Follow the Light

A guest blog by Caro Jones

I'm a travel and nature photographer based in Walthamstow, E17. I have published a photobook ‘Follow the Light: A year in Epping Forest and Hollow Ponds’. Find Caro on Instagram.

Exploring the ancient woodland of Epping Forest and the sprawling waterways of Hollow Ponds is good for the soul whatever time of the year. And in the extraordinary year of 2020, the forest and ponds bordering London and Essex provided me with a place of tranquility and calm amongst the chaos of the outside world.

I started documenting Epping Forest in the first lockdown in the Spring of 2020. I was staying with friends in upper Walthamstow during this time and they live close to the forest. As part of my daily exercise I would go to the forest, camera in hand to take photos of the woodland and the bright yellow gorse fields. I found the forest and Hollow Ponds to be really inspiring. There is amazing light in the forest for photography such as the glimpse of sunlight streaming through the branches or when the sunsets there is a beautiful glow over the ponds. I also like the reflection the clouds make in the ponds too. Being in nature is very beneficial to positive mental well-being and each time I took a photo I would feel proud of taking a good shot and composition.

Epping Forest is an ancient woodland with many aged oaks and gnarly branches. There is a bare tree in Hollow Ponds which reminds me of Sleepy Hollow and looks rather spooky. There is another tree in the gorse fields that may have been struck by lightning and is split in half with a character of its own.

I decided to document the changing of the seasons throughout the year with summer, autumn and winter and saw how the landscape changed. Wandering between aged oaks and fields of spiky yellow gorse, I was inspired to pursue my interest in photography and document the changing of the cycles of the seasons from the warm, dry spring to the chilly winter days in the woodland. The bright yellow gorse had fallen away to reveal prickly bushes, the trees were now bare and stark and the sun would set low in the winter afternoon. I put a selection of my favourite images together in a photobook 'Follow the Light: A year in Epping Forest and Hollow Ponds' that would demonstrate the changes in the seasons and landscapes and perhaps paging through the book would feel like a little lockdown holiday.

Discovering the beauty of nature through photography has positively benefited my mental well-being and I hope that you will find inspiration through my photographs of this special and unique place.