Ah, the boisterous beauty of Beltane! Lovely pics, Lin. That festival through Hastings sounds wonderful. Thank you for sharing. The May blossom is so thick along the canal at the moment I almost giddy, lost in it's scent. Everything is humming with new life. Bluebells everywhere (sadly few native ones, but still lovely to see). All the trees bursting with fresh green. The true magic of the season is upon us for sure. Beltane blessings to you both💚🤍💚🌱🌿🌳🙏
Thanks so much Ralph - yes the Jack is quite an event, where years ago I set myself the task of getting portraits of many of the characters, quite a task after they'd had a few ales!😂The canal sounds glorious - you made the trip at just the right time by the sounds of it, hopefully you're getting lots of images of the blooms. We'll be off to Avebury and the Stonehenge landscape in the coming weeks, so hoping the blossom holds long enough for our wanderings. There seems to be a more powerful energy at this Beltane - maybe it was the full moon but it all feels like life is bursting everywhere. Enjoy the rest of your trip and a blessed Beltane to you and Irene.🥬💚🙏🏻🌳🌿
Thanks, Lin. Fingers crossed for the blossoms lasting for your travels. Btw I saw my first wild roses of the year yesterday. A wondrous sight, but they do seem very early..
Oh wow - wild roses already! If they're dog roses then you're right, they are incredibly early...usually they're late May, early June when to smell their fragrance is pure heaven to me. This is a strange spring for the flowers there's no doubt.
They did look like dog roses (my fave) so yes, seeing them this early seems rather odd. Maybe it’s a hybrid that someone’s discarded? It was at the end of someone’s garden where it met the canal.
Fantastic photos, Lin. I've loved the Green Man for so many years and first drew him as a Green Bull at a Marion Woodman workshop. I was surprised by bull energy, but my husband Vic who was alive then said, "I know that bull."
All sorts of surprises appear at Beltane. My son and his partner saw an orange Baltimore Oriole in the forest this morning. So beautiful and a reminder that color will return. We're having a late spring, but I now have an orange cut for the Orioles. I hope they find it. The Purple Lupines aren't flowering, but they're coming soon. Love to you, across the turbulent sea with prayers for peace in my land and yours. With love.
Thank you so much Elaine - it is that time of the Green Man and Green Woman and I must admit it's my favourite season with all its vibrancy and light.
I had to look up the Oriole but my what an amazing looking bird - so beautiful, a real ray of sunshine to help break you out of the cold start to spring that you've had. Now hopefully he's a good sign and those lupines and then the monarchs will arrive and add even more colour to your land.
I do hope that you're keeping well and able to get down to your forest to see the unfolding of the green - sending you much love and light across the ocean from both of us 🥬😊💚🌳
Hi Lin...It's good to have you back and to see your work again. Your portraits are stunning - and, of course and as always, your forest and flower work is so good. Thank you for the decision to show us these in color!
Thanks so much for your lovely words Tom! Beltane is a time of colour, especially the vivid lime greens, so this one had to be a colour post to show the vibrancy of the day. I must admit I was tempted to share the black and white process I'd worked for some of them - green or black face paint gives each one such a gritty look which is emphasised more in mono. One day perhaps 😊
Lin, I love this post, and I so enjoy learning from you. I had no idea about Beltane until I'd read your amazing words complemented by wonderful photos. This essay is a homage to nature. I adore the photos of real people, whose personalities shine through their make-up. What an amazing, celebration you describe! It sounds like so much fun.
That photo of the bluebells is stunning. And your description of the cuckoos. So much incredible scenes and revelry to take in. Thank you for this!
Thanks so much Beth - I love this time of year with its abundance of energy and light. The festivities to celebrate Beltane really bring the town to life in the same way that the gentle blue haze and cuckoo calls show nature in full flow...I have to admit though that I much prefer to celebrate this time in the peace of nature than the hubbub of the town! 😊
To be honest, Lin, I wasn't aware of the term 'Beltane', but now I am, thanks to your excellent explanation of this natural transition phenomenon, both in words and images. It's good that the tradition is being upheld by the people coming together on the streets, dreed up and with green faces. You have photographed them wonderfully, the eye contact is marvelous; but looking at them, I was somehow surprised, not about the fact that you're capable of making these vivid street portraits, but because I've seen quite a bit of your nature and landscape photos recently, which have such a different atmosphere. Luckily there were these bluebell 'magick' photos, that I really enjoyed, they are truly lovely images! That's why the conclusion of this post wasn't at all surprising to me; the world of small natural wonder, birdsong and the light of the forest seems definitely closer to you than the buzz of people and modern life.
Oh that is so true Vincent - as I mentioned to Susanne, there was a period of time when I wanted to challenge myself to photograph people and would attend these busy events to boost my confidence. I was happy with the portraits I came away with, but I'm a real introvert and much prefer nature and landscape to the vibrancy and crowds of these events. So 'portraits' of trees and the land are definitely more my thing! Thanks so much for your lovely comment.
It is always a surprise to see portraits in your newsletter! I loved the way you described that Nature seems “to open the floodgates”, because that’s exactly how it feels. Especially this year, where my eyes were mostly on Fibi and less on the unfurling of Spring. I just said to my husband yesterday, that I somehow missed the awakening of Nature this year. The floodgates have been fully opened by now here.
Anyway, it is good to see you back and to read your newsletter again! ☺️
Thanks so much Susanne - it's good to be back participating fully again! 😊
I'm a landscape photographer at heart but there was a stage when I wanted to challenge myself to different genres - and so I would go to all of these big events to practice and boost my confidence. I enjoyed it for a while but as I've got older I realised how much of an introvert I am, in fact the pandemic actually brought that out even more in me, so now I'm really happy just making 'portraits' of nature and landscape instead!
You're right, spring unfurled in a heartbeat this year - all the stars of the show, like the bluebells and wild garlic, have finished over here. But it sounds as though you were distracted from it all in a lovely way as the 'wild nature' of Fibi awakened and took centre stage! 😉🐾😊
Thanks Jill - it's a wonderful weekend of celebrations, just a bit too extroverted nowadays for me! I'm more drawn to the quieter celebration of Mother Nature herself.😊
Wow, Lin! You're back with a bang as this post is a cracker. I love the bluebells in the woods but your portraits are stunning, especially the first one. Just like Paul Jenkin's comments, this post gives me strong Songs From The Wood vibes. I hope you're enjoying your new computer.
Thanks so much Mark - I tried to get a sense of the experience of the woods that day but for me the bluebells never reproduce their density in photographs and I certainly can't give a sense of their fragrance (oh for smellivision!). I can only say that the colour and smell was quite overwhelming at the time.
As for the portraits - thank you, I love the way their face paint adds a grittiness to them. I don't know if I could go to the Jack now - as with so many events as news spreads on social media, it has become so crowded that to interact with the characters and get them to stop for a few seconds for a portrait would be very challenging - as well as a tad uncomfortable. It was fun though!
I'm going to have to go and listen to the full album now - I did know Jethro Tull back in the day but didn't have their albums...but, now you couldn't make this up - they're playing in Eastbourne with Ian Anderson next Saturday! And yes the new beast is settling in nicely 😉😂
Thanks so much Robin - this is Beltane in all its forms. The portraits aren't the Morris dancers - these are the Sweeps and the Bogies that accompany the Jack as he is set free. Very colourful and mischievous characters nevertheless and all a part of the wonderful celebrations that take place here at this time of year!
Thanks for your clarification. How wonderful! I've always wanted to see Morris dancers, Lin, so I'll have to find some. And mummers. When I was in NI years ago, I met a man who shared a little of that world with me. Those Sweeps and Bogies are fantastic.
Thanks Robin - I know I've got some Morris dancers in the archive somewhere, I must take a look and see if I can find them for another post some time.😊
Wow - these are incredible portraits, Lin! The festival really brings out some wonderful characters.
I am also enjoying the longer days as we quickly move towards summer. I’m currently doing some traveling in Oregon and it’s beautiful to see everything so green, as compared to the much drier climate that I live.
I hope your adventures with the new computer are going well! 👍
Hey thanks so much Todd - these were taken back in the times when I had more of an outgoing energy that masked my introversion and I would boldly engage with these characters to get them to stand still a short while for me. I'm more for the quieter way of celebrating it all now!
You've picked the right time of year to visit a greener landscape - perfect for welcoming in the season and I can imagine it's far gentler on the eye photographically. I look forward to seeing some images from your trip.😉
As for the new beast - nicknamed Athena - she's much faster than anything I've had before - I've just had time to process a few images and, from that experience, I think we're going to get on fine!😊
Your pictures feed my imagination. I wish we had festivals like that here. I love this shift in the seasons, and the idea of collective ritual and celebration feels like dancing with the forest. Thank you for sharing these interesting and compelling photographs. Big hugs.
Thanks so much Stephanie - I'm so pleased they sparked your imagination. This year it all feels more powerful a Beltane for some reason, perhaps because of the full moon or maybe the challenges in the world right now, it just feels so much more important to mark it with ritual and celebration. I do believe there are Beltane fire festivals in the US, although I don't know if they involve the same sort of characters that we have here, nor the spirit of ritual and defiance that seems to be embedded in this town. Perhaps it's the place that makes these celebrations more unique.
I love learning about the traditions and festivities happening in your little corner of the world. The image with the black face definitely startled me. :)
Thanks Manuela - they certainly know how to celebrate festivals in this part of the world, they take it very seriously to follow tradition but manage to incorporate so much fun into proceedings. I love the effect that face paint has in pulling out all the gritty detail in their faces - the chap with the ice blue eyes and black face had such a piercing look about him and when I saw that saying on the top of his hat I had to make a photograph!
Thanks so much Darin - it's quite day of celebrations in the streets and up near Hastings Castle on the West Hill where there's bands and Morris Dancers - you just have to be ready to come home daubed all over in green face paint.
Ah, the boisterous beauty of Beltane! Lovely pics, Lin. That festival through Hastings sounds wonderful. Thank you for sharing. The May blossom is so thick along the canal at the moment I almost giddy, lost in it's scent. Everything is humming with new life. Bluebells everywhere (sadly few native ones, but still lovely to see). All the trees bursting with fresh green. The true magic of the season is upon us for sure. Beltane blessings to you both💚🤍💚🌱🌿🌳🙏
Thanks so much Ralph - yes the Jack is quite an event, where years ago I set myself the task of getting portraits of many of the characters, quite a task after they'd had a few ales!😂The canal sounds glorious - you made the trip at just the right time by the sounds of it, hopefully you're getting lots of images of the blooms. We'll be off to Avebury and the Stonehenge landscape in the coming weeks, so hoping the blossom holds long enough for our wanderings. There seems to be a more powerful energy at this Beltane - maybe it was the full moon but it all feels like life is bursting everywhere. Enjoy the rest of your trip and a blessed Beltane to you and Irene.🥬💚🙏🏻🌳🌿
Thanks, Lin. Fingers crossed for the blossoms lasting for your travels. Btw I saw my first wild roses of the year yesterday. A wondrous sight, but they do seem very early..
Oh wow - wild roses already! If they're dog roses then you're right, they are incredibly early...usually they're late May, early June when to smell their fragrance is pure heaven to me. This is a strange spring for the flowers there's no doubt.
They did look like dog roses (my fave) so yes, seeing them this early seems rather odd. Maybe it’s a hybrid that someone’s discarded? It was at the end of someone’s garden where it met the canal.
ahh that could be the answer to it. I would have been tempted to hop off the boat and breathe them in deeply...but I'm not that good a swimmer!😂
Lol😅 I can't swim at all 😬😄
Fantastic photos, Lin. I've loved the Green Man for so many years and first drew him as a Green Bull at a Marion Woodman workshop. I was surprised by bull energy, but my husband Vic who was alive then said, "I know that bull."
All sorts of surprises appear at Beltane. My son and his partner saw an orange Baltimore Oriole in the forest this morning. So beautiful and a reminder that color will return. We're having a late spring, but I now have an orange cut for the Orioles. I hope they find it. The Purple Lupines aren't flowering, but they're coming soon. Love to you, across the turbulent sea with prayers for peace in my land and yours. With love.
Thank you so much Elaine - it is that time of the Green Man and Green Woman and I must admit it's my favourite season with all its vibrancy and light.
I had to look up the Oriole but my what an amazing looking bird - so beautiful, a real ray of sunshine to help break you out of the cold start to spring that you've had. Now hopefully he's a good sign and those lupines and then the monarchs will arrive and add even more colour to your land.
I do hope that you're keeping well and able to get down to your forest to see the unfolding of the green - sending you much love and light across the ocean from both of us 🥬😊💚🌳
Hi Lin...It's good to have you back and to see your work again. Your portraits are stunning - and, of course and as always, your forest and flower work is so good. Thank you for the decision to show us these in color!
Thanks so much for your lovely words Tom! Beltane is a time of colour, especially the vivid lime greens, so this one had to be a colour post to show the vibrancy of the day. I must admit I was tempted to share the black and white process I'd worked for some of them - green or black face paint gives each one such a gritty look which is emphasised more in mono. One day perhaps 😊
You have a way with both color and black and white, Lin. I am sure they would be powerful.
Aww thanks Tom.🙏🏻😊
Lin, I love this post, and I so enjoy learning from you. I had no idea about Beltane until I'd read your amazing words complemented by wonderful photos. This essay is a homage to nature. I adore the photos of real people, whose personalities shine through their make-up. What an amazing, celebration you describe! It sounds like so much fun.
That photo of the bluebells is stunning. And your description of the cuckoos. So much incredible scenes and revelry to take in. Thank you for this!
Thanks so much Beth - I love this time of year with its abundance of energy and light. The festivities to celebrate Beltane really bring the town to life in the same way that the gentle blue haze and cuckoo calls show nature in full flow...I have to admit though that I much prefer to celebrate this time in the peace of nature than the hubbub of the town! 😊
To be honest, Lin, I wasn't aware of the term 'Beltane', but now I am, thanks to your excellent explanation of this natural transition phenomenon, both in words and images. It's good that the tradition is being upheld by the people coming together on the streets, dreed up and with green faces. You have photographed them wonderfully, the eye contact is marvelous; but looking at them, I was somehow surprised, not about the fact that you're capable of making these vivid street portraits, but because I've seen quite a bit of your nature and landscape photos recently, which have such a different atmosphere. Luckily there were these bluebell 'magick' photos, that I really enjoyed, they are truly lovely images! That's why the conclusion of this post wasn't at all surprising to me; the world of small natural wonder, birdsong and the light of the forest seems definitely closer to you than the buzz of people and modern life.
Oh that is so true Vincent - as I mentioned to Susanne, there was a period of time when I wanted to challenge myself to photograph people and would attend these busy events to boost my confidence. I was happy with the portraits I came away with, but I'm a real introvert and much prefer nature and landscape to the vibrancy and crowds of these events. So 'portraits' of trees and the land are definitely more my thing! Thanks so much for your lovely comment.
It is always a surprise to see portraits in your newsletter! I loved the way you described that Nature seems “to open the floodgates”, because that’s exactly how it feels. Especially this year, where my eyes were mostly on Fibi and less on the unfurling of Spring. I just said to my husband yesterday, that I somehow missed the awakening of Nature this year. The floodgates have been fully opened by now here.
Anyway, it is good to see you back and to read your newsletter again! ☺️
Thanks so much Susanne - it's good to be back participating fully again! 😊
I'm a landscape photographer at heart but there was a stage when I wanted to challenge myself to different genres - and so I would go to all of these big events to practice and boost my confidence. I enjoyed it for a while but as I've got older I realised how much of an introvert I am, in fact the pandemic actually brought that out even more in me, so now I'm really happy just making 'portraits' of nature and landscape instead!
You're right, spring unfurled in a heartbeat this year - all the stars of the show, like the bluebells and wild garlic, have finished over here. But it sounds as though you were distracted from it all in a lovely way as the 'wild nature' of Fibi awakened and took centre stage! 😉🐾😊
Funny that you say that about the pandemic and how it changed you. I can say that about myself, too!
And yes, center stage for Fibi! Her role is quite a dramatic and wild one! 😂
😂
How joyful! Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks Jill - it's a wonderful weekend of celebrations, just a bit too extroverted nowadays for me! I'm more drawn to the quieter celebration of Mother Nature herself.😊
Me too. :)
Wow, Lin! You're back with a bang as this post is a cracker. I love the bluebells in the woods but your portraits are stunning, especially the first one. Just like Paul Jenkin's comments, this post gives me strong Songs From The Wood vibes. I hope you're enjoying your new computer.
Thanks so much Mark - I tried to get a sense of the experience of the woods that day but for me the bluebells never reproduce their density in photographs and I certainly can't give a sense of their fragrance (oh for smellivision!). I can only say that the colour and smell was quite overwhelming at the time.
As for the portraits - thank you, I love the way their face paint adds a grittiness to them. I don't know if I could go to the Jack now - as with so many events as news spreads on social media, it has become so crowded that to interact with the characters and get them to stop for a few seconds for a portrait would be very challenging - as well as a tad uncomfortable. It was fun though!
I'm going to have to go and listen to the full album now - I did know Jethro Tull back in the day but didn't have their albums...but, now you couldn't make this up - they're playing in Eastbourne with Ian Anderson next Saturday! And yes the new beast is settling in nicely 😉😂
A vibrant banquet of photos in this fascinating post! Thank you for sharing Morris dancers, bluebells, and local folklore all so magically, Lin.
Thanks so much Robin - this is Beltane in all its forms. The portraits aren't the Morris dancers - these are the Sweeps and the Bogies that accompany the Jack as he is set free. Very colourful and mischievous characters nevertheless and all a part of the wonderful celebrations that take place here at this time of year!
Thanks for your clarification. How wonderful! I've always wanted to see Morris dancers, Lin, so I'll have to find some. And mummers. When I was in NI years ago, I met a man who shared a little of that world with me. Those Sweeps and Bogies are fantastic.
Thanks Robin - I know I've got some Morris dancers in the archive somewhere, I must take a look and see if I can find them for another post some time.😊
Thank you for introducing me to these traditions, and sharing the beautiful signs of spring.
Thank you so much - there seems to be so much coming to life at the moment, I love the pure vibrancy of it all.
Beautiful landscapes with fun portraits, all blended into the lovely green theme. 🖤📷
Thanks Benjamin - green is certainly the colour of the season right now!
So beautiful!
Thanks so much Jill.
Wow - these are incredible portraits, Lin! The festival really brings out some wonderful characters.
I am also enjoying the longer days as we quickly move towards summer. I’m currently doing some traveling in Oregon and it’s beautiful to see everything so green, as compared to the much drier climate that I live.
I hope your adventures with the new computer are going well! 👍
Hey thanks so much Todd - these were taken back in the times when I had more of an outgoing energy that masked my introversion and I would boldly engage with these characters to get them to stand still a short while for me. I'm more for the quieter way of celebrating it all now!
You've picked the right time of year to visit a greener landscape - perfect for welcoming in the season and I can imagine it's far gentler on the eye photographically. I look forward to seeing some images from your trip.😉
As for the new beast - nicknamed Athena - she's much faster than anything I've had before - I've just had time to process a few images and, from that experience, I think we're going to get on fine!😊
I can relate because I find it very uncomfortable asking strangers to pose for portraits like that.
Yes, there will be at least a few posts from this trip, so stay tuned.
I’m glad your greek goddess is living up to your expectations so far - enjoy!
Your pictures feed my imagination. I wish we had festivals like that here. I love this shift in the seasons, and the idea of collective ritual and celebration feels like dancing with the forest. Thank you for sharing these interesting and compelling photographs. Big hugs.
Thanks so much Stephanie - I'm so pleased they sparked your imagination. This year it all feels more powerful a Beltane for some reason, perhaps because of the full moon or maybe the challenges in the world right now, it just feels so much more important to mark it with ritual and celebration. I do believe there are Beltane fire festivals in the US, although I don't know if they involve the same sort of characters that we have here, nor the spirit of ritual and defiance that seems to be embedded in this town. Perhaps it's the place that makes these celebrations more unique.
The characters you captured really capture the imagination!
Thank you! 😊
I love learning about the traditions and festivities happening in your little corner of the world. The image with the black face definitely startled me. :)
Thanks Manuela - they certainly know how to celebrate festivals in this part of the world, they take it very seriously to follow tradition but manage to incorporate so much fun into proceedings. I love the effect that face paint has in pulling out all the gritty detail in their faces - the chap with the ice blue eyes and black face had such a piercing look about him and when I saw that saying on the top of his hat I had to make a photograph!
Superb post, Lin. The photo's put me right in the middle, I could hear the revelry.
Thanks so much Darin - it's quite day of celebrations in the streets and up near Hastings Castle on the West Hill where there's bands and Morris Dancers - you just have to be ready to come home daubed all over in green face paint.