grateful to have been able to capture it in its natural raw beauty before it fell captive to human jealousy.