Blackmill Oaks

A fellow photographer in New York, the poet Jorn Ake, shoots trees in winter that always remind me of charcoal drawings. The twigs and branches carve out lines in the sky in formal compositions of informality. They have a light touch, even though they are drawn, or rather shot, in high contrast. This was taken at Blackmill Woodlands, near Bridgend, an ancient plot of common land now famous for its twisted oaks.

Daffodil

You have to really like yellow on green to shoot daffodils in colour. Personally I prefer to exploit their translucent qualities in monochrome, and, as in this case, from up close. This was taken with a No.2 close-up set on a Rolleiflex. It is a very beautiful flower, and one that is strident without being loud. A good daffodil can stand apart like a jazz soloist.