Galleries » Woodland
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Woodland
When I was young, before I realised the inevitable link between the words education and compulsory, I spent the majority of my outdoor life in woodland. I had to, it was at the end of our garden. Now, as I journey on the circle line of life I find myself getting off at the same stop again: Woodland.
The key to really enjoying this self-contained landscape is to go there often, to the point where you get withdrawal symptoms if you leave it more than three or four days. Only then do you really begin to appreciate what a superb barometer woodland is of Britain's highly seasonal climate and its influence on the rhythm of nature's year. More than anywhere else it helps develop a basic understanding of biodiversity, the crucial relationships and interdependency of plants, insects, birds and animals (not that long ago you would have added Man to the list).
Woodland is a superb destination for creative photography. Dynamic change brings a never-ending supply of subjects and provides in abundance the three foundations of expressive landscape photography: colour, shape and texture. Plus woodland's inherent complexity throws down a challenge to the thinking photographer's desire to simplify image-making.
On a practical level it works in nearly all weathers, providing shelter from wind and rain, shade from harsh summer sunlight. And compared to other destinations - mountain, coast, rivers and lakes - woodland usually offers the closest wild place to home for most of us.