21st Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Old Man in the Willows

A bullrush that looks like an old man’s face, this whimsical fluke speaks to bonds between people and nature. It grew in an engineered wetland providing clean water and habitat. The old-man-in-the-tree motif also evokes the ungentrified, pre-Portlandia hippie culture of Oregon.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 05.2023
Date Uploaded: 11.2023
Photo Location: Albany, Oregon, Oregon, United States of America
Camera: iPhone SE (2nd generation)
Copyright: © Sean Fleming