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Subcribe to comment rss feedThe View, Chingford, Oct 3 – 30th
Thomas Peck
The real pleasure of photography is that it forces me to slow down and really look. That’s never easy in our rushed world, so a chance to stop, look and see is truly valuable.
Autumn is rapidly approaching, and with it comes the opportunity to photograph woodland and forest in the most spectacular of colour palettes. A new exhibition: The Blazing Forest, by Thomas Peck concentrates on Epping Forest in its most exquisitely beautiful autumnal colour.
Local photographer Thomas Peck: “The forest can be a great place to make images at any time of year, but it is at its most dramatic in late October/early November when the leaves of the beech trees turn yellow. New England may reign in terms of crimson red, but Epping Forest trumps them all in terms of burnished gold. Making images in chaotic woodland is never easy but the intensity of the colours makes it well worth the effort.”
Epping Forest is a 12 mile long/ 2-3 mile wide finger that stretches northwards out of London into the Essex countryside. Woodland, grassland, heath, rivers, lakes, hidden bogs and ponds, Iron Age forts and a rich history: reputed site of Boudicca’s last stand against the Romans, Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I’s hunting grounds. Victoria visited in 1882 and declared: “it gives me the greatest satisfaction to dedicate this beautiful forest to the use and enjoyment of my people for all time” and it thus became “The People’s Forest”.
The exhibition of photographs is at The View, 6 Rangers Road, Chingford, E4 7QH from Saturday 3 October to Friday 30 October, 10am-5pm. Entry to the exhibition is free. The View is Epping Forest’s new visitor centre, next to Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge and Butler’s Retreat, a delightful local café. Treat yourself to a day out in colourful Epping Forest.
