A bee in a crocus was among the images in Vicky Lee’s exhibition
A NATURE enthusiast has spent the past year capturing moments of joy on her daily walk around a local park.
Vicky Lee, 77, a retired dentist, began photographing what she felt were expressive moments in Caledonian Park over the winter months and then carried on into early spring. And on Tuesday she put on a day-long exhibition in the park’s heritage centre.
The photos range from close-ups of pigeons, to dew on grass in the morning and shots of the Metasequoia tree.
The images were accompanied by finely researched captions, including one describing how bees sleep in crocus flowers.
Ms Lee said she was inspired to take photographs by her weekly Zoom calls with friends during the Covid pandemic, particularly a discussion they had on how to find gratification in the everyday.
She said: “You can actually go out and find what is joyful to you. I needed a purpose which became looking for joy in the park.
“I initially took the photos privately, but I ended up talking to one of the park rangers in the Tolpuddle Cafe who suggested I could do an exhibition.”
Retired dentist Ms Lee with some of her photographs. Photo: Tom Burgess
Over the course of her project she became more skilled at getting the most out of the camera on her phone.
She said the biggest challenge came after she had taken the photos.
Getting her images printed to the standard she required was significantly more difficult than she had expected.
“It is in this area that it is a steep learning curve and becomes very expensive but it is worthwhile,” she said.
“What I did was try and do my very best to make the best exhibition I could manage.”
Ms Lee also put together an exhibition in February which used winter photographs she had taken of the park.
Annabel Ferriman, a regular visitor to the park, said: “These pictures show the park in a new light, I just wish the photos were presented for a longer time.
“I came to the last exhibition in February but when I brought my husband a couple of days later it had gone.”
Ms Lee added: “Joy can be found in anything from a reflection of the clocktower in a puddle, a beautiful sunset, a petal or something fun like a formation of roots that look like a dinosaur’s foot.”
