ANCIENT TREES

DREW HOPPER

Trees are in Drew Hopper’s blood. They show up beautifully in his photography portfolio.

Hopper, an award-winning nature documentary and editorial photographer, is based in Australia. Raised as a nomadic kid till the age of six, homeschooled by his mom, often in outdoors settings along the way, Hopper today is also an inspiring travel photographer.

Passion for photography sparked when Hopper received his first DSLR camera from his parents for his 18th birthday.

Some of Hopper’s most beautiful photos feature native and endemic trees. Our favorite images showcase Antarctic beech trees, with their gnarly branches and roots, carpeted and draped in velvet green mosses.

The Antarctic beech (Lophozonia moorei), grows primarily at high altitudes in eastern Australian rainforests. These trees are descendents from those living over a half billion years ago in Gondwana, the prehistoric supercontinent.

Once referred to as “negrohead beech,” the Antarctic beech is native to the eastern highlands of Australia.

Within the genus, the Antarctic beech is part of a lineage of three evergreen species, the other two being silver beech (L. menziesii) of New Zealand and myrtle beech (L. cunninghamii), of Tasmania and Victoria.

These trees can grow up to 50 meters (164’) tall and have thick trunks -- up to 1 meter in diameter, with complex root structures, now exposed by erosion over time. While the leaves are dark green when mature, new growth in springtime is brilliant red, or orange.

Hopper captures these majestic trees in New England National Park, NSW Australia, often draped in moss, softened by a shower of mist and kiss of late afternoon golden light.

Magnum Photographers Bruce Davidson, Martin Parr, and Alex Webb, along with photographers David Alan Harvey, and Michael Yamashita, inspire and influence Hopper’s work.

Hopper is a regular contributor to Australian Geographic, covering assignments throughout Australia. He also regularly contributes to Australian Photography Magazine.

Hopper is the Editor-in-Chief for Travel Photographer Society magazine, a quarterly online publication focused on travel photography. He personally travels mostly throughout Asia on assignment and for personal projects. Whenever he is home, he spends much of his time outdoors, shooting trees and their landscapes in the beautiful the national parks and beautiful coastal environments of his native Queensland, Australia.

To see more of Hopper’s work visit his website or follow him onFacebook, Instagram, Twitter, 500px and Google+.

Read more about Magnificent Trees in These Magnificent Trees Deserve & Need A Visit

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Mind/Body, Soul/Impact, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Arts/Design, and Place/Time, Daily Fix posts.

IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Drew Hopper. “Antarctic Beech Forest.” New England National Park. New South Wales, Australia.
2. Image: by Drew Hopper. “Antarctic Beech Forest.” New England National Park. New South Wales, Australia.
3. Image: by Drew Hopper. “Ancient Forest.” New England National Park. New South Wales, Australia.
4. Image: by Drew Hopper. “Mist Shower.” Antarctic Beech Forest. New England National Park. New South Wales, Australia.
5. Image: by Drew Hopper. “Twisted Forest.” Dorrigo World Heritage National Park, Gondwana Rainforests. Queensland, Australia.
6. Image: by Drew Hopper. “Branching Out.” New England National Park. New South Wales, Australia.
7. Image: by Drew Hopper. “Biological Wonder.” New England National Park. New South Wales, Australia.
8. Image: by Drew Hopper. “Biological Wonder.” New England National Park. New South Wales, Australia.
9. Image: by Drew Hopper. “Mystic Gondwana.” Dorrigo World Heritage National Park, Gondwana Rainforests. Queensland, Australia.
10. Image: by Drew Hopper. “Capturing the Essence of the Rainforest.” Dorrigo World Heritage National Park, Gondwana Rainforests. Queensland, Australia.
11. Image: by Drew Hopper. “Gleniffer Valley.” Gleniffer Valley, Australia.