Photography today by Brendan Gara, who shoots with an array of beautiful old film cameras and handmade lenses. I’ve worked with Brendan twice before (see blog post here) but this was his first outdoor location shoot, in the forests not far from his house in Lockerbie in Scotland. Brendan’s idea was to work with the notion of ‘märchen’, the German word for fairytales or ‘wonder tale’ – stories that may have a dark or supernatural element, as well as good, which really fitted our location’s mood.

The forest we went to was very quiet with not a soul around, occassionally a short, light rain shower, and then it would brighten up again, illuminating the path leading through. Ragged furry moss covered the tree’s bark, their long thin bodies running up so high above, spikey seeds and pines dug in my barefeet on the damp earth floor, the cool air fresh on my skin, lace-like plants wet and delicate on my fingertips, and as I lay amongst twigs and leaves looking upward, tiny rain droplets from the canopy, descended down like falling stars in my vision, landing softly in my eyes and face. These are the sometimes uncomfortable but often beautiful delights when working in this pure way with nature.
At the end of our shoot the weather suddenly dramatically changed, a really eerie breeze and presence whisking through the trees above and around, getting louder and louder, such a strange sound, as the skies darkened above… it was a good time for us to exit, just about reaching the car before the heavens opened!

We really love how these shots came out. To me there is something fascinating but very unsettled about them. Would love to hear your opinions if you get chance 🙂