20.04

borrowing from my IG layout page i’ve decided to use Indeisgn to help present these 64 image, as uploading them each individually would take up a lot of storage on this site, this may compress my images but they work well as contact sheets, showing the journey across my 6 hours in the forest today, over the course of these ours i took over 1000 photos which i then had to sort through in Bridge by using the star rating system and then edit then in Photoshop. Bridge was a real help in this case as sorting through each photo would have taken ages

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> Styling <

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these photos follow my third editing process looking at a more simplistic approach, here marks the first post i made using this style and has been captioned as such, i posted this photo because of its delicate nature as the lighting softly illuminates the leaves on this branch, it represents this idea of mediation through the soft color pallet

the second is one of my favourites with the color conversion and shows us this nice lighting on these stinging nettles nestled around this textured log, lit from one side by the natural ambient lighting

the third one begins to look into mediation closer by incorporating text asking use to take a moment and self reflect, which is very key in these times, as my Instagram is often an outlet for things going on in my life, at the moment i am struggling at home and looking to move out of my parents again, i wanted to take time to evaluate my options and move forward. i also like this one because of its interlocking branches that wrap around each other constricting itself through friction which will lead to wood rot

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venturing further i came across a fallen tree blocking my passage along this path, which gave me a good opportunity to get a photo of its root system providing a lot of texture, however the hue isnt where id like to be because of the earthy tones arent effected by the editing process, i try and do something later with this idea

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travelling further into the undergrowth i wanted to play around with the height my camera further, began crouching down to be apart of the fauna here looking at eye level, my first photo looks towards the light as we see this soft carpet of weeds, and starts to look at this idea of spiritualism through the lens of ram dass with a quote by him. to coneys this idea i like to use the sun as a holy higher power however im not truly this is the best way of connoting to this idea

the second photo aims to get lower so that i am among the foliage, i really love the way the light brightens them, however i feel this photo is too clustered to have much substance as it appears messy without much thought towards composition

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as i carried on walking i started to travel further off of the path and came across this field of native blue bells, the lighting through the canapes lit this field nicely and knew i had to get a snap, with two large trees on either side of the frame they oppose each other and hold dominance over the blue bells. in editing i probably need to tone down my highlights in this image as sections are starting to bleach, though i might be able to use the burn tool in photoshop to effect a small area rather than the whole image

the next photo i’ve clearly messed up my curve layer making it look out of place to the rest of my images, i should probably change this so that its more in line with the rest of my images as this is a nice photo disregarding my curve

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as i came over the hill in this field i saw these broken trees that had fallen, plymouth is quite prone to harsh winters and last December strong storms blew through this area ripping down trees in the window, this destruction showcases sharp imagery of uprooted trees that lay upon this forest. i like these angels that fall when trees do

through out plybridge there are many metallic art installations of the wildlife here, i really like these as they are so unnatural, they juxtapose the natural order of the living with their shiny man made exoskeleton, i prefer this style over using living animals within my work

in this photo i look towards a wall of an old building that has fallen to disrepair through the many years, we can see this as vines and moss grows up the sides of this hovel, without its roof light bleeds through highlighting the walls and foliage. as much as i like this photo i wish i was more continuous of the subject matter as it looks a little busy, crouching down slightly would have removed the branches from above leading to a more organised composition

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wanting to look more closely at the fauna, and with being april the firms were just starting to sprout their leafs. i found myself fascinated with fern plants for their alien nature as they dont use a normal leaf system to photosynthesis, rather using these large fan like leaves with slits between to adsorbs the light .

to echo this and a post from eailer on the series i looked closely at a blue bell to allow me to mediate on its delicate form, we can tell this is a native blue bell for its smaller stature, Spanish ones are also common across most of the uk but are an invasive species presenting a lot larger with more bells for pollen to be collected from

this is one of my favourite shots from this walk as it shows a huge trees thats fallen over during one of these storms and has been left there blocking this path but allowing people and animals to walk beneath it, the also tree separates the pink living foliage and he earthy tones of the ground. i could probably add a curve or levels adjustment layer to increase the contrast of this image, amplifying the shadows to make it look more dramatic

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walking around more i came to a different section of the woods with different types of fauna like these slender pine trees that present a unique texture within their bark as theyre fast growing trees, they hold these knots in high quantities, which make us feel like we’re being watched from every angel, in the third photo we see these many judgemental eyes, though maybe in the photo i need to sort out my levels

in the second photo points towards a blacked out tree in the distance, it has this ominous feeling like im unwelcome here, as if a person watches me from the shadows

another of my favourites is this sheet of bark with bristles pressed into it, it leaves behind an imprint as if to leave a mark on the world like an old cave paintings. i love the way the light hits through this section illuminating the sheet

here i present two alternative angels for portrait and landscape as it looks over onto the other side of the valley showcasing the many times of trees, this photo appears quite flat however to make this more visually interesting the use of a pine tree right of frame adds this slight depth dimensions to it to try and provide a sense of distance. i could have also maybe used a slight dehazing on this as the background of this photo looks quite muted, maybe fore i publish these photos i will adjust accordingly. however i feel this would make a good phone background as its quite simplistic which would allow for widgets to overlay on top nicely

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looking more at the foliage around, i found these delicate leafs, i found myself drawn to the branches simplistic structure as it forms so naturally, there is no thought that goes into this growth, only mechanical chemistry embedded into the natural biology to branch out in the most effective way to capture the sunlight. i find this really interesting as it also kinda looks like lighting forks that branch out in the less resistant way to reach the ground

the second photo presents these bristles again that we’ve seen previous, i love these close up shots with a high depth of field, showing a fine point of focus at f/5.6, the background appears to glimmer as light is reflected back towards the camera because of their waxy nature, and even though the background and foreground are out of focus the midground gives us context to what we’re looking at

my third photo here doesnt appear to convey much with its lack of composition and busy subject matter, we can see that these are bristles as well but a lot less interesting to look at

as i continue walking i came across this old settlement made of the slate stone from the cliff faces around. i really love these shots as the present such a calming atmosphere,

the first photo shows us this wall coated in moss hiding in the shade on the inside of this settlement, and these stinging nettles from a top down preservative where we can see all the light that hits these leafs, we can see this as an analytic view point noticing how each leaf fans out and stands dominate over the other weeds that reside here.

my second photo shows a dynamic landscape featuring a full body of the settlement providing context to the image prior, at first our eyes are draw to this central building and then dart around to the bridge above in the background because it stands out against the pink hues with its blues

the thirds photo is one love with its low exposure at 1/500 sec it presents this dramatic lighting focused on the highlights on this slate wall, illuminating this small patch of moss, the DoF helps accentuate this at f/5 by making us focus on this point rather than the background

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in the past i’ve said how i dont like living creatures within this body of work however i feel butterflies can be made an exception to this as they not only see in IR but theyre wings also reflect in the IR spectrum to help them find mates, they also see in the IR and UV range to help identity flowers which is why i feel they are suitable to this aesthetic, in these photo we can see the eyes on the back of the wings and in the second photo we get this full display of these beautiful wings, theres a small notch clipped out of the right wing, which could convey the idea that even in beauty there is damage. i think i was able to spend a good five minutes with this butterfly and made me feel so honoured to have this moment with it, i think in total i got 25 photos to which i’ve refined down to these two

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walking further and now on my way back, the sun’s position had changed allowing for different lighting opportunities, with a low AP setting i was able to still get some of the dramatically lit aesthetics

the second edit of the tree is also one i love because it builds into this idea that the trees are watching but also incorporates this idea of octopuses using camouflage to stalk their prey- while it stares at me,,they use their surroundings to their advantage like here they use leafs to hide behind and wrap themselves in vines to remind hidden. i connote this idea of octopuses because of the bulging round knot in the tree as this kinda looks like a cephalopod features

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the final images from this shoot were taken at different times of the day, where one was taken during the morning while the other was taken during the late evening showcasing the difference in lighting at these to point, i love the way the light reflects back towards the camera as the remaining sunlight glimmers on these waxy leaves, particularly the second one, with the dark background making it looks sophisticated. of course this could have been achieved with a lower exposure time but i wanted to show the changing of the light