I first noticed the shelters (“dens”) in the woods about five and a half years ago, which coincided with a renewal in my interest in photography.
As a visual artist and non-figurative painter I was intrigued by the shelters' formal possibilities: the juxtaposition of these constructed, often geometric, forms and the natural landscape. I was also conceptually captivated by them as the product of play - and therefore of people’s imaginations.
These shelters also have a metaphorical significance for me. I think of those that are yurt-like in construction as “psycho-shelters”, while those with squarer walls are reminiscent of forts or defensive structures. Incidentally, there is definitely a territorial dimension to the building of shelters. I sometimes photograph more than one structure within a single view, as a visual reference to this rivalry. I privately refer to these as “in echelon”.