I am often asked the question, where do you get your inspiration for photographs?
For me, inspiration comes from many different places, people and events. But sometimes it is the simple things that bring unexpected ‘inspiration’. Here is an example.
In January this year, after a couple of weeks of being housebound because of really horrible weather, I decided to go for a walk in one of the local forests. But I decided not to take my camera because I just wanted to walk, look and observe without any distractions. The primary reason for the mission was just to get out and enjoy the nice clear day.
Because of the time of year, the trees in the forest were virtually bare of foliage. The result of this amazed me. I started to see shapes and form that would have been hidden during summer months but at this time of year they were very obvious.
The more I looked, the more I started to see stuff. Now, I had been to that forest many times in the past, but usually during the summer months or during autumn when the trees were in full bloom or turning. But at this time of year, the forest looked completely different, and full of surprises.
I decided to return to the forest with my camera. A few days later, I ventured out again. I took my trusted Olympus OM1 film camera and a single roll of 35mm film. Why only one roll? Because I wanted to recreate the visit that I had a few days previous. I wanted to concentrate on looking at form and shapes and not being distracted by constantly clicking my digital camera.
I learned two important things from this exercise. Firstly, it is clear that you don’t need to visit exotic locations to get a great photographic experience or to get inspiration. The forest is within five miles of my house, and I probably got just as much from that experience as I have on shoots much further afield.
The second point is about the importance of looking and feeling. The forest felt quite spooky. It was quiet, still and it felt as though I was the only human on Earth. By looking carefully at the form and shape of trees and other plants, I was able to feel the emotion of the forest.
The combination of consciously observing the environment, together with the limited amount of photographs I could take, resulted in a fantastic experience. Hopefully my photographs have captured some of the spookiness of the forest.
Granite Photography Gallery published a selection of my images, in their mini-exhibition, which is called Film, forest and features.
NGT Photography 