How to Photograph Tree Planting in South Devon

I have just finished a commission to photograph thousands of trees being planted around the south hams area of Devon. Funds for the trees were made available from the construction of the new gas fired power station at Langage near Plymouth. The photos required a variety of photographic styles from the sort of thing the local newspaper uses to photojournalism.  The Woodland Trust has been overseeing the project as part of their Morewoods initiative.
 
It was a fun project to take pictures of with Debbie Nicholls of the Woodland Trust coming up with some great suggestions. The first was a shot of the contractors planting the trees but was a little set up as they don’t usually walk around with the bag on their shoulders, they normally just put them in  big plastic bag and carry that.  I used off camera flash to enhance the contractors face and help highlight the saplings.  Having done the Nikon multiple peedlight course a few years ago controlling this sort of set up is not difficult, as long as you think about it first  These guys can plant 400 broadleaf trees a day, which is what was going in around South Hams.  They told me they can plant 1,000 conifers a day per person, I must say they did work remarkably fast. 
 
The next shot was a real setup piece for the local papers. A tree being served up on a silver platter at the Kitley Hotel, looks quite cheesy but it works really well as a local paper picture.
 
Staddon Golf Club near Plymouth was a wonderful location with a great view over Plymouth Sound. Another local paper style shot here of golf caddies loaded with trees to be planted. 
 
The last location was near Newton Ferris and was on a farm.  So to get another style I just took shots of the contracts at work. This worked well as the photos show the existing woodland behind. This is exactly what the woodland trust wanted to show as an example of extending an existing wood.
 
I wonder if I’ll get a commission to go back to any of these sites in twenty years time and see what they look like, I certainly hope so.
 
Paul Glendell    March 2010