A dream of bluebells
Jo Stephen’s ethereal images of North Dorset woodlands in May are in many ways almost more sensed than seen
Published in May ’19
Delcombe Wood near Bulbarrow is one of a large number of North Dorset woodlands that tend to lay on a sumptuous display of bluebell carpets each year
Another of Jo Stephen’s dreamlike shots of bluebell woods, this time of Garston Wood near Sixpenny Handley
A shaft of sunlight in Broadley Wood illuminates the lower canopy of freshly opened leaves and adds a touch of variation to the carpet of bluebells
Spring in Broadley Wood is heralded by the drooping beauty of the bluebells
Left Delcombe Wood in late April last year with freshly minted beech leaves contrasting with the soft bluebell hues
A shot from early May last year which shows Jo’s technique of isolating a single subject against a haze of soft hues by defocusing the foreground flowers
As April gives way to May, so the wild garlic in woodlands gives way to the bluebells
A shot from May last year in Garston Wood as the bluebells’ initial darker hues fade to a pale lilac
There is no greater spring joy than to walk in a carpet of bluebells on a sunny day in a freshly reborn woodland, in this case in Broadley Wood between Winterborne Stickland and Bryanston
According to a number of dream interpreters, a dream of bluebells symbolises ‘the gratitude for all you have in your life’. One is apparently ‘rewarded with achieving what one dreams’. Bluebells therefore ‘symbolise humility’.
There is no doubt that when one walks in a woodland packed with bluebells, it is hard not to be grateful to be there. The scents and sights of a carpet of bluebells with the sun peeping in through the woodland canopy and a breeze carrying their scent is one of the most life-affirming experiences that one can experience for nothing.
Jo Stephen has been taking pictures in and around the woodlands around her home for years and her photographic technique is such that it further enhances the dream-like state one experiences when walking through a bluebell wood. A multiple finalist in botanic and floral photography competitions, Jo manages to imbue even the most prosaic scene with a sense
of wonder.
Using long and multiple exposures, differential focus and a range of other techniques, Jo’s pictures manage simultaneously to evoke a sense of both movement and peace in what she calls Impressionist Nature pictures.
Jo is a self-taught photographer and artist living and working in rural North Dorset and has had a lifelong passion for nature, ecology and the folklore. She spent eight years as a glassblower, working from a small rural studio in the county, and now explores her love of nature through the medium of photography, digital art and alternate photographic processes and print making. She has a degree in Ecology and Wildlife Conservation and is currently studying for an MSc in Green Economy. Her work explores her relationship to nature and the local landscape, with about 90% of her images being taken within a five-mile radius of her home.
Jo states that she ‘is drawn to impressionism, expressionism and the abstract as it conveys a connection to place and depth of feeling that representational photography does not allow.’ Jo is also a synesthete; synaesthesia is a condition where people ‘see’ sounds, ‘taste’ words or feel a sensation on their skin when they detect certain scents. Her work is also influenced by childhood fairy-tale books illustrated by Edward Dulac, Arthur Rackham and W Heath Robinson.
• An exhibition of Jo Stephen’s photographs, called Plants and Pollinators, will be on show at the Dorset Wildlife Trust’s Kingcombe Centre in Toller Porcorum from 1 to 31 May as part of the Trust’s ‘Get Dorset Buzzing’ campaign.
