once upon a time

I don’t really do ‘street’. I’d love to - but I just don’t have that ability - or willingness - to engage with strangers in an unself-conscious way. I could always use a long lens and put a comfortable distance between me and the subject, but that also makes me uncomfortable - like some sort of voyeur.

I had intended to try some shots of the autumn foliage around the city-centre this morning - the sun was out but the sky was black - a perfect backdrop to the colour of the trees. But by the time I’d finished my errands, the weather had changed and I found myself in the shopping centre with my camera in my pocket and the feeling that I really ought to try and snap something before a security guard tells me otherwise.

This is Oak Court in Central Milton Keynes.

Once upon a time, long before the shoppers came, a beautiful oak tree stood in this very spot. The planners, being good men at heart, decided to build around the tree, allowing it unfettered access to the sky and the sun and rain - and to the bluebirds that would undoubtedly flitter around Snow White’s head as she sang to all the shoppers going in and out of the Apple shop.

Then in around 2008 the tree fell victim to acute oak decline, a disease sadly all too common across the Midlands. Where is the fairy godmother when you need her?

In the summer, people tend to use this space as a meeting point or somewhere to sit under the sky, while in the midst of commerce. At other times they just hurry past, not giving what remains of the oak a second glance. I can’t really blame them; the downside of the ‘open sky’ policy is that the place is freezing when the wind whistles through.

But the tree is not alone; the original Concrete Cows have been relocated from a field in the north of the City, to ruminate beneath what remain of its branches. They're just visible in the centre of the frame.