Stalking the disappearing ash tree; an experimental photography walkshop with Peter Coles & Andrew Stuck from the Museum of Walking.

White Horse Wood

Are you interested in nature photography and in helping to record the changes in our natural landscape as ash trees succumb to ‘die-back’? If so, this walkshop (workshop on foot) will offer you a valuable opportunity to hone your creative photography skills, while enjoying a convivial and informative walk through a beautiful park in the heart of the Kent Downs. White Horse Wood Country Park has a huge variety of young trees, including fine examples of mature ash, some with significant signs of ‘die back’.

The walkshop is open to all, from the casual photographer to the serious amateur. Whether you take photographs with a smartphone, tablet, digital compact or DSLR – or even an analogue film camera – you will be invited to tackle the challenge of photographing trees in a way that captures the imagination and invites the viewer on a journey of the imagination.

Some of the skills you will develop:

• Participants will learn different ways to frame and compose images of trees and woodland, while working within the constraints of light, weather and scale.
• You will be shown various features available on smartphone cameras that can add drama and intensity to your images.
• You will be invited to consider ways to use the different focal lengths of lenses (wide angle to telephoto) to best effect and, how to make good use of a fixed focal length lens.
• You will be invited to consider the effects of light and shade, highlights and shadow and use these in your images.

Commissioned by The Ash Project: The Ash Project is a two year Arts Council, Heritage Lottery and Kent County Council funded project that aims to create a lasting legacy for the Ash Tree. The Ash Project has been generously funded by the Heritage Lottery Fundand Arts Council England and Kent County Council and was commissioned by the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Peter Coles – is an urban nature writer and photographer. He is  co-founder of the Morus Londinium project to document and preserve London’s mulberry tree heritage, and has been co-creating Stalking Trees walkshops with Andrew for four years., where participants learn about trees and how to photograph them. Peter is a tutor on the MA in Photography and Urban Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London and is a founding director of the Urban Photographers Association.

Andrew Stuck is a ‘walking creative’ and founder of the Museum of Walking that devises creative activities on foot.  Working with Peter, over the last four years, we have devised many Stalking Tree walkshops and this year co-produced the first ever Urban Tree Festival.