Walks, Wellness and Some Pictures: The Forest Calls...

A recent research report from Japan claims that forest walks are healthy. Not so surprising. But: they are much healthier than expected! Compared to jogging, you burn nearly as much fat, given the same distance. You burn it slower, which has advantages. Granted, that’s true for walks anywhere. But the forest has more to offer: Lowering blood pressure, lower heart rate, lower adrenalin level. Lung capacity increases, and so does the elasticity of your arteries. Already a one-hour forest walk rewards you with a measurable effect.  City walkers apparently receive none of these benefits!

And there’s more the Tokyo researchers observe: Cancer killing cells increase and get stronger. Maybe due to phytoncides, ethereal emanations from plants. They aren’t sure. But the effect is there, still measurable up to seven days later. Almost too good to be true. Feels Ok to head for the trees again. Leave the seashores for a while.

Can't help thinking though that "my" forest is a bit dull today. Lots of naked small trees. Not many conifers. Overcast skies. No snow. Some moisture in the air. That could liven up the colors somewhat.

And I ask myself, like many times before: Why the camera? Why insist on taking pictures on such a day. I could just concentrate on the exercise part. Being out here, breathing freely. The truth is, I’ve gotten a bit dependent on my visual diary. A record of what I have done, or rather what I’ve seen on a particular day. This kind of picture-taking is relaxing. The ambition doesn’t fly high, the results don't need to be exciting. But as a record for myself the pictures serve a purpose.

Going after well conceived and composed pictures is not really relaxing. The activity may "generate" energy, but first you must invest. Pay the price in concentration, continuous assessment of your surroundings, pressing on with your photographic response. All the while moving to and fro in the terrain, left and right, up and down. A kind of hunting instinct is a prerequisite for good pictures. You are after something elusive. And it’s a lonely pursuit. You can’t really have company. To anybody following along, you act totally erratic. Luckily, relaxing and “hunting” photography can be combined. You can proceed in low gear most of the time. And then on occasion do a side-step into the strenuous type, if opportunity knocks.

Today I know I want to relax, mostly. The landscape seems just a little too familiar, the conditions uninspiring. 

To sharpen the senses a bit, I have to trick myself. I'm going to imagine that I just came from a place with a very different climate and nature. Like from the high, dry and barren plateau in the center of Saudi Arabia. A Hamburg friend once spent several weeks in such a place on a work project. Temperatures went up to 40° C at noon, nose diving to as low as minus 15°C at night, due to the elevation and the extreme heat radiation. He saw nothing but clear blue skies in six weeks.

Returning to Hamburg, his plane descended into that grey and wind-harrowed wash, so notorious for this city. Later, just outside the airport - so he told me - he stood awe-struck, watching huge dark shapes ploughing through the general grey above: Clouds! Filled to the brim with moisture, sprinkling its cargo over the lush land. Bushes and trees glistening, coated with the clear liquid, swaying dance-like in the wind. At times gently, then in intense crescendo. And all around: a land green with growing things.

 

It’s all relative. What’s familiar to you is exotic to somebody else. And if you adjust yourself to something totally different, the once familiar can become exotic to you as well. At least for a while. I'll try to have that in mind today...

The daylight slowly fades. The cameras  approach their limit to record reasonably sharp pictures. On a leisurely outing I don't carry a tripod. There are trees to lean on, big rocks to press the camera against. That helps for a while to avoid motion blur.

I don't know if my desert-phantasy helped much today. Surely somebody fresh out of Saudi Arabia would find the little waterfall with the icy shapes around interesting. It tempted me to do further work with close-ups and different shutter speeds. But it was getting darker.  And my energy for visual perception was depleted too. It's a condition I encounter quite often and have come to accept. Just like a leisurely walk that will tire you eventually...