Time changes everything

I am fairly sure that when I post the prompt for Sinful Sunday everyone assumes that I pick things that I already have images or at least an idea for. After all only a crazy person would make it hard for themselves. All I am going to say is that people who assume that are (because she is a crazylady ~DS) wrong.

So this month the prompt was to pick an image to reshoot. Now I have a lot of images and so narrowing it down to some potentials took me a good few hours let alone making a final decision. In the end I decided to pick one of the images from the very first outdoor self-portrait shoot I ever did.

This was taken back in June 2011 when Michael was still living in the USA. The story of this image, along with the others in the series, and what I learned that day can be found on If you go down to the woods today. It was taken on my old little point and shoot camera. Back then I didn’t have a remote control trigger either so this shot involved setting up the camera, putting the 10 second timer on and then legging it into position. It definitely made the whole thing that much more of a work out but also often meant I came home covered in scratches and bruises. I have a learned a great deal since that day and the kit I use has changed as well. No more the point and shoot, instead I am using a Canon 7d with a Cam ranger remote control which allows me to use my phone as a remote control screen. I still come home covered in dirt though and sometimes there are scratches and bruises but that usually means I have fallen off something.

I thought that returning to this spot after such a long period of time would be really interesting but I really had not appreciated just how much time had changed the environment and until I got home and look through the images I had taken and compared them to this one. Time has absolutely transformed things.

Where the canopy was once open, the fallen tree having left space above for light to get through and the grass beneath to grow it is not thick and dark, the grass is all gone to replaced by a dark muddy woodland floor. The tree itself is rotting away. The branch that was in the original picture disappearing out of the shot has broken off leaving only a short stump behind and the whole thing has sunk right down. The trees around it have visibly aged and thickened up blocking out a great deal more of the light. Where once it looked like a sunny glade in which to sit and enjoy the surroundings it now looks dark and dank.

The time of year has changed too. In June the leaves are that bright fresh green that signifies early summer. By the middle of September they have lost their freshness and the Autumn yellows and oranges are starting to creep in.

The woman has also changed too. Where once she was cautious about being out in the woods on her own, her confidence has grown with experience and the little slip has been discarded in favour of, well nothing. Her confidence surrounding her body has also changed too. Even though she is slightly bigger than she was back then she is far more comfortable being naked than she ever was. Just like the tree she is laying on, time changes everything…