For the final week of woods and water it’s me at the waterfall I visited with Tabitha last summer. I feel like my arms are flung up in the air in an exuberant welcome to the water and the woods and the sun! Summer vibes.


Friends. Photography. Adventure.
Today on my woods and water week I bring you the gorgeous My Wild Lens. This shot was taken during an outing we had late in 2021, preparing some shots for her 40th birthday.
I love how in this series of photos, which include this one and this one, it looks like she is being hugged by the roots of the tree.
Last August I was reunited with Tabitha after 2.5 years. We ate, we drank, we talked nineteen to the dozen. When we took a lazy paddle down the stream near her house the opportunity for naked photos was too good to miss. Here Daisy the dog wanted in on the action and photobombed the shot.
Well, there goes week one! *throws a bunch of flowers in its wake*
I’m not going to lie, when I sat down after dinner last night and got out my laptop and notebook I was slightly cursing my spontaneous decision to participate in February Photo Fest this year. Actually, that’s a lie, I was actually cursing my obsession with themed weeks. But I am what I am!
So, after a thorough rifle through my archives, and with a handful of new shots planned, I’m pretty much sorted for the rest of the month. Well, assuming everyone I’ve got lined up says yes to being involved. Because it’s time for a bit of variety round these parts! The whole personality of my blog is collaboration and having ridiculous and/or sexy adventures with friends and partners. I wasn’t organised enough to have a big January photography fiesta this year (I promise there’ll be one in 2024!) but I have enough unseen images to get all the usual suspects involved, plus a couple of folk who’ve not been on my February Photo Fest before.
So without further ado, here’s Starcross as the first star of my Woods and Water week.
There’s been a shift this last week or so hasn’t there? On Thursday I went out for a walk in the woods after work. The carpet of wild garlic had expanded, the birds were noisy, the buds are beginning to burst and best of all it was still light.
Yesterday I spent the day in London, starting at the Tate Britain then walking along the river and over Westminster Bridge to the Royal Festival Hall and the WOW festival. I was coat-free for the first time this year and at times it felt something close to warm in the sun. This morning I was woken by the birds – another first for this year.
With the lighter days and regreening of the outside world I can also feel my desire for photo adventures unfurling. Whereas a couple of months ago I was thinking ‘ah, maybe I’m done with the blog, I’m all out of ideas’, I’m now thinking ‘oooh, let’s get planning’. I’m excited for day trips with Haiku, group outings with the gang, more adventures with the chap in this photo and, hopefully, like last year, there’ll be some new faces on the blog.
If we’re mutuals and you’ve always fancied an E40 outdoor photo adventure, let me know. I’d also like to spend more time in front of other people’s cameras. And I need to come up with some new location ideas. The woods and beach will always be my first loves but I think I need a new location with viaduct level wow factor. Any ideas?
“Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.”
Fall, leaves, fall, Emily Bronte
Back in the summer when I was catching up on 40th birthday shoots that were delayed due to lockdown MyWildLens messaged to say that she was turning 40 this year too. So of course a photo adventure had to be planned!
On Friday I spent a glorious few hours in the woods with her and Honey where our hearts sang with joy at the colours and the leaves fluttering around us like confetti. This is my favourite photo of the day but there’ll be more to share in the next few weeks and months.
“I have been younger in October than in all the months of spring.” W S Merwin
Back in the summer I had a flurry of photo outings, catching up on 40th birthday shoots I’d missed out on during lockdown. One of those was with LoveLustLondon.
On that adventure we got the very summery Dappled, but then just around the corner we found this spot which with all its fallen leaves already looked quite autumnal. So this photo is a bit of a trick – it isn’t really autumn but I kept it back for this weekend – his autumn birthday weekend. Congratulations on another orbit!
At the end of my summer holidays I had a flurry of activity photographing friends who had turned 40 during the last year who for obvious reasons I had not been able to photograph at the time. One of those was LoveLustLondon who turned 40 last October.
One again I headed off to Epping Forest, which is fast becoming one of my favourite places for a photography adventure. As we wandered we found this perfect spot of dappled sunlight.
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