Exploring new woodland compositions

After some photowalks in the city and close to home in the Eijsder Beemden, I decided to go and explore new woodland compositions in the Vijlenerbos, Elzetterbos and Groote Bosch. These woodlands are situated close to eachother near Slenaken, only a half our drive from home.

This month (May 2022) we had a lot of sunny and warm days. Good weather for tourists, but not for photographers who want to shoot woodland. For me woodland photography is best to do when it is rainy and foggy. In this part of the world such a combination does not happens a lot. But, I decided to go to these woodlands anyway in search for new compositions.

On my first trip into an unknown part of the Vijlenerbos the light was not perfect and there was a lot of wind. I found a scene of a fallen tree. After waiting out for the most optimal lighting condition on this outing I made the photograph enclosed in this post. The result is not 100% to my liking but this woodland scene has potential. Now, in late spring, this scene looks a bit complex with all those fresh greens and branches. I will revisted this scene some more (in better weather conditions and during fall) to improve on the composition. All in all, I am glad that I found this woodland scene. That day I did not find any other interesting scenes. This part of the Vijlenerbos is realy chaotic. There isn’t a lot of old growth. Getting seperation between all those trees and schrubs to get a compelling composition is really difficult.

The next photo walks I went to the Elzetterbos and the Groote Bosch. Still, during both outings there wasn’t any good lighting conditions.

In the Elzetterbos I ended up taking some details of its forest floor. I enclosed two photographs in this post. The forecasted cloudy weather ended up to be a completely sunny, cloudless and hot day. Gladly the walk itself was fun to do and I explored some new trails in that woodland.

In the Groote Bosch I had some more luck in finding interesting compositions, although there was a lot of wind and the lighting conditions changed rapidly. When fog and or heavy rain will be forcasted I will defenitely revisit the Groote Bosch to improve on the enclosed photographs and to explore for more compositions. With some fog the compositions will certainly be more to my liking.

I like exploring woodland for new compositions. Being in nature and connecting with nature is the most fullfilling part of doing woodland photography. Making and printing a photograph of a beautiful woodland scene is like creating a memory. For me, these photographs make it possible to relive those moments in time in nature.

All content and photographs are (C) Copyright Ruud Maas. All Rights Reserved.