Enclosed

On an instinct for wanting better and how narrative became the answer

This was a fun, relaxed session of photography. We drove over to work the Rannoch Forest and in the morning session the conditions were so superb I ended up with a couple of hours of pure car park photography – barely getting more than a hundred yards or so from the vehicle. I made several images – including the alternative image – just playing with the autumn conditions. Fun.

At the picnic table at lunch I noticed the oak tree in the plantation – it was hard to miss with it being in full colour surrounded by the muted colours of the plantation trees. So we had another 90-minute session after food and I headed towards it. I ended up walking around it several times and made images that were like the morning images – literal portraits of the oak from various angles. None of them felt at all right. I had an instinct that there must be a better interpretation and I was certain that I could do very little with the images I had made to date.

I persevered and wandered around some more looking for a better angle – and then I found it. Closer to the viewing angle I had seen from the picnic table. It struck me that the image was all about the narrative of that old tree hemmed in by the modern plantation. Also that the close-up view made the plantation look menacing. I made the main image with my 40mm Rodenstock lens.