Magical light made for Magical scenes. A walk through “Blidworth Wood.” A walk like no other.
Gone was the heatwave, or at least that is what I had thought, the temperature was slightly cooler and whilst it had been warm during the day it was not exactly “heatwave temperature.” Instead it had been a glorious day and this particular early August afternoon, I had found myself at Blidworth Woods, a small area of Woodland that is located just north of Nottingham, a metaphorical stone’s throw away — and yet somehow it feels like another world, another planet almost and one that is soothing and calming. But around me was the late afternoon glow, a glorious golden light and I knew that something magical would be found in the woods. Immediately in front of me I noticed the following, which was five pine trees just catching the sunlight, a golden glow and I had to capture this serene scene, something that set the scene for what would be ahead of me as I continued to walk from the shade of the car park, into the mysterious woodland ahead of me.
Somehow I had thought that a sense of magic had made those five pines so perfect, but no that was due to the light of the woods, either way I was wanting to continue and the pathway leading into the woods from the car park provided the perfect opportunity to see what would be ahead of me. I started to walk, and ahead of me I could just see the perfect leading line of the pathway that I would be walking on, leading ahead, full of curious stories from others who have walked along it, and again the light was something else, I paused for a moment and captured this dreamlike scene.
Continuing to walk on the woodland changed, everywhere now was becoming something that could be best described as “a living museum of art, only here the artwork is sculpture and it lives, the shapes and textures tell stories like no other and that is the most magical part about this living museum of art that I had found myself in.” Everywhere had changed, and again I had noticed just how much the light had changed as well; gone was the bright golden light, and now I was surrounded by more darker and ethereal scenes that surrounded me, again I noticed the pathway that I was on, ahead of me and with that a darker frame lay ahead, it was just perfect and spoke mystery.
For the mystery also was soothing, the pathway led me on, but at this stage I had not looked back, and now was my chance to; the shades of green were just magical along with a darker kind of light, the darker kind of light making for a magical lord of the rings like scene. I stopped for a brief moment,
I then turned back around and continued to walk, again noticing any subtle changes, before long I glimpsed to the left of me and witnessed something magical, something along the lines of an oasis of calm amongst the soothing woodland had now become visual, I knew I had just a brief moment to capture the light, seeping through the trees, the dense wood and hitting the ferns in front of me…..
Then I reviewed the photo that I had captured, it spoke to me in a strange way, unlike anything that I had heard before. But what was said?
“Here within the woods, magical elements of nature, shape and textures seep together to make something beautiful, a living artwork that goes on for as long as they eye can see, the only thing is that the majority of people walking through the woodland forget that they are within a living artwork and living art gallery full of sculpture and texture, patterns and curiosities at every turn that are just waiting to be discovered. Yet slow down and look around you, for soon you will see that the best artwork is free.”
Review complete, and I was back in tune with the woodland around me, I walked on, but then noticed something else, a uniformity of trees to the right of me, looking like something from Star Wars; it was here that I could just see within the mind, something like a speeder bike, hovering at a few meters above the forest floor going at great speed, avoiding Storm Troopers — the mind asked the question, “Am I on Endor?” and no I was not, instead I was walking through Blidworth Woods.
After a while of walking through what seemed to be ethereal, moody, dark and light, I eventually reached another pathway that crossed over the one that I was on, however something struck me and it was so delicate, silky, smooth and the light behind was something else. For even amongst the living sculptures of the tall trees and textures, a beauty like nothing I had seen before, and whilst it took what felt like an eternity to get the focus correct, I managed to capture the following, of a glorious looking flower. Perfection and even amongst the green, colour can still be found.
Then before long, a change had happened, I glimpsed to the right and noticed another clump of woodland that this time looked different, almost like it had been taken from a fantasy novel, for was this the lair of lord of the rings creatures and beings that us mere mortals do not know about? Who knows, but what I did know was that a walk through the woodland can provide curiosities within the mind.
Perhaps the lord of the rings creatures and beings did live in that particular piece of woodland, perhaps they did not, either way the walking had to continue, eventually I got to a junction and turned left, magic happened again and the light along with the woods had changed again, making for even more scenes that needed questioning, again did those questions have answers? No, but that did not matter either. In front of me the pathway that I was on, had changed, dark and light meeting together to make something interesting, like a painting.
But then I noticed something, I had continued to walk until I then stopped and paused, for what I had noticed was something that looked as if it could have been something from a science fiction novel, or maybe something from a medical journal, a tree that looked like veins perhaps, or maybe it looked like some kind of alien vessel awaiting to make contact with us.
After the pause, I continued again, again yet as I walked along, I could not help but notice something to the right of me, I peered into the woods and noticed the light again working its magic and creating art work; again free and I had to capture this scene.
Had I just witnessed a painting carried out by nature? Quite possibly, the light green leaves, being framed by the rest of the woodland, was just something else. But then as I progressed a little further on; I noticed something else. The change on the bottom of the woodland floor, and in front of me the pathway to the left hand side and the trees working together in conjunction but with a noticeable colour change.
I then noticed the ferns, whilst at the beginning of the walk, a fern I captured had been lit up perfectly by a magical light, now though it looked as if Autumn was in front of me, however though that was not the case, and I had to capture two photos; both of which you can easily and clearly see the autumnal look.
But was that down to Autumn? Perhaps not, then I found the perfect opportunity to capture a panoramic image, which just highlighted the raw change of the woodland, on the left of the panorama, something autumnal, on the right of the panorama, the light of August and summer seeping into the woodland.
For that was not down to Autumn, here I was, in a woodland during Early August, and the Autumnal scenes of the brown looking ferns was because of a lack of water, and of course warmer temperatures than usually expected, and whilst the magical light made for magical scenes, the woodland as well remaining damaged was also on my mind, in July of course Blidworth Woods, had experienced a wildfire, and thankfully it was dealt with rather swiftly; but yet despite the woods being charming, despite the wildfire being put out, I could still see the suffering of the woodland, and the un-natural look of autumn in the summer time is just something that remains odd, for why are we damaging the planet so much, yes It was a walk like no other, but it was also a walk that left me questioning things to do with this planet that we call our home, for now it might be a good time to stop abusing the planet and maybe let it heal. If we want a woodland to thrive, trees to look green, the undergrowth to look green during summer and not parched, looking like Autumn, then we have to do something now.
