This particular project came about after I had just watched Tim Burton's film "Sleepy Hollow". I was really impressed with the dark brooding sets, the trees in the woods.
As such I have always being a lover of the countryside rather than the city. And obviously like many other people I fully understand and appreciate the vital role that trees play within the environment. However I feel that we do not treat them with the respect that they deserve. We seem to be hell bent on obliterating trees from the landscape.
Trees give you shelter, furniture, tools, medicines, food, heat, fuel and many other vital items. The English long bowmen would have being lost without the Yew and Willow trees. Trees play a vital role in absorbing noxious gasses, they are the lungs of this planet. Instead of cutting them down, we should in my opinion be planting millions, and taking greater care of all the old and established trees and woodland.
Hence this project which seeks to portray trees in a positive light by showing their natural beauty, presence and role within both the urban and rural landscape. It has proved to be one hell of a project to embark upon mainly because it is such a huge project to undertake. The scope and scale is mind-blowing. That is why it is an on-going project which will keep me occupied for a while, or at least until I am satisfied that I have done the subject justice.
There is so much to photograph, and many established woods and forests to visit within this country. To date I have visited and taken photographs for this project at the following locations:
The New Forest, Sherwood Forest, Millington Woods, Broughton Woods, Dalby Forest, Kielder Forest, Bardney Limewoods and many other locations in Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Norfolk, Derbyshire, East, West and North Yorkshire etc.
Right from the outset I decided to use just monochrome film and to photograph both in daylight and after dusk. Some of the images from this project appear on this blog. To date this project has being very enjoyable and I have learned a great deal through my research into the history, folklore and geography of trees.
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I love trees - and photographs of them of course! There was (and possibly still is) a really interesting installation at Kew Gardens which involved lots of very sensitive microphones attached to a tree (I wrote about it briefly here. Visitors could wear headphones and listen to the tree 'breathe'. It makes you very aware of the tree as a living thing sharing the Earth with you.
ReplyDeleteYes there is a lot that we has the so-called intelligent life force on this planet do not really understand. One of them is the vital importance of trees as a living organism.
ReplyDeleteThanks once again again for your comments JA.
It is pretty sad to think about how much nature has to give way for human life these days. I just read the other day that burning down of forests is a way of life for some jungle tribes in Indonesia...
ReplyDeleteHello Nikki,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. Yes it is sad that we seem to have a complete and utter lack of respect for the natural world around us.
Apart from the major problem of deforestation and global warming, I feel that we all need to urgently address the problem of overpopulation, migration and housebuilding on the greenbelt.