Scott Leggo, Resilience (PLACES WILDERNESS 2022)

This photo was a challenge to capture. With severe weather warnings in place I headed up high in Kosciuszko National Park in an effort to capture snow gums in the harshest of conditions. After a few hours of hiking, I battled gale force winds to both find suitable snow gums at the tree line and keep the camera from quickly getting covered in snow and ice. The wind and snow was relentless. My persistence paid off and the end result is this image - which despite the shutter speed freezing the moment of the leaves, you can still see the snow coming across horizontally. A tough but enjoyable day out and worth the reward in being able to share this moment.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.