audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - The Christmas tree has become so popular that 8 in 10 Americans say they plan to put one up this year, according to Pew Research Center, bringing the annual U.S. holiday tree market to $1 billion. For the next week, everyone who celebrates the Christmas holiday will be doting over these brightly lit holiday centerpieces until Christmas finally comes. Then, when it's all over, they'll be just as quickly forgotten. The contrast between affection and then abandonment is central to Bryan Smith's set of images titled 'O Christmas Tree'. Bryan wandered the streets the of New York City creating these beautiful images of abandoned Christmas trees at the end of last years festive season.The tree tradition began in the Middle Ages in Roman Catholic countries, when the Feast Day of Adam and Eve was celebrated on Dec. 24. The Germans would do a procession carrying ''paradise trees'' with apples on them representing the forbidden fruit. In England during the Victorian era, when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, a German, he brought Christmas trees into their palaces. The first official Christmas tree in the USA was lit up in 1842 In Williamsburg, Virginia.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Jan. 1, 2013 - New York, New York, U.S. - A discarded Christmas tree along the sidewalk of New York City awaiting pick-up.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Jan. 2, 2013 - Manhattan, New York, U.S. - A discarded Christmas tree on a trashcan along the sidewalk of New York City awaiting pick-up.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Jan. 2, 2013 - New York, New York, U.S. - A discarded Christmas tree sits discarded along the sidewalk along the sidewalk of New York City awaiting pick-up.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Jan. 4, 2013 - New York, New York, U.S. - A discarded Christmas tree sits propped up next to a bike along the sidewalk of New York City awaiting pick-up.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Jan. 4, 2013 - New York, New York, U.S. - A man walks by a Christmas tree along the sidewalk of New York City awaiting pick-up.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Jan. 4, 2013 - New York, New York, U.S. - Discarded Christmas trees along the sidewalks of New York City awaiting pick-up.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Jan. 4, 2013 - New York, New York, U.S. - A discarded Christmas tree is propped up next to a parking sign along the sidewalk of New York City awaiting pick-up.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Jan. 4, 2013 - New York, New York, U.S. - Discarded Christmas trees camouflage a bike along the sidewalk of New York City awaiting pick-up.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Jan. 6, 2013 - New York, New York, U.S. - A discarded Christmas tree as seen from above along the sidewalks of New York City awaiting pick-up.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Jan. 6, 2013 - New York, New York, U.S. - A discarded Christmas tree sits under a colorful window along the sidewalks of New York City awaiting pick-up.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Jan. 6, 2013 - New York, New York, U.S. - A discarded Christmas tree sits next to a tropical painting along the sidewalks of New York City awaiting pick-up.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Jan. 6, 2013 - New York, New York, U.S. - A discarded Christmas tree sits surrounded by graffiti along the sidewalks of New York City awaiting pick-up.
© Bryan Smith/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
