Poppy

A new day, a change of light, a different mood.

In March, just before the first lockdown, I felt I had succumbed to the virus and was experiencing loss of smell and taste, as well as ongoing fatigue. Thankfully that was the extent of symptoms. I was relieved when the lockdown came that the government allowed allotments to stay open at this time to enable people to maintain and improve their mental health. I was fortunate to visit my allotment for exercise and to attend to the welfare of our chickens and ducks. Initially, there was much physical work to do moving pens and dealing with flooding on part of the plot.

Some of the allotments remained unused for a variety of reasons during this difficult period. One plot next to ours remained unused and poppies started to grow inside a polytunnel as the weather got warmer. I was fascinated by the colours, textures, and light and decided to bring my camera on my visits to the plot, which turned into weeks of immersion into photographing poppies.

The scenes which unfolded reflected and echoed the gamut and turmoil of feelings I guess we all have felt in recent times, positive and negative, serene and turbulent, and new feelings we never knew we had before.