Since I was young, the natural world has fascinated me, staying with me this innate appreciation towards wildlife and nature. We came from it, it is a part of us and spending time in it has a healing quality that we are yet to fully understand.

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Journeying to South Africa after graduating with a photographic degree, I trained as a safari field guide. Observing, photographing and learning about the local flora and fauna. A truly awesome experience, which fed my passion about the animal world and animal behavior, leading me to work in the animal care industry, a very important aspect of my life. 

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Having also a great interest in human nature and the relationship we have with the natural world. My aim is to collaborate these interests to create images which reflect on human experience, and to hopefully guide the viewer to ponder the world that we find ourselves in.

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Understanding the world around us and how we connect to ourselves, and to one another can be a deeply therapeutic experience. Through first hand encounters, written word or imagery, it can give a sense of clarity. Becoming enchanted by and appreciating the simplistic beauty of clustered feather moss, it's shape, textures and structure. Within this world we discover the lives of minute creatures wondering around this tiny enchanted forrest. Their paths crossing each other, intermingled. Will it will be a friend? enemy? prey? Predator?? This world is beautiful, yet brutal. Feeling akin with them, we are all here, together. Learning some of life's most valuable lessons through nature in all her glory. You spot a trail amongst the dense thickets, too small for people to walk through. Deer maybe? Just because it's big enough for deer doesn't mean only deer are passing through. Deciding to follow the trail, you're led further into the woods. It's still daylight but the thickets and foliage are blocking out most of the sun. It feels dark, cold. And damp. An array of smells and scents begin to surface all around, making their way through the nostrils and into your thalamus, each more peculiar than the next. Some sweet, some foul, some musty... Some, although giving them some considerable thought, just do not recognize. Completely new impressions on the olfactory senses. Noted, thinking to yourself. To recall back on another time.

As the trail narrows, leading further into the dense vegetation, being periodically tormented by thorns catching on your jacket as you clamber through. "I just bought this" you say to yourself with a tut, followed by a sigh. Gradually, the trail opens out into woodland again. Careful as to where you're treading you look around to get a sense of direction, spotting something at the edge of the clearing. You squint as if this will help reveal it, slightly too far away to make out exactly. Closer you approach, a familiar shape begins to form. There, amongst the autumn leaves, stickyweed and wild strawberries, lies the lifeless body a collard dove. You walk over to it, stop, and look around... Perhaps a fox got spooked and left it? or stashed it here, to return later? The wind catches your attention for a moment, calling from the treetops. A slight distraction... Refocused, you look down, and see the dove. Dappled sunlight gently highlights the woodland floor, dancing shapes around the outline of its body. Curious, you crouch down just enough to study it more attentively. The foliage appears to cradle it like a loving mother. Intact, pristine even. Perhaps it has been here for some time? Waiting... Ready for its energy to be reclaimed by the earth.

The atmosphere is different now, it's still. Quiet. Your own sense of mortality staring back at you. You decide to stay with it for a while, contemplating your life while the wind whispers and the light continues to frolic back and forth, almost tauntingly. 

Slowly, the emerging soundtrack of the woodland begin to return, creeping back into the forefront of your senses. A little saddened, but with a deepened sense of peace and acceptance, you continue to make your way through the woods. 

 

It's easy to become disconnected to the world of nature, my wish is to be able to reconnect you with it. The natural world is an intrinsic part of our lives, it's very presence is integral for our survival and our well being.

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A member of the London Independent Photographers Organization. Having had had work published in their magazine Flip, which is sold at the National Portrait Gallery and the Photographers Gallery in London.

Please fill in the form below if you are interested in working with me on any future projects, to enquire about hosting workshops and general enquiries.

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