Awakening | Weekly Photo #101
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been eagerly scouting and photographing nearby woodlands as they begin to wake from their wintry sleep, sprouting with new life and vibrant colours. I only started to photograph the woodland in March last year but just days into this new pursuit, we were locked down, stuck at home for almost the entire spring season. So, with restrictions from the most recent lockdown loosened in March this year, I wasn’t going to miss out on photographing the woodland in spring for a second year. I spent as much time as I could researching potential areas and once allowed, headed out to explore them so I could be ready to photograph them once the awakening had started.
Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 41mm | 0.5 Seconds | f/8 | ISO200
While researching potential locations, I came across this small woodland just 15 minutes’ drive from home. I initially discovered it on the Surrey Wildlife Trust website. The Wildlife Trust do important work here in the UK to protect the local wildlife through active engagement and education and websites like theirs are a great source of knowledge to find areas with particular types of wildlife when scouting photography locations.
When I first scouted the woodland back in early March, the trees were still bare but all over the ground, I noticed the green leaves of bluebells starting to sprout. Bluebells have a particularly thick, grass-like leaf and with the woodland floor smothered in them like a vibrant green carpet, I knew I had a great location close to home where I could keep coming back to during spring. When I took this photo, the Bluebells were still around a week from being at their peak but as I wandered amongst the trees, I spotted this picturesque scene with bluebells in the foreground, with a small, dried-up brook in the mid-ground that subtly leads the eye towards the background and those new, vibrant leaves backlit by the morning sun.
Thankfully, I could get to the spot where I took this picture without disturbing a single Bluebell as I know how fragile these flowers can be. The UK woodlands is home to around 50% of the global population of Bluebells and like many woodland flowers, if you tread on them, they may not grow back again next year which is why they are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. They really are a national treasure.
I carefully placed my tripod on the ground, avoiding any flowers and mounted my Fujifilm XT2 and 18-55mm lens on top. To give the colours a slight boost and to take a small amount of the glare off the leaves, I mounted my circular polariser filter onto the end of the lens and with the settings dialled in, I manually focused and took the shot.
Overall, I’m happy with the final image, although I think it would be stronger and a little less busy without the trees on the far left and bottom right but this is woodland photography and although it’s part of the challenge to create a visually pleasing photo, you often have to embrace the chaos nature presents to you. I’ve quickly learned that if you strive for a perfect composition while photographing the woodland, you will quickly be disappointed.
Until next week.
Trevor
This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.