The emerald heart of the forest

Its no secret for me to say that I love nature, I never feel more alive then when I'm out surrounded by trees, streams, rocks and rivers. I love the way that light falls through leaves, the way that barns and buildings become reclaimed. Ivy and brambles slinking into the cracks and binding everything in green.

The sound of birds above me and the song of the brook running over stones. Rustling leaves and the sound of rabbits brushing the undergrowth. Th dappling of sunlight passing through clouds. The wind, the rain, the sun and the forest, nature has its own living beating emerald heart.

And step by step man is killing it, encroaching further and further upon it and pushing it further and further back to its boundries to a pint of no return and it breaks my heart. Nature is precious and beautiful and like anything precious and beautiful it should be preserved. We should spend more money on it, build gardens around it, use less harsh chemicals on it and protect more of it.

This is the only way we can protect that most precious jewel, the emerald heart of the forest.

Broken glass and falling stars

 After a warm month of May I decided to go out and about taking pictures of what I could find outdoors. But despite the beauty of the natural world around me what I ended up being drawn to were the puddles upon the ground around me.

They reflected the sun and clouds beautifully and tinged with oil and blown by the wind the reflections they produced unraveled and became abstract shapes and patterns upon the ground.

Broken glass and fallen stars exploded in their depths or morphed to become some strange moon filled sky. I was enraptured by the abstract beauties they produced.

And so even though I set out to capture the beauty of May I caught in puddles broken glass and falling stars.

A charcoal sky

For the first few months of spring I decided to go out and try and capture the mood of the season. Unfortunately that mood had been predominately one of cold, sleet and steely grey skys. And while this wasn't idea for exploring or taking holidays it was perfect for capturing moody dramatic pictures of the sky.

Under this chrome dome branches from the trees spread capillary like over clouds and man made monuments alike. In the background the building sat like black sentries. It was a beautiful and apocalyptic world to explore with my camera.

As I wandered I took my time to sketch shade and light, capture contours, branches and leaves. In other words I changed the world with my camera and with it drew a charcoal sky.