What a joy it was to finally work with Paul Veron of ‘Amazilia Photography’ recently, after two attempts at me visiting him during 2020-1 (but having to cancel flights due to covidia, AKA the world going mad). I’m so glad he decided in the end to simply visit me, to shoot in what I so often lovingly refer to as ‘my local woodland’. I call it this not because I am trying to imply any ownership of the land(!), but because it is so deeply familiar to me, having lived here for so long and modelled among its various trees, growth and flowers through all seasons, for years!

After some fairly violent storms over the winter, there were lots of fallen trees – quite dramatically so – hence the title of this blog post.

I find that photographers in general enjoy these woodland shoots so much – it’s a wonderland for the creative, and a deeply peaceful way to spend a morning or afternoon. People have visited me here from hardened, hectic cities (and are astounded by the calmness of the trees and open air), from other rural parts of England (sometimes casually identifying different bird calls, far better than I can!), and even from other countries and continents (it blows me away that people have so often done this, often incorporating a shoot with me into their itineraries after long periods of being in touch about the possibility of a shoot).

Paul is working on a ‘Location Nudes in Nature’ project and some of his previous books can be found via his website here. He was a pleasure to work with and perhaps I’ll even make it over to his own island, sometime, as originally planned (again not implying ownership; as far as I’m aware he doesn’t actually own an island).

Here are some of my favourites, which he’s kindly allowed me to share… Click on the first, to enlarge, then navigate through.