“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.”
Alice Walker
An elegant gum tree in an early morning, winter's mist, in the Gold Coast Hinterland, Australia
“For happiness, how little suffices for happiness!…the least thing precisely, the gentlest thing, the lightest thing, a lizard’s rustling, a breath, a wink, an eye glance — little maketh up the best happiness. Be still.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
The beauty of a fallen tree trunk, covered in moss, in the Gold coast Hinterland, Australia
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
Helen Keller
A tree clings to a rockface beside a hidden waterfall in the Gold Coast Hinterland, Australia
“Such was the virtue of the land of Rivendell that soon all fear and anxiety was lifted from their minds. The future, good or ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have any power over the present.”
J. R. R. Tolkien
A hidden grotto in the Gold Coast Hinterland, Australia
“Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick”
J. R. R. Tolkien
Fallen trees in a mossy gorge in the Gold Coast Hinterland, Australia
“Within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself”
Hermann Hesse
Twilight stretches over a peaceful Hinze Dam on the Gold Coast, Australia
“At sunrise, every soul is born again”
Muhammad Ali
The early morning sun breaking through the clouds over the ocean and rocks at Currumbin Beach, Gold Coast, Australia
“If you can enjoy the simple things, if you can revel in the small, you can always be assured of finding something to brighten your day”
Lisa Frost
A little tree arching over a creek on the Gold Coast, Australia
“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.”
Thomas Merton
The powerful water at the base of Purlingbrook Falls, Springbrook, Australia
“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.”
Langston Hughes
A tree happily drinks up the rain on the Gold Coast, Australia
“It does good also to take walks out of doors, that our spirits may be raised and refreshed by the open air and fresh breeze”
Seneca
A quiet path makes its way through a woodland arch on the Gold Coast, Australia
“There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest.
Use both and overlook neither.”
Alan Cohen
Textured trunks reach out of bed of ferns on the Gold Coast, Australia
“There is a subtle magic in the falling of old leaves”
Avijeet Das
Dead Trees embrace in the first touch of morning light in Hinze Dam, Australia
“Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven”
Rabindranath Tagore
Trees dancing by firefly light in this twisty old woodland on the Gold Coast, Australia
I heard about fireflies being in this little wood by the sea. It was my first time ever seeing fireflies, let alone photographing them, and it was certainly a magical (though all too brief) experience! I tried to convey the enchanting feeling you have when viewing fireflies in my final image.
“Be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud”
Maya Angelou
A brilliant rainbow during sunrise arches over Currumbin Beach on the Gold Coast, Australia
It was a cloudy morning for sunrise and I was no longer expecting there to be any colour in the sky when suddenly the clouds to the East burst into wonderful oranges and golds. I was busily taking photos of the ocean when another photographer nearby gestured for me to look back and there to the West was this stunning rainbow, complete with a pink sky. It perfectly arced over the Surf Lifesaving tower, and I hurriedly took some photos of the scene before spinning around to continue with the ocean. The entire experience was an absolute rush but completely exhilarating!
