4 spring woodlands

May 2016, thus far, has turned out to be a vintage one for photography in my local woods : the weather has contributed with low wind and rain to bring out the colours. Locations ground-truthed back in the winter have provided some photographic reward and also some old haunts revisited.

Starting with a rewarding trip to a by now familiar scowles woodland for dawn, as the sun rose into a strip of clear sky on the horizon with rainclouds covering the remaining 99% of the sky, the resulting light was good, but all too brief.

With sunrise over, I headed onto another woodland where wildflowers in some parts of the wood pick out the underlying geology and also archaeology, the better drained soil of mineral spoil from bell pits and anomalous earthworks form a preferential habitat for bluebells and wood anemones.  This particular wood is planted semi natural ancient woodland and deserving of a future post of its own, as there is a complex interaction of ground flora with underlying sandstones and limestones, past management and mineral workings.

Bluebells pick out a bell pit in beech and ash woodland

Making a photograph of ground flora corresponding to underlying geology and archaeology is challenging, happily there are also the are views of spring woodland. The primary colours of green and blue, I find visually appealing, especially when saplings and suckers add to the field layer and break up the tree trunks.

I have been photographing the local woodlands for over a decade and was finally rewarded with a forecast of fog, steady rain and light winds in spring. After some thought I decided on a wood that I have struggled to do justice to in the past, as the woodland grows on an escarpment. Escarpments generally denote more competent geology and there is a history of quarrying quartz conglomerate for grinding stones. The woodland is a mixture of singled coppice, derelict coppice and timber trees all broadleaf with the exception of a few yew and holly trees. The ground flora is slowly recovering, benefiting from a harvesting operation a few years ago and along with some windthrow has opened up the canopy. Woodlands dominated by mature beech can be sterile affairs for ground flora.

Some of the rocks littering the slopes result from quarrying activities, others I am not so sure and could well envisage an origin from periglacial mass movement.

The last wood to report on has an extensive carpet of ramsons growing over scowles and in another area large hazel coppice stools with a more diverse ground flora. The Forestry Commission spray paint was also prominent with a number of beech and ash trees marked for harvesting and thinning.

A few evening woodland visits have been unproductive due to harsh lighting and/or wind motion of the subject, nonetheless the four visits with favourable weather, helped mitigate against the poor weather that marred the photographic ambitions of spring of 2015.

Sorting the wheat from the chaff - In praise of Colin Prior

When I started out on my landscape photography journey back in 2005, I quickly discovered that landscape photography wasn't quite as straightforward as I had imagined. The landscape views I found so compelling, I failed miserably to do justice to in a photograph. More than once, I reflected that I used to enjoy walking the countryside, whatever the weather, now I spent an unhealthy amount of time checking weather forecasts and hauling a much heavier rucksack about, for so little photographic reward. There were a plethora of questions, I was attempting to find answers for : some technical, others practical and some philosophical. I needed to find some answers. A brief exposure to the content of monthly photography magazines, provided further confirmation bias, that magazines catering to a generalist readership, generally lack interest and answers would be a long time arriving. A trip was then made to a large branch of Waterstones, a chance to browse the specialist sections and an in-depth browse through the titles in the Landscape photography section. It proved an interesting visit for a number of reasons :

• There were landscape photographers represented from the UK and USA, some of whom I had heard of and many others whom I hadn't, there appeared to be a select A list of names who garnered the media spotlight. 
• The photographers whose work illustrated the New Naturalist series, Earth Science books and outdoor enthusiast titles, were not represented. A pity, as those were the ones who had inspired me to take up landscape photography.
• The majority of landscape photography books I could find little empathy with due to the content: subject matter, locations and compositional style. I later learned that most of those authors had a formal education in photography.
• There were a minority of landscape photography books whose choice of subject matter, location and compositional style, I could empathise with. I later learned that most of those authors had received no formal education in photography.

If I recollect correctly, I purchased 3 books from the visit to Waterstones :

• The revised edition of Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape by Oliver Rackham. A compelling read and it answered questions I had not even thought of asking.
• Hutton's Arse by Malcolm Rider. Complex geology and an historical overview, condensed and explained with humour, in layman's terms. 

and

• Scotland: The Wild Places by Colin Prior. Some of the images are sublime and importantly have stood the test of time. 

Compared to the other landscape photographers represented in print at the Waterstones branch, Colin Prior's photography was on a higher level both literally and figuratively. The photography illustrated vividly the interaction of light with the landscape through the seasons and the text provided some salient points on the nature of light, location identification, planning and commitment.

Interestingly, Colin Prior, has never pigeon holed himself as a mountain photographer and refers to his photographs as those made by a landscape photographer. In doing so he has set a benchmark for landscape photographers: for some it is a benchmark that has provided inspiration and for others it has raised some deeply uncomfortable truths.

An opportunity arose in December 2006 that allowed me to put into practice some of the the insight gained from Colin Prior's approach to landscape photography. A dawn excursion coincided with a weather front rolling in at sunrise, the ensuing light was very good and most importantly: a feeling of personal satisfaction with some of the images made and of some progress made.

Inspired by Colin Prior ~  Wales, 2006

The knowledge and insight gleaned from Scotland: The Wild Places provided the much needed clarity and direction at that formative stage on my landscape photography journey. If you haven't already got a copy, then I would recommend you do so, at current 2nd hand prices it is a steal.

Dusk at a wild place in Wales ~ 2011