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The shape of a tightly-coiled fern that is waiting to unfurl appeals to me greatly. There’s something secretive and a little magical about that small green spiral full of the life and energy of growth that draws me to it.
I was fortunate to come across these ferns before they had completely unfurled their fronds (most of the ferns there already had), so that I could attempt to capture the detail of the croziers. Croziers, or fiddleheads, are the descriptive names given to the still-curled tip of the fern frond. (‘Croziers’ after the curved shape of a bishop’s crozier, and the reason for ‘fiddlehead’ is easy to see.)
Soon these tips will have opened out. The intermediate stage, where there is still a slight, elongated curl to the tip of the frond, reminds me of a snake’s head. In my imagination, those uncurling tips are like tiny green serpents, swaying in the breeze through the sunlit shades of green. But I managed to catch these before they’d gone that far and there was still a little bit of mystery wound up inside.
Ann Mackay: Inspired by Nature 