In December 2025, I photographed a set of trees at Studley Woods near Oxford – which is actually a copse. These trees are set beside a ditch in a hedgerow, creating a boundary. They are various ages but some are older – perhaps being repeatedly coppiced. Coppice – often Hazel, might be cut and harvested after 14 years, and the stump allowed to regrow, to be repeatedly harvested again. One use of coppiced wood is to make charcoal – biochar from wood.
Two sets of photographs were made on different days in December with a medium format camera. One day used a black and white film with a speed of ISO 25. The other a colour film with a speed of ISO 100. All of the photographs are of different trees – and the selection was made by walking along part of the hedge-line and simply photographing one after another. While the negatives were scanned, there was no other post production work on the images.
The photographs are presented in pairs as diptychs with a white border. The gnarled trunks of coppice have moss growing upon them, and they have a contrasting texture to the shimmering grass in the winter sunlight. The softness of the moss and the sunlight create images with the feel of velvet. The intention in these photographs is much the same as the diptychs in the feeling and sensation series which proceeded them.
The Diptychs
