Lake Rotorua, smelly but amazing, New Zealand, December 2023.

#landscape
#lakerotorua
#NewZealand
#travelphotography
#sonya7c

The Drowned Roots "Beneath still waters, something ancient waits in silence." Beneath the still, sulfur-streaked waters of Lake Rotorua, the remains of a lost forest stretch toward a surface they will never reach. These skeletal trees, half-rotted and eroded by geothermal currents, twist unnaturally, their warped trunks betraying a history of slow suffocation beneath the weight of volcanic silt. Their branches, growing in impossible spirals, seem frozen mid-reach, as if they once clawed toward the sky before surrendering to the abyss. The lake’s surface is deceptively calm, yet something stirs beneath. As the mist rolls across the water, the reflections of the drowned trees do not match—some are distorted, elongated, bending like flesh, while others show shadows of things that do not exist in the world above. In the deeper parts of the lake, where the sun does not reach, something even older lingers, its form glimpsed only in the unnatural bends of submerged roots, where the wood has fused into something not entirely plant, not entirely bone. At dusk, the lake takes on a darker sentience. The ripples move against the wind, the water distorts sound, and the reflections whisper. No one knows how deep the roots go. No one has ever dared to find out. Rotorua, New Zealand, January 5, 2025, 12:00 PM Overcast Skies (Dread) 2025.01.05.WeatherVaults.SDA.Rotorua.NewZealand.D1.0025-D0005.0110-WV0034.LyraFlux

#WeatherVaults 01.05.2025.D1.0004.0034
January 05, 2025 12:00pm Overcast Noon (Dread)
Inspired by #Rotorua, #NewZealand

"The Drowned Roots"
Beneath still waters, something ancient waits in silence.

#LyraFlux #sda24 #dread
#LakeRotorua #DrownedForest #GeothermalMystery #DarkWaters #LostLandscapes

Mist and Gold: Lake Rotorua’s Sulfur Shores "Where steam meets water, and shadows drift across gold." Lake Rotorua stretches into the mist, its silvery waters reflecting the overcast sky in a seamless gradient of grays. Steam rises from the distant shoreline, curling in delicate plumes that dissolve into the soft atmosphere, blurring the boundary between lake and sky. Along the shore, dark volcanic rocks scatter across the foreground, their heavy forms contrasting against the lake’s muted reflections. Amid this monochrome stillness, sulfur-stained deposits emerge in striking ochre and gold, bleeding into the water’s edge like nature’s own brushstrokes. A wooden pier, slick with moisture, extends into the quiet expanse, inviting contemplation of the scene’s eerie calm. Black swans glide across the misty surface, their silhouettes inky against the pale reflections, drifting toward the geothermal haze beyond. The distant vents of Sulphur Bay release their endless breath, whispering of the fire beneath the land, where unseen forces shape the lake’s tranquil beauty. A quiet balance unfolds between stillness and motion, earth and air—an ethereal moment captured in the meeting of water, stone, and rising steam. Rotorua, New Zealand, January 5, 2025, 12:00 PM Overcast Skies (Museum) 2025.01.05.WeatherVaults.SDA.Rotorua.NewZealand.M1.0025-M0018.0121-WV0032.LyraFlux

#WeatherVaults 01.05.2025.M1.0018.0032
January 05, 2025 12:00pm Overcast Noon (Museum)
Inspired by #Rotorua, #NewZealand

"Mist and Gold: Lake Rotorua’s Sulfur Shores"

#LyraFlux #sda24 #travel #aiart #aidigitalart
#LakeRotorua #SulphurBay #GeothermalMist #Nature #Gold #TranquilWaters #MistyHorizon