I love the term ‘Field Notes’ and have thought about using it for some of my short photography articles. It’s a great way to say “here are some photos I’m not going to over-explain.” But… so many interesting photographers use it, and I don’t want to jump on the bandwagon.
Instead, I’ll just use it in this title to say that I am not, under any circumstances, going to use the term ‘Field Notes’.
Anyway, here’s my first Field Notes post. A day of observations walking up a hill, down a hill, up another hill, into Toadsmoor Woods and the journey back.
Sunrise from the window. My favourite telephone mast. Sultry, statuesque.
This view by the canal. Beautiful, bloody and showy at this time of year.
A common bonnet. I was hunting for interesting, colourful mushrooms but this one was so tall and improbably sturdy I embraced the beige.
I don’t know what mushroom this is. My best Google Lens attempts lead me to think it might be Crepidotus cesatii. Please correct me if I’m wrong!
I love the stalks/stems/legs of mushrooms. Improbable weight distribution on an improbably slender plinth. This is another common bonnet.
A cigar-like leaf.
I’m finally dipping into focus bracketing (above). It’s a technique where you take a series of photographs, each focused at a slightly different distance, then combine them so that more of the final image is in focus.
A fallen mushroom, gills akimbo. I came across lots of beautiful fallen mushrooms on this shoot.
This is a fuchsia I found in the woods. An unexpected pink. Totally out of place and very much at home.
When I crested the hill, this tree scratched its way into view.
This felt like a magical discovery and I’ve saved the location on What3Words so I can go back and shoot it in different seasons. This was dense woodland and I have no idea how on earth it got here.
These stripes were so bright and hypnotising. There are also wiggly black lines inside the stripes like an ancient script.
Eventually the trail emerged from the woods and onto a public bridleway crossing someone's garden. A hiding mustard truck.
Rewarding views from the top.
I saw this was on the tail end of my walk. Ghostly chainmail on a football pitch.
That’s it for today.
This is the first of a series of scrapbook ‘walk with me’ style posts.
I loved these! Perhaps you could call them woodland notes instead?
Enjoyed the balance of words and photographs.