May 10th 2022: The forest

I've been learning a lot about forests and forestry lately. My work has taken me a long way away from the ocean, but I am finding some similarities in the way forests work. For example, I like to get up early to shoot morning light at the beach and that's exactly the same for the trees. First light illuminates a forest beautifully. Even on those days when the fog clings to the forests, it is equally as mesmerising. Often a tide of fog will breathe in and out before the sun can burn it completely away.

There is so much more to forests than I could ever imagine. They have a kind of spiritual reverence to those who work among them, grow them, live near to them and even to those who harvest them. Each tree is unique and special, valued not just for the wood they bear, but for their role in a forest that basically makes up part of the lungs of our planet.

It's a real buzz for me to get up close and to work among these giants. I know I will never look at a forest the same way ever again.

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS We have a heap of cool stories about to drop over on NZ Surf Journal. It costs just $48 to join for a year and that will give you full access to all the good surf stories from New Zealand ... you can join NZSJ right here.