Taking "forest bathing" literally.
The last GISH item I tackled was to take a photo of "shinrin-yoku," the Japanese art of forest bathing. It required a real tub, filled with leaves and pine needles, in a clearing in a forest.
My parents just so happened to have this fantastic claw-foot tub on their property, already in a clearing in their oak forest, and we only had to move it about 15-20 feet to get the perfect background. They took about 60 pictures combined!
You get more points in the scavenger hunt for things that are cool, funny, weird, or aesthetically pleasing. After much consultation with my GISH group, we decided the skull was vital, and settled on this pose:
Just the facts.
I've been asked how much I photoshopped this: not at all. Editing is against the GISH rules... it wasn't needed anyhow, because my dad is an awesome photographer!
The light was eerily dim because California was on fire, and smoke was blocking the sun. At least the smoke was very high in the air, so it wasn't affecting our lungs much at the time.
The pine needles, pine cones, and birch/ribbon headdress came from my house, while my brother donated the found deer skull, and we all shoveled leaves onto giant beach towels to lug over to the tub.
It was a LOT of leaves, enough that I almost could not move underneath them. It was a weighted, heated blanket that smelled of sun-baked decomposing oak and sent me into a near-meditative state. It was so deeply relaxing that I didn't even feel awkward doing a nude photo shoot!
The pictures turned out basically exactly how I had imagined them days before the shoot. There are so, so many outtakes... some funny, some serious. If you want to see more, lemme know.
I think the day affected my psyche.
The experience of being weighted down under fragrant oak leaves... it made me dream of this scene every night for 6 weeks straight. Except the deer was living and standing to the left, and in the place of the deer skull was a floating 4" ball of fire. It becomes dusk, and the deer and I wander around the forest while I hold the ball of fire to light the way.
Any dream interpreters out there who want to chime in with your insight?
I should write a bunch more about forest bathing.
The super short version is that my husband recently had me listen to a podcast about forest bathing and terpenes (specifically alpha-pinene and limonene), and how Japanese hinoki cypress terpenes affect the human body, and it led me down a rabbit hole of research.
From my "tree-hugging hippie scientist" point of view, forest bathing seems like the perfect blend of magic and science! I've ordered some of the proper terpene-rich essential oils, and will update later about my forest terpene experiments, but I'm hoping to at least partially replicate that invigorating-yet-serene sensation that lingers after camping in the woods.
I think I'll do GISH again!
I'm so glad that I joined a GISH team this year... thanks to the leader for inviting me! It happened on the tail end of an incredibly stressful and grief-filled month, so I didn't think I'd have the energy to participate at all, but luckily I was with a very chill group who didn't care that I only did 3 items off the scavenger hunt list. It ended up being so refreshing to do stuff that I never would have done otherwise.
The last GISH item I tackled was to take a photo of "shinrin-yoku," the Japanese art of forest bathing. It required a real tub, filled with leaves and pine needles, in a clearing in a forest.
My parents just so happened to have this fantastic claw-foot tub on their property, already in a clearing in their oak forest, and we only had to move it about 15-20 feet to get the perfect background. They took about 60 pictures combined!
You get more points in the scavenger hunt for things that are cool, funny, weird, or aesthetically pleasing. After much consultation with my GISH group, we decided the skull was vital, and settled on this pose:
 |
| Forest bathing with my buddy |
Just the facts.
I've been asked how much I photoshopped this: not at all. Editing is against the GISH rules... it wasn't needed anyhow, because my dad is an awesome photographer!
The light was eerily dim because California was on fire, and smoke was blocking the sun. At least the smoke was very high in the air, so it wasn't affecting our lungs much at the time.
The pine needles, pine cones, and birch/ribbon headdress came from my house, while my brother donated the found deer skull, and we all shoveled leaves onto giant beach towels to lug over to the tub.
It was a LOT of leaves, enough that I almost could not move underneath them. It was a weighted, heated blanket that smelled of sun-baked decomposing oak and sent me into a near-meditative state. It was so deeply relaxing that I didn't even feel awkward doing a nude photo shoot!
The pictures turned out basically exactly how I had imagined them days before the shoot. There are so, so many outtakes... some funny, some serious. If you want to see more, lemme know.
I think the day affected my psyche.
The experience of being weighted down under fragrant oak leaves... it made me dream of this scene every night for 6 weeks straight. Except the deer was living and standing to the left, and in the place of the deer skull was a floating 4" ball of fire. It becomes dusk, and the deer and I wander around the forest while I hold the ball of fire to light the way.
Any dream interpreters out there who want to chime in with your insight?
I should write a bunch more about forest bathing.
The super short version is that my husband recently had me listen to a podcast about forest bathing and terpenes (specifically alpha-pinene and limonene), and how Japanese hinoki cypress terpenes affect the human body, and it led me down a rabbit hole of research.
From my "tree-hugging hippie scientist" point of view, forest bathing seems like the perfect blend of magic and science! I've ordered some of the proper terpene-rich essential oils, and will update later about my forest terpene experiments, but I'm hoping to at least partially replicate that invigorating-yet-serene sensation that lingers after camping in the woods.
I think I'll do GISH again!
I'm so glad that I joined a GISH team this year... thanks to the leader for inviting me! It happened on the tail end of an incredibly stressful and grief-filled month, so I didn't think I'd have the energy to participate at all, but luckily I was with a very chill group who didn't care that I only did 3 items off the scavenger hunt list. It ended up being so refreshing to do stuff that I never would have done otherwise.
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