I was lucky to spend the first six years of my life living on the edge of Cannock Chase and, despite moving away from the area after my first year of primary school, I still visited one of my best friends regularly and we would often head into the forest on our mountain bikes. It’s a wonderfully diverse and interesting forest covering a 26 square mile area in southern Staffordshire and it’s the smallest ANOB in the UK.

Not surprisingly, I jumped at the opportunity to make some photographs of the forest for a private commission, which included a one-off that was to be the centre piece of the living room in their new home. What made this commission particularly special was that the client’s living room opens out onto the Chase through large french windows and they wanted something that would, to some extent, mirror the view.

I spent a few days walking around the forest scouting potential locations, taking scrapbook images on my Panasonic LX3 and noting the direction of the sunrise with a compass. I was also taking myself back to my childhood, which was a rather emotional experience in many ways – it’s a long time since I’ve been back to the Chase, but I have so many fond memories there.

I was looking for a misty morning that would hopefully create some interesting light – I’d visited on a few occasions prior to the morning that I made the final image, only to be greeted with very patchy mist that hadn’t really made its way under the canopy of trees. Then a few weeks ago I spotted a weather window for a decent amount of radiation mist with winds picking up as the morning went on – my hope was that the wind would start to move the mist around and hopefully bring some of it under the canopy of trees I’d settled on for my final image.

In short, the morning turned out to be one of the most magical mornings I’ve ever spent in a forest – let alone one as iconic and meaningful to me as Cannock Chase – and, after I’d got a few large format images in the bag, I made many-a-snapshot just to take in what was happening around me. I felt like I was not just revisiting my childhood, but was actually re-living it – I was like a kid in a candy store!

Below is the final image, titled ‘An Angelic Moment, Cannock Chase’, which was sent off to the printer’s today for its first and only time. It was made on Portra 160 and will be printed as a limited edition of one at 48 x 27 inches on Hahnemule German Etching paper, and mounted on MDF with an acrylic seal.

If there’s a particular place you’d like photographed in a way that fit into your own home and haven’t found anything that fits your tastes or needs, I can offer you a unique service that’s tailored to you - please do get in touch with me to discuss your requirements.