A cycle of destruction.
I stood under a leaf three times my size, and couldn't help but smile.
The giants, I kept calling them, plants with leaves bigger than umbrellas.
They didn't seem from this world, yet here they were.
1/125 F2.8 ISO160
A few weeks being sat at a laptop will do something to you.
Nothing was "wrong" exactly, but when everything feels flat and you don't remember the last time you had fun,
something needs to be done.
I stared at the checkout page for The Eden Project for a few minutes, but eventually decided — screw it. Let's go.
It was four hours away. I packed one camera (my trusty X100VI) and left before 6am.
35MM 1/100 F5 ISO400
By the end of the rainforest biome the crowds had arrived, which made photographing wide establishing shots tricky.
To make things worse, the biomes are giant greenhouses so it gets very, very hot.
I needed to cool off, and since I'd skipped breakfast,
I left to eat my packed lunch and take a little break.
35MM 1/100 F5 ISO400
I couldn't get over how science fiction The Eden Project looked.
There were these huge vents on the side of the biomes that keep the whole place breathing.
While I was admiring the engineering,
I realised I might be looking at a glimpse into the future.
If this WAS a science fiction movie, these man-made biomes would exist because the natural world had been destroyed in the prologue.
If humans keep stripping the planet of its natural resources, perhaps biomes like this become essential to our survival and not just a tourist attraction.
The thought stuck around like a stone in my shoe.
Mediterranean Biome | 1/200 F5.6 ISO125
The Mediterranean biome was different, dry heat instead of wet.
Olive trees, cacti and Joe.
Joe was a staff member I saw hammering posts into the ground, building out a new section.
I interrupted him to ask about endangered species and thought he might give me directions for some rare plants.
He stopped.
Thought for a second.
Said, "Follow me."
And took off.
Following Joe | 1/200 F5.6 ISO125
Joe talked the way people talk when they're asked about their favourite thing.
Plants, habitats, where things grow and why.
I didn't understand all of it, but listening to a person speak with that much passion is incredible.
Then he got to burn rates.
How wildfires happen naturally, and are supposed to.
How some ecosystems fall apart without burning.
The fire clears the ground, and the seeds that have been waiting get their turn.
I stood there with a dead planet in my head, listening to a man explain that destruction is part of how living things renew.
Pit to Paradise | 1/200 F7.1 ISO250
With the crowds behind me on the slow walk back,
My mind wandered to the photos at the entrance, the ones showing what this place used to be.
A big clay pit, a grey hole in the ground, stripped of everything.
Somebody looked at that and decided to grow a rainforest in it.
Somewhere behind me, Joe was still hammering.
The Eden Project | 1/160 F7.1 ISO160
The stone was still in my shoe on the drive home.
It didn't dissolve. I think the dark thought might even be true.
But if Joe's right, fire was never the end.
Things burn. Ground clears. The seeds get their turn.
I can't control any of that.
What I can do is pay attention to what's here, while it's here, and take some pretty pictures along the way.
Field notes.
- 405 photos taken, roughly 60 or 70 keepers.
- Overcast weather and soft light is better for photographing plants.
- Skipped breakfast, paid for it by noon. Hungry photography is bad photography.
- Talk to staff. The best 20 minutes of the day I never expected.
Giant Bamboo | 1/125 F3.2 ISO400
Thanks for reading
— Mitch
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