As I write this it hardly feels like spring given that it’s a dark grey, rainy morning but in our woodlands, right now, nature is simply bursting into life! Wild daffodils and primroses are in flower and soon, there’ll be wood anemones and sorrel, too. But, like so many that enjoy photographing the countryside, there is one flower in particular that often gets me out of bed at an unearthly hour, the bluebell!
Having always lived in Southeast England, I guess you could say I am spoilt with the sheer volume of bluebell woods that I am surrounded by and, since my closest is less than ten minutes away, there has never been a year when I haven’t spent time photographing these stunning flowers. It suits my ‘close to home’ approach to nature photography well where, aside from the workshops and tours that I lead, at least three quarters of all my photography is undertaken not more than 20 miles from my home. This enables me to not only have repeated access to species but allows me to visit nearby woods, downlands and marshes even during office-bound days.
Finding new ways to capture bluebells is always a challenge but, regardless of the time of day I choose to visit or the lens which I fit onto my camera, it’s always less about the photography and more about just simply being there.
