Woodland photography and mindfulness.

Woodland photography helps me to relax and is my way of undertaking mindfulness. I have some favourite woods near to me and I recently discovered Oversley Wood at Alcester. When I prepare for woodland photography then I overpack my camera case. I had the macro lens, long lens and all my filters with me. There was the travel tripod and not forgetting my camera. I wanted to try out my Canon R6 Mark II in the woods and see how it performed in the changing light conditions.

Oversley Wood has no car parks so I left the car next to the old Roman bridge in the nearby village of Oversley Green. There is a pleasant walk through the village to the Primrose Lane footbridge over the A46. The village has several examples of black and white timber framed houses which are interesting to view. Once over the footbridge there is a footpath/bridleway into the woods.

I am a creature of habit and I followed the walk along the northern perimeter of the woods as I had on my last visit. Soon you reach a grassy bank that leads up the hill. After a strenuous walk up, a bench has been thoughtfully placed at the top where there is a commanding view back over Alcester to the rolling hills behind.

It was time to explore the woods. Autumn was on the way and the sun shining through the trees created lovely colours. I followed the path on the crest of the hill and then turned left to make my way to the oldest part of the forest. There are several coppices of ancient small-leaved lime, Tilia cordata. There is a sign that explains that these coppiced lime trees around Oversley Wood are more than 1,000 years old.

From this point in the wood, I followed a path and then looked for woodland sights that caught my eye. Looking up the canopy creates a play on the light. The different coppices create subjects and the long lines of the trees stretching upwards. The path soon disappeared and I quietly looked around as I walked. I did not come across any wildlife but saw marks on the trees caused by woodpeckers seeking out tree sap.

I took in the core principles of mindfulness photography. I let the scenes around me guide my thoughts. I enjoyed looking up at the canopy. I also marvelled at the tall trees throughout the wood. I likened them to concrete pillars that I see around Spaghetti Road Junction, but this time the wood pillars are holding up the forest ceiling. The woodland floor consisted of fallen leaves interspersed with horizontal tree trunks of fallen trees. In one part the ferns created a reflective floor for the sunlight.

The day was bright, but deep in the wood the tall trees and the canopy blocked the light so I had my camera settings on manual. I generally went for a wide aperture of f/3.2 to f/5 on my 24-70mm lens. I took off the polariser and upped the ISO to 320 and above. The stabilisation of the camera is excellent and I could comfortably go down to 1/80s shutter speed. I did not use my long lens in the dark conditions but when I eventually reached the south path of the woods, I was able to change to my long lens and use a faster shutter speed of 1/200s to match my 200mm telephoto.

As I was walking down the slope of the south hill, one coppice caught my eye. There was a sapling in-between two of the trees. I circled around and then saw that there was symmetry to the scene. The trunks of the two large trees were leaning outwards allowing the sapling to grow between them. I stationed myself so that I could capture this remarkable symmetry of the woodland scene.

The southern perimeter of the path of Oversley Wood was caught in the sun. There were still nice pockets of light and shadows available for pictures. I met no more than five people during my time in the woods. The peace and quiet was ideal for taking time out and being mindful of life in general. I walked back into Oversley Green and then drove into Alcester. The town is full of character and again leant itself to photography.

As a post script, I entered my picture of the “Tree family” into the weekly photographic competition #sharemondays2026 on the BlueSky social media channel. I was delighted that my picture was shortlisted for the top four of the week and subsequently won the week’s competition. There are several fantastic woodland photographers in the group so I was pleased to have the picture recognised.

Further links to my woodland photography include Hay Wood in the fog and the trees of Hagley Park.

For those interested the camera settings and lens used for each picture are as follows:-

Looking upwards
f/6.3, 1/100, ISO 640 – EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM

Looking Northwards 
f/10, 1/200, ISO 200 – EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM

The turning leaves 
f/11, 1/125, ISO 2500 – Lens EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

Golden Colour
F/5.0, 1/100, ISO 4000 – – Lens EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

Coppice of lime trees
f/3.2, 1/60, ISO 250 – Lens EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

Sun on the fern leaves
F/5.0, 1/105, ISO 640 – Lens EF EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

Line up of trees
F/7.1, 1/80, ISO 640 – – Lens EF EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

Sapling in a tree family
F/5.6, 1/100, ISO 500 – EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

Southern Perimeter path
F/9, 1/100, ISO 250 – EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM