Creating chimneys of light in the forest canopy from careful selective tree-thinning, draws up young Ash saplings

(Please click on the photo to read) I took this shot yesterday and even though it was a cold day, we have been blessed with lovely great clear days in January, here in south Carlow, Ireland – the exact opposite of this morning, sitting here in my studio watching the hail slide down the windows.

This image is sort of what I have been taught to ‘see’ by my forestry friends over the years – as an artist I might have been thinking about light, balance and composition – foresters are doing that too in a way. In regards to light, I remember listening to a Pro Silva forester Philip Morgan from the UK last year, talk for 20 mins on how important light management was in forestry; “forestry is a way of sculpting with light” (in-the-forest discussion, 2009) and I thought forestry was all about species selection!

I am posting this photo into the group flickr group ‘Close to Nature Forestry Notebook’ (click this link to join) & do feel free to post up your shots too