The North Devon countryside clings on to the colour green for as long as it possibly can, already hinting towards next spring; whereas other parts of the country are a dazzle of autumn hues or brown and dying from months of drying summer. Searching for a way to represent this I went for the first time to Harford Wood. At the moment, working full time on digitising negatives, I don’t get the freedom required by most landscape photographers, to choose time of day, weather conditions and location. However, with a few hours on a Wednesday morning before seeing a client for a workshop, I made a slight detour to the wood. On this damp, slightly misty day, I was blessed with ideal conditions to see Harford Wood in a soft, dreamlike light with no wind at all, which made my views seem like huge pictorial canvases. I was also enjoying the warmth of the light falling through the high canopy of golden yellow leaves, in stark contrast to the overwhelming reflected green light experienced through the summer.
*Forest bathing is the practice of taking a short, leisurely visit to a forest for health benefits. The practice originated in Japan where it is called shinrin-yoku – from Wikipedia