This was a shoot which really helped me to pin down what I was trying to do. I loved most of the photographs from this session, it was chilly, getting dark and by the time I finished it the moon was climbing high in the sky. I used long exposures with my digital camera on a tripod. Sometimes as long as 5 minutes. I hadn’t done much night work up to this point and wanted to see what results I might achieve.

I have converted a few of the images to black and white as I think this added to a sense of timelessness The jackdaws in the trees were very vocal, as were the pheasants! As it was their time of day to set up roost in the trees. This was tricky to capture on camera but I rather like the movement in the treetops whilst also revealing the silhouette of the birds settling there for the night. The canopy of the trees was especially dramatic because of the clear sky and full moon that night. They cast their silhouette on the lake and so with the longer exposure I had the effect of smoth mirror like surface of the water and the reflection of light cloud, branches and leaves which had slight blur to them.

This work was a joy to make and the focus on just a few small areas of the lake meant again that I just surrounded myself with the landscape and really felt a part of it.

As I was about to leave, I turned around and saw the perfect reflection of the moon in a puddle. I got the camera back out and photographed it, also the scene of the driveway down to the area of the property where the rented sheds are.

The work here really doesn’t quite fit visually with my narrative though. I am being less concerned about that when actually shooting because thats my aim but when it comes to sequencing a book or selecting work for the gallery wall, I think it sits alone. It is likely I will create a separate body of work for another project having been inspired by this shoot.