From a photography perspective woodland, including forests, are chaotic, hard to photograph places. The techniques required are common to photography generally, especially Landscape, but I believe observation especially important as it’s foundational to identifying compositions in messy woodland environments.

The North West Highlands are very special; It and its Northern neighbour, Assynt, are two of the few remaining truly wilderness landscapes in the UK. The area can be bleak and imposing but it most certainly always forces you to appraise your significance in the environment. They are a wonderful juxtaposition of craggy coastlines, turquoise waters and white sandy beaches with dark and imposing expanses of impenetrable moorland separated by large mountains and rivers.

Last year I started to explore ‘The Forest’ as it’s known to locals. This summer I spent lots of time exploring a handful of areas with a mind for Autumn woodland photography. This really helped identify those places that didn’t have potential meaning I could focus on selected areas during the Autumn period.

On the Western edge of the Cotswolds is the village of Cranham. Hidden away under the trees in this traditionally sheep farming area are decades-old drystone walls which are now gracefully decaying.

To the East of Wickwar are several small woods. Nestled within the young, straight trees are curvey trees. These contrast wonderfully against their straight neighbours.

Avoiding the temptation of arboretums, I made a concerted effort this year to explore somewhere not far away, somewhere I really should know much, much better. The Forest of Dean is about 15 miles away and sits between Chepstow and Ross-on-Wye on the Western side of the river Severn. This year I started by thinking carefully about why previous trips hadn't worked and what I could do better.