Living in New Zealand, I have been photographing the Wanaka Tree for almost 20 years. Thanks (said sarcastically) to social media, it has become an over-photographed iconic image that seems to be a “must have” for everyone.

Sadly, the biggest challenge for photographers today is navigating the crowd of cameras to get an unobstructed viewpoint. And while the world really doesn’t need another image of the tree, it is a useful exercise for any photographer to return again and again to a scene to explore new compositions. Plus, the weather is never the same, making it possible to obtain an endless variety of images.

With global warming though, Autumn colours are no longer backed by snow—capped mountains. In Autumn, the sun rises behind Mount Iron and the Dunstan Range to the East. As a result, direct golden light only lights the tree well after the sky is lit. But when the light does peek over these ranges, it causes the golden Poplars and Willow to glow brightly.

On this morning, the slight breeze required a longer exposure to obtain smoother water so that the reflection of the background arrow of gold might frame the tree that was itself glowing with golden light.