TITLE: New life

The old trees still stand in the forest. Their trunks reach towards the sky, gray and bare, without needles, without a sound in the wind. They are dead—and yet not gone. Like silent sentinels, they remain upright, as if they want to observe the forest a little longer.
Their bark peels away, their wood becomes brittle. Woodpeckers tap softly at their trunks, insects find their way into the fine cracks, and fungi begin to slowly transform their interiors. It is a slow farewell, not a sudden end.
And beneath them, something delicate is happening.
Where their shadows have thinned, more light now falls on the forest floor. Young plants fill these gaps. Small saplings grow, cautiously at first, then more determinedly. They straighten up among the silent trunks, as if learning from them how to grow towards the sky.
The old, dead trees still give something: protection from the wind, structure in the forest, life for countless tiny creatures. And as they slowly disintegrate, a new generation emerges around them.
There they stand – past and future at once. Some long since devoid of life, others brimming with new beginnings. And in between, a subtle transition, noticeable only when you pause.

AUTHOR: Pia Steen (Germany)

I was born in Munich in 1980. I grew up in the beautiful, unspoiled Alpine foothills of the Chiemgau region. Nature has therefore always been an important and significant part of my life.
My passion for photography began early. Even as a young child, photo albums were piled high in my room. With my first digital compact camera and later the switch to a DSLR, my initial enthusiasm blossomed into a true passion.