Earlier this year Handcross Primary School in West Sussex asked me if I could help with a somewhat unusual project. They were soon to open a new nursery and had a 3.5m by 1.75m wall space to fill with a woodland image with owls and hedgehogs. I accepted the challenge and we agreed to proceed.

There are of course plenty of woodland images to find in photo libraries which could be suitable but I wanted to create something unique from scratch. It was late winter, so I still had time to plan and execute this. Living in West Sussex I have rural landscapes pretty much on my doorstep.

I went for a few walks with my camera searching for good locations, and at the same time trying to visualise how each place would look in the spring and summer with foliage on the trees and undergrowth on the ground. I took a series of test shots, but it was on the walk back from a countryside pub a long hour’s walk away that I spotted the perfect location with a copse of broadleaf trees, a pond (with ducks swimming in it!) and a farm and fields in the background behind the trees.

The woodland scene in middle of April with no foliage on the trees.

This was mid April and spring was still not properly underway with very cool weather. I intended to come back later. However, the ground and the pond looked nice and I took a series of shots. Bearing in mind the large format print needed, I split the scene in sections for then to merge images into one big panoramic scene. I knew I had to come back later for the foliage, which I did at the end of May. Spring was incredibly late but with deadline looming I could not wait any longer.

It should not have come as a surprise but still it was a bit of a shock to see the change of the scene. The ground now had long grass and plants, and mostly stinging nettles up to my thigh. The pond was almost hidden from view. Instantly, I knew the bottom part of the scene was useless, but the trees had bright, light green leaves.

There was only one thing to do. Find the exact same spot I took pictures in April, try and match the tripod setting from then and shoot another series. Back home I did another photo merge to create another panorama.

The same scene end of May with dense undergrowth but with spring leaves on the trees.

The two scenes from April and end of May now had to be superimposed and gradually change from April bottom part to May top part while tree trunks and other distinct elements matched up.

The April and May images merged to the final setting.

When that was done, after a fair amount of retouching and light and geometry adjustments, I needed to find photos of owls and hedgehogs (that was totally beyond my photography scope). Suitable images were sourced from online libraries and added to the complete scene. The final touch was to create an oil paint effect over the whole image.

The complete image with woodland, owls and hedgehogs (and a bonus duck swimming in the pond!).

Now that Covid-restrictions are gone, I have finally managed to go and see the finished wall myself. Both the children and staff love the finished result which made it worth the effort.