INTO THE TREES
Jo Stapleton
A selection of images from INTO THE TREES (one hundred photographs from the forest), a solo photography book, published by Shutter Hub (2026). An expressionist account of my interactions with trees, forest and woodland, later remembered and reimagined in the darkroom using alternative processes and techniques.
Our perceptions of nature often focus at surface level – what we see with the naked eye. It’s easy to remain unaware of the complex ecosystems and environmental processes occurring around us – in the atmosphere, beneath our feet. Therapeutic ‘forest bathing’ encourages a deeper sensory awareness and experience. Time in nature can evoke an emotional response.
In my work, I interpret and evoke the sensory and unseen in a number of ways – environmental (wind, temperature, atmosphere, pollution), as a reflection of my inner world, and as an imagining of what lies concealed beneath the ground.
These images started life on film but were reimagined in the darkroom where alternative processes enabled another form of nature or ‘forest bathing’. Alternative processes are often slow in their execution and lend themselves to a meditative approach – the perfect conditions to revisit, remember and creatively reimagine each image. I employed a wide range of darkroom processes and techniques including lith, silver gelatine chloride, salt, cyanotype and chemigram printing.
To create and make visible the ‘unseen’, I incorporated photogram objects into the printing process, creating textures suggesting thermal shifts, movement or atmospheric conditions. Photogram objects included a variety of natural and manufactured materials including vinyl, tissue paper, cellophane and the mesh from a facemask.
INTO THE TREES, a solo photography book published by Shutter Hub, 2026, is available from https://shutterhub.org.uk/shop/into-the-trees-by-jo-stapleton/
Artist
Jo Stapleton
Jo is a Hertfordshire based film photographer and print maker. Her work explores the natural world using a range of historical and alternative printing processes and lo-fi analogue techniques, to creatively remember and reimagine time spent in nature in the darkroom. Jo is an active member of London Independent Photography Network and Shutter Hub and has exhibited her work in the UK and internationally. She is a twice recipient of the Analogue Photography Grant from the Richard and Siobhan Coward Photography Foundation and a recent 2026 Artist in Residence, at the Mawddach Residency in Wales.
