Helen White Photography

Silver ghost

I wasn’t ready for this owl at all; there it was, swooping and landing right behind us in the field as we stood watching a spectacular sunset over the river. The resulting images were blurred, some weren’t even on the “right” setting but what came out of this were some wonderfully painterly shots; the starting point for these finished images.

I’m so taken with the chalky texture of the landscape juxtaposed with the flash of nature’s most ethereal bird that I’ve now turned some of these into fabric designs used for shawls and more, such as the chair as well as prints.

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Tender ritual

One of my favourite and most intimate things to capture as a photographer (and as an artist…I painted this subject in oils last year); a preening swan, carrying out its very thorough ablutions right below my feet at the lake’s edge. This one was on the Serpentine in London’s Hyde Park, a place in which I’ve had very good fortune regarding such photo opportunities as all the wildlife there is so calm and confident around human spectators. Always feels like a very sacred act to be allowed to witness, nonetheless. A series of three images, available as prints with various options.
© Helen White Photography

Looking back at what we had

Since taking this photograph near my home just a few months ago, the fields around it have come under terrible threat from a huge amount of urban development; adding poignancy to the sacred time I spent beside gentle creatures that I no longer see there. I like to send such images out into the world, not as a nostalgic token of a world gone by but as a proactive reminder that we still have it…at least for now; and that it deserves to be taken far better care of. Let more of us look back at these “views”, not out of nostalgia but in search of guidelines that we can take forward into the future to make sure that we leave more than enough room for the natural world to thrive, threading softly around its spaces. After all, we all stand to lose if we forget this fundamental need for balance combined with respect for the planet that makes it possible for us to be here at all.