I wake up to a misty morning, but the sun promises to shine through, so I head out.  I walk along the loch and it is clear that spring is not far away – catkins and pussy willow are moving in the breeze, and large numbers of blue tits are flitting among the silver birches.  As I make my way to the woodland where I plan to undertake my photographic practice today, I reflect on the presentation I gave to fellow PhD students earlier this week.  In the discussion that followed there was much support for experimenting, playing with my camera and just trying out new ideas.

I am not yet happy with the images I am taking in the woods – they lack the interiority I am seeking, the techniques I am using are not yet delivering the results I hope for and I am not seeing how and when the portfolio will come together – having said that I see this work as something that will be presented to the Format reviewers as very much Work in Progress.

I decide to work on multiple exposure images and am keen to capture the lichen covered trees in a way that gives a sense of what it is to be among these trees.  I am troubled by the white and lifeless sky and am minded not to include it in my images, but sometimes it gives a sense of the exterior of the wood and a means of making way and escaping from the woodland.  I try different combinations of exposure and intentional camera movement and as I work, I think about a comment from a fellow student who suggested that the glimpse of the unnameable glimmer might be seen as the moment in time between the two exposures used in my images.  I am very taken by this as an idea and need to reflect on it over the next few days of practice.

Among Trees 40 – Alison Price, February 2021

Among Trees 41 – Alison Price, February 2021

Among Trees 42 – Alison Price, February 2021

Among Trees 43 – Alison Price, February 2021

Among Trees 44 – Alison Price, February 2021

Among Trees 45 – Alison Price, February 2021

Among Trees 46 – Alison Price, February 2021

Among Trees 47 – Alison Price, February 2021

Among Trees 48 – Alison Price, February 2021

Among Trees 49 – Alison Price, February 2021

The milky skies gave me intense and saturated colours in the woodland this morning and I am pleased with some of the images.  I need to perfect my technique in terms of sweeping the camera and ensuring the movement continues after I have pressed the shutter.  This is something I normally do but I think I was distracted by the lifeless sky – in an effort to omit it I stopped moving the camera.  I also need to continue to work on interiority and really giving a sense of what it is like to be among the trees.

Alison Price

Alison Price

My name is Alison Price and for the past ten years I have travelled the world photographing wildlife, including Alaska, Antarctica, Borneo, Botswana, the Canadian Arctic, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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