For most of my life, I didn’t realise that bluebell woods are actually quite a British thing. Bluebells are something we take for granted in the UK, but in fact not many other countries are treated to this annual floral carpet. Bluebells require the climate, tree cover, and ancient woodland that we have here, and some of my favourites are amongst primarily beech tree woods.
I’m lucky to have a spectacular bluebell woodland not far from me, and since my first occasional visits, I’ve never really dedicated enough attention to the subject. So this year, I was determined to get out at every opportunity during bluebell season, and collect a series of photos documenting the changing nature of the flowering woodland, in various light and weather conditions.
On my first visit, the trees didn’t have many leaves on them, and the bluebells were seizing their opportunity to come into flower…
I’ve always enjoyed woodland pathway photos, and I was pleased to have taken what I consider my best yet, from the same point I’d tried two years previously…
I also tried some panoramas and this was my favourite, comprised of several photos stitched together to create a wide-aspect woodland scene…
As the leaves sprouted and the canopy increased, the bluebells had taken over on the ground below…
In strong winds, I was able to blur the movement of the trees to create an ethereal sketch-like mood to the images…
I also played with black and white images, which I think worked really well in the more graphic compositions, like below…
The more I visited, the better practiced I got at handling the brightness of the setting sun, combined with the darkness of the tree’s shadows, and this was my last image as the sun set on my final visit…
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George
