In these photographs, the trees draw my eye before the mountains do. Orange and red leaves line the water, and their reflections carry the colour down through the frame.
The first view stays close to the line of trees. There is a little mist above the surface and very little to interrupt the reflection. The water gives the photograph space without making it feel empty.
In the second photograph, the foreground becomes more noticeable. Green plants sit between the camera and the lake. Beyond them, the trees and sky appear twice, once above the bank and once below it.
Looking away from the water changes the scale. A single tree stands against a much larger mountain backdrop. Its warm leaves are close enough to read individually, while the distant slopes are broken into broad patches of light and shade.
The snow photograph opens the view further. White lies along the high slopes, with brown ground and darker vegetation below. The colour is quieter here, and the lines of the mountains become more prominent.
These pictures belong together as a sequence of changing views, rather than a record of a single day. The reflections hold my attention first. Looking toward the mountains then opens up a much wider view. It is a way of giving the trees their own place in a landscape usually remembered for its peaks.
More photographs and stories: The Drakensberg: A Landscape I Keep Returning To · South Africa photographs.
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