A different view of the woods

This year has been a vintage year for bracken growth in the Forest of Dean, in some parts the bracken stands well over head height, so without a step ladder and access to a 10' high tripod, the height of the bracken has proved compositionally challenging. It is also a mast year for acorns from some oaks and the resident wild boar population have 'ploughed' the woodland floor foraging for acorns, posing another compositional problem.

Taking a pragmatic approach, it seems sensible to eliminate the woodland floor entirely and use the topography to concentrate on perspectives of the woodland canopy.  It is reasonable to suggest that a woodland canopy is a visually complex environment, the architecture of the tree crowns, leaf densities and colours are the elements to draw inspiration from.

The tree crowns reveals the intense competition for access to sunlight and ultimately survival of the tree. The contrast between pure oak stands and mixed oak/beech trees, illustrates why planting beech with oak is desirable for premium grade timber. The time honoured approach of planting beech and oak in the ratio of 2:1 by the Deans foresters, was ignored by the early 19th C foresters who replanted the Dean, who employed a new approach for raising an oak forest covering ~11,000 acres and millions of trees. It was one of the more significant mistakes made in that exercise.

Cathedral lighting in the woods

I have never been a fan of incorporating the sun in landscape photos, aesthetically it doesn't push my buttons, however in woodland, I am a fan of contre-jour lighting. Specifically woodland with a high canopy, where any openings or gaps in the canopy present an opportunity for what I call 'cathedral lighting'. The best lighting is from low angle light from a rising sun and the lighting effect as it passes through the dew saturated, translucent leaves and fronds of autumnal bracken, is reminiscent of sunlight through a stained glass window.

Recent weather has been remarkably benign, with no wind and clear blue skies, the prospect of clear skies holds little appeal for hills and uplands, so the woods have been visited for the sunrise in expectation of mist and fog, that expectation has yet to be fully met. After a break from woodland photography, the more visually complex scenery needed a recalibration of composition as many some images could have been better balanced and other images didn't convincingly capture the nature of the wood or indeed woodland. I am hoping that some mist will also put in an appearance before the leaves fall.