About my photography and the last images of summer.
The subject in most of my photography is forest and woodland, I love nature and the outdoors in all it's forms and find myself constantly drawn to spend time immersed somewhere in nature. I'm lucky to live near to the beautiful New Forest National park in Hampshire on the south coast of England, this is where a lot of the images you'll find here on this website are taken. The New forest covers an area of 566 km2 or 219 miles square and contains large areas of forest that are surrounded heathland, so there's plenty to explore and a place I've been coming to for years. In my photography I hope to explore and capture the feeling of being in the depths of nature, going off trail and finding the deepest parts of the forest I can is something that is special to me. Within most people's everyday life we find ourselves in amongst the hustle an bustle of modern towns and cities running around without much time to connect with ourselves and simply stop breathe and listen to our own inner voice and quiet our minds, people can feel lost and loose touch with themselves. For me the experience of exploring nature is an antidote, a medicine and is healing. To actually be surrounded by the forest and with the feeling of being completely immersed in the natural environment has a profound impact on your mental, emotional and physical well being, slowing your heart rate and resetting the brain. This allows me to reconnect with myself and become more centred, calm and grounded, there's a depth to this experience that signifies our true nature as human beings and our relationship to our environment of which we need to be conscious of in order to live a well balanced life. It's during my explorations that I enjoy capturing scenes along the way, to really stop and enjoy the space I find myself in and take it in, hopefully coming away with a good composition and capturing a little bit of natures magic in photographic form. It's in the moments of slowing down and observing that a composition stands out, through being still in yourself and observing forms and light.
"Presence is needed to become aware of the beauty, the majesty, the sacredness of nature” - Eckhart Tolle -
This image was taken towards the end of summer 2019, it's an area I've visited many times. I loved the way the slope of the ground works with the shadows stretching out across the fallen leafs from Autumns past. The brown of the leafs on the ground in beautiful contrast to green ones still in the tree tops that would soon be joining them. This shot signifies the end of that years summer for me as one of my last trips before Autumn arrived.
Another shot from the same day, they're two of my favourite shot from 2019. I love the depth that's created by the light patches on the ground as they seem to guide your eye through into the distance. The ground slopes away leading down to the trees at the back, it makes you want to walk through the scene. A memorable moment as the light was beautiful and lighting up the forest in a way that leaves you in awe. It's something wonderful to be in the forest in beautiful light and is something I don't always get but endeavour to capture these short lived compositions as the light moves on.
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