The Forest

Hans Strand

Hans Strand is an internationally recognised photographer who has received numerous awards for his work and published three books. He lives near Stockholm in Sweden.

Ever since I started photography in the early eighties I have been strongly attached to the forest. The tranquility, the scents and the feeling comfort being embraced by trees, stimulates my senses. By stepping into a forest I transcend into a meditative stage, where I forget the stressful dayly struggle and become a photographing indian, looking for camera compositions. I really like this friendly “hunt“ for new perspectives. I often return to the same forests over and over again. Almost everytime to discover changes from the previous visit: a tree has fallen and some new ones have popped up. It feels like somebody had rearranged the furniture in my living room. Sometimes to the better and sometimes to the worse. The pace of the forest is slow, but it has a pace. It is amazing how much a forest can change over a period of 20 years.

A forest is the most “relaxed” environment I can think of. I therefore seldom look for sensation. I normally take my time just looking for complexity and naked reality. A natural chaos can be given order by finding the structures which holds it together. To find “the back bone” is always a challenge and it takes time. It is a combination of seeing and being meticulous with choice of lens, camera position and framing.