Wednesday 10 August 2016

Through the Forest… and WOYWW

Warning – Photo-rich post!

For my WOYWW, there is nothing on my desk at the moment because I haven’t managed to do any art this week, so I thought I’d show you the photos on my (computer) desk(top) instead.

Yesterday afternoon we went with some friends on a walk through the woods near Exeter. I had never been to this place before, and yet again I counted my blessings that we live in such a beautiful corner of the country, with such places within easy reach. To have such a place on our doorstep, we are blessed indeed!

The place is called Mamhead, near Haldon Hill, just outside Exeter. The woodland has been laid out with paths, which are all accessible and easy to walk, with plenty of seats scattered about, some with tables for picnics, and discreet signs, and boards with information. The woodland is mixed deciduous and coniferous with a wide variety of trees, and there are ferns, bracken and wild flowers in the underbrush. I can imagine that in the early spring there would be snowdrops, and later, a carpet of bluebells.

It was a perfect day for an outing in the woods. There was quite a cold wind, so we were largely sheltered by the trees, but the sun was shining, and dappling through the foliage, and providing perfect conditions for photography. I couldn’t believe how many lovely shots I managed to get, and later on in the evening I had some fun manipulating some of them. I am intending to make a video slideshow, and am inspired to translate some of them into Zentangle designs.

Enjoy.

01 Walking Down the Path

02 Bee on Thistle

03 Ivy Root on Tree Trunk

04 Uprooted Tree

05a Spaced Trunks

06 Ivy on Tree Trunk

07 Yellow Flowers

08a Bramble Festoon

09a Dense Trunks

10 Walking Further Down the Path

11a Tall Trees

12 Butterfly

13 Rowan Tree

14a Sunlit Leaves

15a Trees Against the Sky

16a Filtered Beech Leaves

17 Tree Branch Fronds

18 Arrow Sculpture

19 Carved Seat

21a Fern Fronds

22a Fern Frond

23a Fir Cone

24a Fairy House Tree Roots

25 A View Through the Trees

On the further side of the circuit, we were in for a surprise. As the light got brighter, we emerged out of the trees and were confronted with the most stunning and unexpected view…

26 Approaching the View through the Trees

Right over the sea – as far as Exmouth.

27 The View Through the Trees

28 Sea View

29 Viewing Position

31 Slatted Seats 2

32 The Return Path

33 Approaching the Obilisk

34 The Obilisk

Quite amazing where plants can find a foothold, isn’t it.

35 Plants Growing on the Obilisk

36 Textured Tree Bark

37 A Stand of Tall Trees

38 Heather

39 Sawn Tree Trunk

40 The Ancient Wall

The beech has to be the most elegant of trees. Where the oak is the king of the forest, the beech is the queen.

41 Elegent Beech

42 Ivy Stems on Small Tree Trunk

Now for the photos that I manipulated, using a variety of effects – desaturating, posterising, creating negative images, desaturating and replacing selected areas of colour, selecting edges, etc.

02a Bee on Thistle Part Desat, Focal Pt

05b Spaced Trunks BW Posterised

09b Dense Trunks BW Posterised

11d Tall Trees Monochrome Posterised

14b Sunlit Leaves BW Film Default Settings

15c Trees Against the Sky Monochrome Posterised

16b Filtered Beech Leaves Outline Colorised

21b Ferm Fronds Posterised Monochrome

22c Ferm Frond Monochrone Posterised

23b Fir Cone Monochrome

24c Fairy House Tree Roots Monochrome Leaves Coloured

I hope you have enjoyed your virtual tour through the woods.

13 comments:

  1. Happy WOYWW. My favourite places are always woodland. Whenever I think of peace/relaxation, I always see trees. I keep meaning to do some 'digital art' with my photos, but concentrating on the 'messy crafting' at the moment. Ali x #34

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  2. Oh my gosh! I LOVE all your nature pictures! Feels like I'm right there! And the manipulated photos, fabulous! Happy WOYWW!
    Carol N #36

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  3. love photos !!! thx for sharing - looks like it was an awesome day!!!
    Darlene # 47

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  4. Beautiful captures, Shoshi - this looks like my kind of place! I love walking in the forest! It will be interesting to see how you turn these into zentangle designs! The manipulated photos could make great background textures. Enjoy your week!

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  5. What a great day out, Shoshi. Glad you are feeling so well and able to do it. You certainly had fun with your camera - and then with the manipulating of images. it's not something I have ever really done - not sure if it's me...
    Take care. God bless.
    Margaret #23

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  6. How wonderful to be in Nature.I can almost hear the birds twittering, and feel the breeze.Lovely photos. I feel the need to be outdoors soon too.It will be our 44th wedding anniversary on Friday, so we'll go for a drive and walk in the Mt Lofty Ranges parks.All pretty close by too.

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  7. Was going to say how much I enjoyed the tree bark photos and the root system etc but in truth all the photos became favourites in their own right. What a wealth of beautiful photographs you have their Shoshi and I love how you have manipulated them. I look forward to seeing how you interpret them in your zentangling.
    Hugs, Neet 3 xx

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  8. Great photos Shoshi. Sometimes a walk in the woods is just what's called for and in fact been doing almost the same this morning with friends and will be posting the photos on Friday. Happy woyww, Angela x 15

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  9. No desk from me today, I hope to be back from next week though as life is back to "normal" in my neck of the woods. Love the virtual tour you gave me. You do live in a beautiful place.

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  10. We live in the desert, so a walk through the woods is a wonderful treat. Thanks for letting me tag along.
    Happy Weekend!
    Connie :)

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  11. What beautiful photos! Thank you for sharing. A lovely walk in the forest. That makes me think of that 1965 record 'Walk In The Black Forest' - Horst Jankowski. It was an instrumental. I'm humming it right now but of course you can't hear me. Do you remember it? Or are you too young to remember that?
    I digress.
    I'm not desking either today as we have just come back from a week away (camping in the forest actually) and there is nothing on my desk. So I hope to join again next week,
    Lisca

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  12. Replies
    1. Thank you, Georgia. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

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