Having noticed my laden plum and crab apple trees in the summer of 2025, followed by an abundance of conkers and acorns in the autumn, I became fascinated by the concept of the Mast Year.  It felt frenetic and messy, with scraggly trees weighed down by fruit, squashed conkers underfoot and the smell of fermenting fruit on the ground.

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During a mast year, a single tree can produce tens of thousands of fruits, mind-blowing when you consider the intricacy and beauty of every one.  As I walked around my local area, I began collecting examples of fallen fruits to bring inside and study with my camera.  By removing these fruits from their surroundings, I produced simple still life studies, with an appreciation of the organic colour and textures of each. This was in an effort to slow down and capture the calm beauty and detail of a single fruit in this explosion of fruiting.