Returning visits
The power of light.
Hello and welcome to Among trees, here you’ll find articles exploring my thoughts and experiences in photography. Many thanks for being here and reading.
I love returning to places. Re visits to see how the landscape or woodland changes over time, across different seasons; different light, conditions, mood and colour temperature. The same place can evoke different emotions simply because the conditions have changed.
This little clearing is blessed with some wonderful trees, some quite old and textured, the bark full of history, etched in are the battles they have faced surviving here through the elements. Other younger birch trees, youthful, perhaps naive to what the years ahead may bring. They sit in an area of woodland that at the right time of day catches the light beautifully.
I’ve spent many moments walking this place. These two photographs, although showing the same view, project very different atmospheres. One is filled with warm sunlight, unstoppable light pouring into the woodland, creating a wonderful uplifting scene.
The second image, much quieter, cooler in tone, a more melancholic, perhaps a more reflective. The light was uniquely different on each occasion.
Each one carrying a different feeling and emotion.
For me thats the beauty of nature, no visit is ever the same. Of course most of the time you might call the light, ordinary, everyday light we experience without noticing. But sometimes it surprises me, elevates my soul, reminding me just how extraordinary it can be. That is the power of light, it’s something so simple, perhaps something we take for granted. However it has the ability to transform the familiar into something magical.
Perhaps that's why I return. Not to find a different woodland, but to discover a different way of seeing the same one.
Thank you for reading and your support,
Until next time,
Matt
In post editing we can also help emphasie these colour and moods using white balance and colour temperature sliders. A simple tool to help convey an emotion to the viewer.
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I have an exhibition coming up with photographer Andy Gray in August. Set in the beautifully restored Aqueduct Cottage on the Cromford Canal in Derbyshire.
Lots of new prints and framed work from around the Peak District.
Details Below.
Looks great
Very nice photographs Matt. I particularly enjoy the concept of returning to a place time and time again to experience it anew. Akin to building a relationship with ones subject which can be paramount to how one might respond to it in a photograph. Thank you for sharing your work and thoughts.