The theme for March for my online photo group was 'Peace', something the world needs now more than ever. Perhaps because my own spirit is ruffled and troubled by many things, from the terrible and unjust war in Ukraine and the plight of its people, through climate change, the increasing cost of living and the still continuing Covid crisis, to several of my friends being really quite unwell for various reasons, I found it hard to find the peace I needed to inspire an image. I walked one day down to the mill dam at the bottom of Trench Wood, Shipley Glen, thinking I might find some tranquil reflections. It didn't prove quite as easy as I'd hoped, since a sneaky breeze kept ruffling the surface of the water - and that tree that toppled into the water last autumn is still there, albeit rather more bleached and broken than when it first collapsed. However, with a bit of playing in post-processing, I produced this image, which I think does evoke something of a peaceful feeling.
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
'The Peace of Wild Things' by Wendell Berry
I like the result.
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