Ferns in the chaos
- 📍 Location: Huelgoat Forest, Brittany, France
- 📅 Date: May 2023, dawn
I made this only minutes after “Arch of green,” during that same misty dawn in the Huelgoat forest, but here I moved in closer, letting a cluster of ferns in the foreground catch the first direct light while the granite chaos behind it settled into soft shadow. “Chaos” isn’t just a mood here, it’s the geological term the region uses for exactly this kind of jumbled boulder field.
Local legend says a giant hurled these rocks down in a fit of rage, and that Merlin’s treasure still waits somewhere beneath them. Standing there alone in the fog, it really wasn’t hard to believe either story.
The ferns have taken the gaps between the granite blocks, growing wherever a little soil has collected, and the result is a slope where soft and hard alternate every metre. I framed to keep both in equal measure rather than favouring either.
Shot under flat cloud, which is the only usable light here. Direct sun breaks a boulder field into a chaos of highlight and shadow; overcast lets the moss and the fronds hold their colour and lets the stones stay legible as shapes.
Awards & Recognition
- Fine Art Photography Awards, 2023: Nominee, Landscape
- Chromatic Awards, 2023: Honorable Mention, Nature
Limited-edition fine-art print from the Skywaven Studios collection, available in several sizes, papers and framing options.
