The day before I took this photo I went there for a quick scouting and see what could be a good angle for capturing this image.
Seeing all those people trying to get as close as possible to it and eventually touch it or climb it just for the sake of taking a selfie, was really irritating.
I was pleasantly surprised when the morning after at around 5am I went to location again and the horde of tourists was substituted by four quiet photographers, that limited themselves to take a shot of the beautiful tree from a fair distance.
Photographers, either professionals or amateurs, are highly criticised for lack of uniqueness and originality for shooting this and someone even says that the tree is not even nice looking. To be honest this makes me laugh. As an artist, today it is very likely that anything you create or work on, it’s something that countless people have done previously in some ways. Obviously I try to make the effort and take photos at sunrise when the light makes everything more interesting and beautiful. I also wrote an article if you want to challenge yourself and shoot at sunrise, read my tips for sunrise photography here.

Wanaka Tree
So don’t worry to much, go and take photos of the Wanaka Tree. It’s in a beautiful location, backdropped by the Southern Alps, in the middle of the Wanaka Lake in New Zealand.
Pay attention though, avoid touching the tree or climbing on it, the poor plant is of a very delicate species and it’s suffering. Let’s try to save it instead of hurting it.


You don’t need to get very close to it to take a snap and post it on your Instagram.
I would be interested in knowing what you think about it 🙂
2 Comments
I agree with you with regards to photographing the same scene as everyone else. For the artistic photographer out there it’s all about personal taste and applying your own style to the image. Also lots of other conditions affect the final image, camera settings, lens, weather and light add to a different final image. I really like your edit, keep up the good work.
Yes in the end, isn’t photography a way of representing what we saw and how we saw it. All the factors you’ve mentioned added to our unique perspective will lead to a different result. Which is pretty awesome I guess. Thanks again for your kind comment 🙂