With lockdown continuing and no real idea when it will be lifted it can often be a hard time for many. Although if you look at it in a more positive light it is a great time for many to realise that the small things can often bring so much joy. Something simple as waking up before the sun rises and going for a walk can be a refreshing way to start the day and put you in a more productive mood for the day. You can feel like a bit of a loose end and this is true for myself having been furloughed whilst my work place remains closed.
Having always admired my father’s work on his woodland photography I headed out to the woods to see what I could photograph. This time taking a single camera and lens combination with no tripod, to most landscape photographers not taking the tripod is worse than sin ! But the freedom of just enjoying being outside and not thinking about what makes a great photograph is often very freeing. This allows me to photograph what I like and not what I think others will like.
With the sun still hidden behind the slopping woodland, the cold winters light invited me to photograph the ghost like presence of my surroundings. One could be mistaken for thinking that I was on a great adventure in Fangorn Forest, the great and empowering forest appearing in the Lord of the Rings films. At any moment a procession of elven royalty could make their way through the army of twisted gnarly trees. Walking through a woods is like your imagination coming to life, a thought process of what could happen and allowing your ‘inner child’ back into your adult life.
As the sun slowly peaked over the trees, the light poured into the valley. Instead of eleven kings and queens the first encounters I had with the living were of the daily joggers making endless laps around the lake. I would be forgiven for saying I felt a little sorry for them having missed the forest waking up and instead continued the monotonous routine of their morning jog. Now I think that jogging is great and for some it works. But what if you just slowed down to appreciate your surroundings and let our imaginations runs wild and free…what if there was more to life than your own daily routine ?
