Peter Lik’s photos are a guilty pleasure. Yes, he uses a bunch of tricks to achieve the depth and colors that illuminate from his photography. But it’s almost impossible to step into one of his galleries and not be hugely moved by unearthly beauty of his photos, and the planet we live on…

“Some have criticized his work for heavy post-processing. In his defense, however, I think one has to judge art photography by the result. Darkroom manipulation of photos has been going on since the beginning of photography.”
— via New York Daily Photo

“Tree of Dreams,” above, is an example of Lik’s art — here’s a few more: