Northern lights on the lake

Northern Lights on the Lake -
The Tree That Stood Through It

A lakeside scene that should not exist at this latitude. And yet here it is.

A great bare tree dominates the frame, its silhouette black and absolute against a sky ablaze with what can only be described as an aurora – curtains of green and teal streaming downward, electric blue patches glowing through the branches like a moon that has changed its mind about colour. To the left, blue-white fragments hang like torn pieces of sky. In the distance, snow-capped mountains and a harbour promenade anchor the scene in recognisable geography – a Swiss lakeside, unmistakably real.

But the sky belongs to another world entirely. The collision between the grounded, familiar landscape below and the impossible atmospheric display above creates a tension that holds the image together without resolving it.

The tree has seen many winters. It has never seen a sky quite like this.