Tangled Woods
If there is one word that could describe the woods near where I live – I think that word would be ‘complexity.’ A word that can cause a lot of problems for landscape photography. These woods are filled with knarly branches, thorny vines, logs and twigs all over the woodland floor. The entire woods is practically a floodplain, so the Clinton River, which flows through it, often brings more debris to contribute after a heavy rain. There are a lot of dead and fallen trees creating haphazard lines and intersections everywhere. As soon as summer kicks in, it then gets filled with poison ivy – which seems to be spreading more and more each year. When that happens, I am pretty much done exploring until the next fall. I consider it the perfect example of chaos in nature. Fairly easy to find a lot of macro subjects to photograph, but a lot more difficult when it comes to landscape.
I have often struggled on ways to portray the woods near where I live. After all, they say some of your best images come from the areas you know well. I know it pretty well, and conclude it is very messy. Despite trying to find simple graphical elements to concentrate on, there are always tension driving elements fighting against trying to formulate some type of harmony in a scene. As with any landscape, perhaps more so in a complex one, the light and weather conditions need to provide the harmony. There has to be something that ties all the cluttered bits together.
I wrote before about snow being a great simplifier – and I think rain & fog do a pretty adequate job as well. In these two images, the overnight rain and morning fog have helped reduce the contrast. The early spring buds have given some elements of interest I think, and particularly for the second image here, some type of textural harmony. My preference is for the second image here over the one above if I had to pick between the two. The first one certainly shows the chaos I am attempting to deal with. I tried to give it some structure by framing the spring buds between the two strong trees. I photographed this from my backyard where chaos starts just outside the back fence.
Spring textures
The second provides the soft light and textures of early spring, with soft coloring. It was photographed right at the end of my block near a trail where we usually take our dog for a walk. Interesting that I find myself staring into this particular image more than I have ever spent time at this particular spot.
When we read or hear about a scene speaking to us, perhaps it happens more often than we are able to listen. I am still trying to figure out what our woods are trying to tell me.
I still haven’t exhausted the possibilities of our backyard, definitely messy and chaotic.
The search to find what your woods is trying to tell you won’t end, lucky for you.
That is some great quality light in these images. They are busy scenes but every bit of the composition is doing something interesting. Great work Mark.
Thanks Andy, Cindy, Michael.
Complexity, … chaos, ….. and you managed its beauty very well!
Michael
I love the woods, its a shame I don’t get to go out to them more often since I live in the city. Wonderful pictures, they were nice to look at here in the office.
As always, Mark, great job of “seeing” and working with what MN gives you. I agree that fog and rain–as much as they are an annoyance to us and our equipment, make for wonderful photo opportunities.
Glad to read I am not alone in this, thank you for the comments.
@Daniel – yep, poison ivy is everywhere near me – and every year I seem to be at odds at keeping it out of my yard.
@Ed – I know what you mean with birds. I try to move away from the bird on a stick type shot, but cluttered surroundings make it difficult to show environment, and still make the image work.
@ Laurie – I think without the fog, I couldn’t have made either image work. Careful with those ticks – as someone who contracted Lyme’s Disease while hiking around the California coastline – I am especially wary!
@ Anita – thanks so much. The second is definitely my favorite as well.
I can appreciate the struggle to shoot in this type of environment. However, I am so struck by the beauty of these two shots (especially the second one for me) that the feelings overwhelm any impulse to discuss that struggle. I just want to spend time where that image takes me.
Those are some lovely images accompanying this post.
So many challenges when shooting in the woods. The first thought that came into my mind was fog…the great atmospheric enhancer especially for wooded areas..then of course snow. It is definitely challenging to find good shots on a “regular day” while fighting against that chaos that is the woods. I like trying to capture backlit young leaves in the early Spring. I rarely come away with a backlit image that really hits the mark but I keep trying. I have a few that are ok…but I have yet to get “that” image. I also like looking at the micro landscapes that exist within the larger picture.
I came away with a few keepers on a trip into the swamp yesterday…including a tick which I found this morning despite my due diligence…ewwwww! Oh well it goes with the territory. It is not a first and I am sure it won’t be the last.
I run into the same problems here in Pennsylvania. The woods are very tangled and unkempt. It is a particular problem when I go to photograph birds. The bird photographers always want to see clean backgrounds which just seem to exist around here.
So we go for the wider angle, capturing patterns where none seem to exist and color where all we usually see is brown. I really like these images. You did a great job of finding those patterns and colors and bringing some organization to the chaos!
I can’t wait to get out and do more landscape photography. Thank you for the inspiration!
Same here Mark, there is a lot of beauty in these woods but they become hard to figure out (especially for me) I have a lot of problems bringing order out of a chaotic scene.
But sometimes I get lucky and stumble on to something 😉
Ah yes, the growing scourge of poison ivy. I remember as a kid spending most of the summer running through the fields and woods behind our home. Building forts, eating wild blackberries and grapes, climbing trees. I got plenty of scratches from the brambles, several bee stings, but never poison ivy. But these days? It is everywhere. In our yard it is a constant battle, and the woods behind out house are filled with it. And not just tame little vines on the ground, but huge ropey vines that tug down entire trees. It really has put a damper on my enthusiasm for tramping through the woods (especially now with kids of my own, that seem to be poison ivy magnets). Sigh.
Our forest is a mess of bush too usually. I don’t find it very photographic. At least you have a fine haze that helps to isolate the trees, making for a visually interesting image. I personally don’t care for the forested areas around here – they lack the character that I see in the trees in the image above. I’m not sure what my trees are trying to tell me either.
Mark, I was struggling with this myself just this past weekend. I like chaos as a subject and think you have visually interpreted it here to strong effect.
I’ve found that over time, such places become “friends” to us even as much as people & pets do. We know them & they know us. We change & grow over the seasons, but our relationship stays strong.
I love these pictures of your friends. They’re very lovely!