A Walk in the Woods

The Fuji X100 blows me away with its sheer quality, every time I take it out for a walk.  Which is quite often, recently, as it slips so easily into a shoulder bag, is forgettably light and such a pleasure to use, despite -- or perhaps even because of -- its quirks.  Above all, its image quality, straight out of the camera, is breathtaking.  I think I see a Fuji "X" system in my future, once I've got a little more cash in the bank.

It's always nice to discover a new piece of ground to explore, and I came across one just yesterday.  We had headed out towards Mottisfont Abbey, forgetting it was Good Friday. The place was packed out, with cars parked  end-to-end on the roadside verges for several hundred yards beyond the official car-park.  Forget about it!

Luckily, the Prof remembered a tract of woodland a bit further on, where she had once taken the kids when they were small.  There was no problem parking, and the dappled light falling onto the woodland floor was very enticing, with bluebells in drifts among the crisp brown beech and birch leaf litter.  We had a lovely exploratory ramble along the network of forestry paths, swishing, prodding, and pointing at things with our sticks.

Of course, the problem with pretty woodlands is that they tempt you to take pretty woodland photographs.  On the drives out and back we spotted several guys in roadside copses, hunched over tripods and working at getting the magazine-perfect "bluebells in dappled spring sunlight" shot.  They probably do it every year.  Maybe this year they'll get it right.

What you need is a genuinely strange and mysterious intrusion, to add the necessary disruptive presence.  I was amazed and delighted to discover this surreal object, a single sheet of corrugated iron, curled up organically like a gigantic dead leaf, a headless sphinx among the trees.  Perfect!  Though I don't think it will get into Hampshire Life magazine...