Paul Gaffney- 'We make the paths by Walking' Research

 Paul Gaffney spent his time over the course of a year walking over 3500km around various countries including Portugal, Spain and South of France. His work was looking at the idea that walking has become some sort of meditation for people. 

A quote from Paul Gaffney explaining his idea behind this body of work "My intention has been to create a series of quiet, meditative images, which would express the experience of being immersed in nature and capture the essence of what has turned out to be quite a spiritual journey". His work has helped to show how walking through nature and quiet landscapes can have a positive physiological effects on people helping to relax and comfort them after sometimes difficult periods in their lives.

I found this body of work inspiring to me as the whole reason i went out photographing nature was because i had a very stressful and difficult three days and after my 2 hour walk felt very relaxed and rejuvenated. I focused in on trying to capture the almost hidden and overlooked parts of the wood that many of the walkers, runners and even farmers miss on their daily outings. The idea that paths lead you to a destination and that every way can take you somewhere new. For my project the woodlands was a journey in itself and every different path i took i arrived in a new environment with different things to see.