I took this photo in February while visiting Mummelsee in the Black Forest. The entire area was covered in snow, and what caught my eye was the winding ski trail cutting across the dense forest—it looked almost like a brushstroke across the trees. I was working with natural light only, and the weather was overcast, which made the scene feel very soft and muted. At first, I was worried the lack of contrast would make the image look flat, but I realized it actually helped highlight the textures and gave the whole scene an abstract, almost dreamlike feel. I shot this on a Nikon D5600 with the 18-55mm kit lens at 55mm, using ISO 200, f/11, and a shutter speed of 1/500 sec. It’s a simple composition, but what makes it abstract to me is how the layers of trees and snow blend together with very little depth or separation—it becomes more about shapes, tones, and mood than a specific place.