Blidworth Woods (May 2020)

One of the best places to avoid crowds of people in this post virus lockdown phase is the local woodlands. After leaving the parking area it is unusual to meet many other people other than a few dog walkers. It is also easy to keep a distance and make stops to take photographs.

The only issue I have encountered is a difficulty adjusting to the complexity of woodland photography after a break of a couple of months. I have been surprised by how quickly the eye for a composition fades. For the first few walks all I could really see was a mass of green and I wasn’t convinced that I liked many of the results.

Now, a month later, having processed all the images from May, I can see a selection from several visits to Blidworth Woods that suggests that I am gradually returning to normal which includes setting myself a short term creative objective for spring and summer.

Over the next couple of months I would like to focus more on black and white photography to counteract the predominance of green in the woodlands, using the seasonal highlights and shadows as a compositional aid. This is the image that has sparked the interest in black and white:

The next step is to look for more compositions that lend themselves to a black and white conversion.
In the meantime, these are a selection of the colour images taken on several walks in Blidworth Woods during the latter part of May: