A spring walk

I live in a valley, surrounded by gentle hills and lots of trees, and at the edge of a forest. The forest has been put under protection in 2007 and declared a "regional nature park of national importance" in 2009. It is a nature reserve and a rare example of a large original forest, which means that nature is left untouched, with only little forest management. No trees are felled and fallen trees are left where they are, only if a tree has fallen over a path is the part covering the path cut off, but only that part. It's a beautiful place to be. A few days ago I met up with my Mum to walk along the bottom of the valley to the visitor centre. That part doesn't really have the most exciting scenery, it's a broad path, sometimes close to the railway line and the road on the other side of the river. But if you look closer, there is much to see, such as lots of wildflowers, little ponds full of newts and tadpoles. We left early in the morning to avoid the heat and luckily, this side of the valley was still in the shade.

In the past two centuries, there used to be lots of industry along the river, including a spinning mill and a paper mill. The factories closed long ago and almost all of the buildings have been pulled down by now, but there are still remnants to be found along the river. And with all the industry gone, it means that the river is now clean and full of diverse wildlife.

It's not a too long walk to the visitor centre on the other side of the bridge, but if you're too tired to walk back, you can take the train from here.

Because we were so early, the restaurant was still all empty when we arrived there, and we enjoyed a cup of coffee in the peace and quiet before it was no doubt flooded with people later in the day, it being a fine day and a public holiday.

We walked back again, the same way we came, parts of it among the trees, which is always the best part :)

There were so many wildflowers on the way, including some gorgeous aquilegia, bush roses, and even some rare wild orchids.

It was such a beautiful morning, so energising and enriching. I don't spend enough time in this beautiful area, which is just outside my doorstep, but I should definitely take more time to explore and enjoy it.

Learning the SX-70, and a walk in the forest

I'm slowly, very slowly, learning how to use my new Polaroid SX-70. It's not easy, and I still get it wrong most of the time. This one's definitely a lot more  temperamental than the plastic box, my 600 type Polaroid. So I'm even more excited about every photo that turns out reasonably okay, which at the moment is about every one in four or five. I hope to get the hang of it soon, or else it's going to be very expensive. I'm taking photos in all kinds of different situations and taking notes of what worked and what didn't to find out what works best.

I also find it quite difficult to scan them. The colours just don't turn out quite right. They do look much better in reality.

On Sunday, I went for a long walk in the forest with my Mum. I took the SX-70 too, and I've learnt that the forest is not the best place for it. Maybe it was too dark, even though it was a sunny (and hot) day. Or maybe the contrast was too strong in the midday sun. Also, I find it very difficult sometimes to focus. Not only because it can be very tricky to get it right with the split focus circle, but also because I find it difficult to keep the camera still enough. Which is actually one of the reasons I'm embracing instant photography so much the moment. To help me become more mindful, focused, calm. Something I've been working on for a while now. But I'll write more about that some other time.

While my Mum walked through the forest at a brisk pace, thanks to her walking sticks, I was constantly either lagging way behind while taking photos with up to three different cameras (though mostly my DSLR), or trying to catch up at an even brisker pace while carrying a heavy camera bag over my shoulder. And most of the way was going slightly uphill, may I add.

But I'm glad I brought my DSLR. It was a lovely walk (even though I was exhausted afterwards) and I enjoyed taking photos in this beautiful forest. For the past ten years, it has been allowed to grow back into a natural forest, with next to no intervention, except when trees have fallen over the pathes. And even then, only the bits that block the path are cut off. Everything else is left to nature. It's a truly magical place.

Well, we might not have carpets of bluebells in our woods, but the forest was full of wild garlic, and it looked and smelled beautiful.

Sunday Walk

I finally managed to force myself to go for a Sunday walk today. It's not that I don't like walking. On the contrary, I love going for walks, especially in the woods (and of course on the beach, but that's not much of an option here). But I just usually end up having too many other things to do instead. Or rather, making different priorities. In order to help me get back into a Sunday walk habit, I made a list of benefits, to give it some purpose, such as looking for inspiration for sketches and paintings, and capture beauty in the ordinary with my camera. I've been neglecting my DSLR camera far too much since I got my iPhone, usually using it mostly for holiday pictures. So today, I decided to use my little 50mm lens instead of my everyday 17-70mm zoom lens, in order to get a different perspective. 

With it's option of an aperture of f/1.8, the 50mm lens allows you  to capture a terrific depth of field, and, according to light, some fabulous bokeh.

I walked along some beautiful flowering meadows. Who would have thought that common little wild flowers can be so fascinating?

And trought the woods. Unlike the woods in England, where many of them are filled with carpets of bluebells at the moment, the woods here are rather bare of flowers, and instead present mainly a lush green.

The weather kept changing from minute to minute, but except a very short little shower, the weather stayed dry, and there was even sunshine as well! It was rather windy, though, which made focusing rather challenging at times.

Some of the rhododendrons (or azaleas, I never really quite know what the difference between them is) in some front gardens where in full bloom and just totally amazing.

And I even found some bluebells in a grassy patch outside a block of flats.

To capture this little fellow, my allround zoom lens, which has quite a good macro function as well, would of course have been perfect. But then that's the challenge; to work with what you've got, and make the best of it. I think he turned out rather well.

What I love about photography is how it allows you to chose how you look at things. Some of the pictures were taken at places that were not exactly the most picturesque. The gras strips between the pavement and the main road, road, on traffic islands etc. But even in those places, beauty can be found, if you care to look for it. And your camera allows you to focus on just that beauty, and to block out there rest. It allows you to capture and elevate the ordinary, to decide for yourself how you want to look at things, what perspective to choose, and on what to put your focus on.

I really enjoyed my little walk, and 'll definitely try to go for a little Sunday walk again next weekend, and make it a regular habit. But I'll better try not to take 220+ photos again - or I'll end up spending all day with downloading and editing them, and won't have any thime for painting, or anything else, at all.

29*52/11 ~ Music To My Ears

This week's (week 29) theme of 52 of Twenty Eleven is "Music to my ears". I'm not someone who listens to music all the time. I like to listen to music at home occasionally, but more often than not forget about it alltogether, being too much absorbed in reading a book or painting in my study/library/studio. I mainly used to listen to music on my MP3 player in order to block out the noise of my fellow commuters (most of all the sound of music coming from the headphones of others). But unfortunately my player sort of died on me, so there's no music on the train anymore for me, but earplugs instead.

(Textures by Shadowhouse Creations)

So what's music to my ears? The rustle of the leaves in the trees in the forest (or in this case, the pouring rain).

(Textures by Shadowhouse Creations)

My own footsteps on the soft forest floor, the chirping and singing of the birds in the trees, the rustling of some small animal in the undergrowth, some fir cone hitting the ground.

The whispering of the wind in the corn fields (spelt, in this case).

(Texture by Pixel Lounge Studio)

The mooing and grazing of the cows and the sound of their bells, a farmer's dog barking in the distance (far enough away, I'm a coward when it comes to barking farm dogs...).

(Textures by Shadowhouse Creations)

The sound of the pouring rain, although I would prefer to hear that outside my window while I was comfortably on my sofa with a nice cup of coffee, rather than on my umbrella while slowly getting soaked through.

A refreshing, revitalising, walk with the various sounds of nature all around me - that's music to my ears.

Enchanted forest

I love a walk through the woods. I don't really like direct sunlight (and should avoid it anyway) and I don't like when it's getting too warm, so walking through the woods really is perfect. You get the shade, the protection from the sun and still all the beautiful sunlight. There's so much to see and hear and discover.

I always like to think that the woods are enchanted, that really, there are all kinds of fairies, gnomes, and other fairy tale creatures populating the forests, and when you walk through them, hundreds of eyes are following you without you ever knowing it, let alone catching a glimpse of any of them.

That might sound a little bit scary now, but I think that they're really quite friendly, at least as long as you let them be. After all, it's their forest, and you're only a guest, passing through.

I could walk through those woods for hours, making up stories about those fairies, and their adventures. The only problem is that the woods around here really are often far too crowded with noisy people...

But there's nothing as relaxing and refreshing as spending some time on your own in the woods, letting your mind wander and your imagination run wild. Watched and protected by hundreds of little eyes...