Spring Trails

On starting a Leave of Absence

2021 was the hardest year to write about. Not because of the photography in the field but more for what was happening off the field. My mum had had a major stroke in November 2020 and although now in a nursing home partly paralysed and unable to talk, was starting to show some signs of improvement. I needed time to come to terms with what was happening and I started a second Leave of Absence (LOA) period in between these two images.

Lockdown was lifting, the vaccine programme was underway and in May I met up with Paul Moon on a damp Sunday morning to work his local woods. The garlic was almost out but it was still a few days off peak and instead I saw the opportunity for this main image using a patch of bluebells – attracted by the lovely trails on the tree.

My LOA started the following weekend and Dave Tolcher joined Paul and me for a morning outing – when I made the alternative image with the garlic – a couple of days before we both headed over to Buttermere for a few spring days at the Bridge Hotel. We arrived the day after it re-opened. Things felt positive for the first time in many months.