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Anderwood Inclosure, New Forest, 28 Dec 2008 15:00
Shooting an abstract in Anderwood
A simple pile of logs, although in the New Forest, it can be much more than a simple pile of logs. Many properties in the forest have ancient 'rights of common' attached to them and their occupants, whether owners or leaseholders, are known as New Forest commoners. Most importantly, they have a right to pasturage on the forest, so it is their ponies, cattle, donkeys and sheep you see roaming the forest. Some of these properties also have the right of 'estovers', which allows the occupants to collect firewood from the forest to use in their home. During commercial forestry operations, the bulk of the felled timber is quickly hauled away on trucks in large volumes. The small log stacks you often see left behind lying by the path, marked with initials or a code, are the cordage of firewood designated for collection by one of the commoners.
As a photograph, too, this is more than a simple pile of logs, exuding a natural organic charm, regular but irregular, rough textures of bark contrasting smooth areas where the bark has peeled, each log capped with a crown of stark white frost, an abstract melding of muted browns and greys, contrasted by emerald islands of algae and scarlet pearls of lichen. They have been standing here for some time, home to an ever-increasing myriad of organisms - insects, fungi, lichens, algae - a microcosm of the cycle of birth, growth, death and decay that underpins all of forest life and shapes the landscape beyond.
So, while this simple pile of logs is someone's winter fuel, a cord of logs waiting for collection by a local commoner to provide many weeks of warmth, if they leave it lying here much longer, even this solid stockpile will succumb to the unrelenting cycle of nature and decompose back into the forest floor.
Photo details - Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-70mm at 52mm, ISO250 f6.3 1/60 - Processed in Lightroom OSX (basic light-settings)
As a photograph, too, this is more than a simple pile of logs, exuding a natural organic charm, regular but irregular, rough textures of bark contrasting smooth areas where the bark has peeled, each log capped with a crown of stark white frost, an abstract melding of muted browns and greys, contrasted by emerald islands of algae and scarlet pearls of lichen. They have been standing here for some time, home to an ever-increasing myriad of organisms - insects, fungi, lichens, algae - a microcosm of the cycle of birth, growth, death and decay that underpins all of forest life and shapes the landscape beyond.
So, while this simple pile of logs is someone's winter fuel, a cord of logs waiting for collection by a local commoner to provide many weeks of warmth, if they leave it lying here much longer, even this solid stockpile will succumb to the unrelenting cycle of nature and decompose back into the forest floor.
Photo details - Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-70mm at 52mm, ISO250 f6.3 1/60 - Processed in Lightroom OSX (basic light-settings)