trees | alan frost photography

Winter is coming…..

It may seem a little odd to be posting this image when here in the UK we are still enjoying the long warm days of summer.

This dull, misty scene of bare skeletal trees in winter reminds me of what lies in store. From a photographic point of view, autumn and winter have much to offer and the months between October and March are arguably my favoured time of year to be out and about with a camera.

I shall make the most of the summer but I am looking forward to the seasons changing and the impact they have on our rich and varied landscape.

‘Fallen’ in Wildhams Wood

In the location I have chosen to explore and photograph for my new project there are a good number of woodland areas, some of which are managed by the Forestry Commission. Open access to this land is not clear although I underdstand The Forestry Commssion has started the process (in June 2017) whereby it will designate its land for public access under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act.

When I visited this wood recently I stayed on one of the public footpaths. I did though venture into the wood itself having noticed a single fallen pine tree which I thought might be an interesting subject to photograph. This tree had not been felled by a forester. From the angle of its trunk it was clear nature had been the cause of its downfall. I took a number of frames from different positions using either a 90mm short telephoto lens to compress the detail or an 18mm super wideangle to get up close and personal.

New Year, New Project

Towards Cocking (2013)

For the past 18 months or so much of my photography has centered around the coastal area of Chichester Harbour. Having a specific and long term project to concentrate the mind has been something of a revelation to me. I have always been inspired by other photographers and artists who have chosen a subject to work on over a sustained period of time. The intimate knowledge gained by exploring a defined area and the benefit this brings to a body of work is, I have now discovered, hugely rewarding.

Project Map

The Beech Avenue at Kingston Lacy

Beech Avenue

It’s been quite a while since the last entry on this blog. Regular readers will know that I had my first exhibition last month and I will be writing about the experience very soon. For now I thought I would share with you some images taken and made just before the exhibition took place back in the early part of November.

Bracken – when an overriding instinct prevails

As hard as I try I can’t break out of my comfort zone. Whenever I find myself in a beautiful location which is full of colour, my instinctive monochromatic mind gets the better of me. As I explore the autumnal woodland of Arne Nature Reserve, near Wareham in Dorset I have a perfectly acceptable colour subject in front of me but in visualising and later processing the image I soon strip away all the colour, and work on a black and white conversion, and here is the result. A shot of ‘Bracken’ in amongst conifers.

I am not colour blind but I do seem to see the world in black and white and of course all the shades of grey in between. I am drawn to a pleasing composition, shapes and lines, strong textures and different tones. I believe my creativity improves once the distraction of colour is removed from the frame. I start to see things more clearly and whilst you cannot tell by looking at an image on a screen, a well printed black and white image on a suitable photographic paper is hard to beat.

Do click on the image to view a larger version and truly appreciate the level of detail in this shot.

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