My most frequent exercise is achieved invariably by gathering a few items of camera equipment together, and heading out either directly or indirectly with a camera to some nearby park or woodland area. In this instance I chose the nearby walk that took me to the Forest Centre. The entrance is fairly close, but the first part is a tree-lined path alongside the long drive to the Car Park.
Although this stretch does not provide a wealth of interest, I do grab a few shots in passing. Trees’ trunks are often overlaid by creepers, and fungi, which can form patterns that the mind can imagine create recognisable resemblances to other objects or faces (can you spot the Hippo’s evil eye?) My eye is often drawn to trees that have lost branches earlier in their life, and subsequently the wound has healed; frequently I have found this can result in creating faces – early in this walk, one such tree resembled the oft-featured idea of an Alien from a distant planet! For those whose imagination requires more recognisable detail, Artists have carved their creations to both provide respite support and enhance seats alongside the paths; for the weary to rest awhile.
Seeds that fall to the paths provide pigeons with occasional sustenance and furnish me with images to capture, as do the distant Wind Turbines turning in the light breeze, as I glimpse across the water and intervening bushes, the Marina. My camera finds the freshness of Spring in the colours of young growth, of hardy succulents in the dried mud, and later the fine filaments of web that define the entrance to a Spider’s home.
Meanwhile overhead, clouds gently glide by in the breeze, some massive, some mere small puffs and below small clusters of colour lie at the edge of more open ground and I come out into the open and on the water I find Swans gliding across the lake. On the shore a Dragonfly alights, its wings barely visible against the arid, dessicated shore. A damselfly lands on a sun-parched reed causing a gentle ripple on the surface of the water beneath. Others prefer the dry ground, or dead twigs that intersperse the pale green of struggling grasses.
Some of the swans have small families of young, their grey-brown colour lacking the lustrous sheen of later life. In the shallow water of the shore, tiny young fish glide serenely amongst the tiny clumps of weeds and a damselfly clutches a dried ball of dying leaf as it sways in the gentle breeze, and on parched land nearby a dragonfly has its barely visible wings outstretched as it rests in the sun.
Meanwhile a frisky Swan attempts to have its evil way, but is spurned, with much flapping of wings, which definitely disturbed the Peace and Calm that had preceded! The young Cygnets seemed quite unfazed, whilst above the clouds seemed in an equal turmoil to the parent Swans!
Close to the far shore of the lake a red-sailed dinghy glides serenely past the low silhouette of the Technical College. Meanwhile my walk takes me along the shoreline where some bushes have been hacked back and around the stumps of earlier trees are fresh green and red leaves, and nearby another hacked stump with an exposed root running along the ground alongside. I tend to capture oddities that I spot whilst out walking in woods and alongside streams and lakes, and the red roots gently swaying in the wash from either passing boats or paddling birds at the shore simply caught my eye, as did the letter ‘A’ rooted in the mud. This stretch of shoreline abounded in tree trunks sawn off at ground level, hence why they caught my camera’s eye! As did other oddities such as the abundance of bright red, fresh growth by the stumps.
Spotting another dragonfly with its splayed wings, barely visible agains the desiccated mud challenged me to see how well I could capture the fine detail in its wings. Also, I always like a good lens Test and the sharp, vibrant, blood-red teeth really shouted: “Don’t mess with Me!”
By this time I was getting hooked by what I saw: the abundance of the colour Red; the dearth of water around the reed roots, set against the lushness of the green leaves; the alternate winding of the paths; the curvature of the Turbine blades due to their rotation, set against the focal plane shutter motion; the scudding clouds; the parched ground, yet resilient colour of young growth; the path, bridge and steps, leading off into the distance; the lone bird, the lone man, the lone boy intent on his phone; the tightly curled desiccated leaf; the disappearing path into the distance; likewise, the further carved seats; the lone, distant wind turbine; the turbulent clouds and wind-blown branches; the striding Power Pylons; the rich crimson flowers; and finally, the powerful Seed heads heralding the Future… I give you a long, enjoyable Walk in the Country with my Camera.
