A Lovely Walk

 

This off Friday I headed back to Hurstwood Woods which is rather rapidly becoming a favourite haunt of mine and Tedster's. I had loosely contemplated getting a bus somewhere, but despite having had my 1st Covid-19 vaccine, I'm still not enamoured with the prospect of using public transport to get somewhere. So grabbed the M50 and 18-150mm lens and Tedster of course and mooched along to what is a local place for me.

Being a natural environment it lends itself easily to a myriad of photo opportunities, there's always something different especially with Spring causing blossom to appear, moss covered logs, the odd abandoned dog lead hanging on a tree etc. 

This image is one of several favourites from the almost 3.5hr I spent wandering through the woods and checking out some of the various entrances into the woodland from local estates. This has been "artified" using the texture/clarity sliders within Lightroom to give a more painterly feel to the image. I love shooting up through the trees and at the moment as the new leaves begin to form you get some interesting skeletal shapes from the trunks and branches.

I'm sure other users of the woodland wonder what the heck I'm looking at... In fact one chap asked me and looked up towards the trees to his right. I'm like I'm shooting this piece of blossom right in front of me and using the other foliage as a backdrop 📷 The guy probably thought I'm weird. Whatever. I take photos of whatever catches my attention as I mooch about and with digital one no longer has to worry about limiting one's creativity to 36 exposures, or worse still, struggle to use a film up 😱 I came back with plenty of images to keep me occupied for a few more hours editing in Lightroom. Something else I enjoy as part of the photographic experience.

It's safe to say that my cameras, and Tedster have helped to keep me sane during this whole pandemic shenanigans. I try and take photos on a regular basis and fortunately because people pictures aren't my forte I get to easily find good subject matter. No need to social distance from a tree/plant/teddy-bear (delete as appropriate!)

Just another final image to whet your appetite. Again using texture/clarity sliders to create a painterly feel. I love the woods, trees in particular, although everyone loves a fern. Not too many of those about in these woods bit I did find an abandoned Christmas tree 🤣

So until I get the 2nd vaccine, which is booked for early June I think I will stick to the places I can easily (?) reach on foot, including my chats with Mum at the Crem. Actually that's something that has allowed me to see the place in all its floral glory rather than just on her anniversary, in November, when everything has died off for the winter. 💕