When was the last time you spent any amount of time getting back to nature?

This is the question that Bristol photographer Jospehine Sowden is asking us.

Her latest project The Creation Waits is a reaction to the technology-driven world that dominates our lives today. Forget mobile phones and iPads, Josephine’s work is all about getting back to nature.

Nature is waiting for us to wake up and realise it’s there again

The photos show the photographer herself laid out within a natural landscape, covered only by a thin sheet of muslin.

The contrast between the subject and her surroundings reminds us how detached we have become from the world around us.

“We’re becoming so preoccupied with thoughts and mind-based living that we’ve become completely separate and disengaged” says Josephine.

“Nature is waiting for us to wake up and realise it’s there again.”

“Humanity has trashed the planet and it sometimes seems like we don’t really care,” she says.

We’re becoming so preoccupied with thoughts and mind based living

“We’ve become so obsessed with progress and so obsessed with ourselves. For too long, we’ve thought we have the right to dominate nature. That’s how we’ve got to this stage where we’ve almost destroyed the planet.”

In preparation for the project, Josephine decided to remove herself from everyday life and spend time connecting with nature again.

“I went to a Buddhist retreat for a week in Devon. It’s beautiful when you’re out in the middle of nowhere, you’re not allowed phones, you’re not allowed the internet or anything like that.”

It’s beautiful when you’re out in the middle of nowhere without phones or internet

“During the week, you had to spend time in silence. So every morning and evening and for the whole of Wednesday, you weren’t allowed to communicate at all verbally.”

But you don’t have to go to such great lengths to escape the rat race and spend some time in nature.

“I try to go to the Brecon Beacons quite a lot for walks and just in the woods around me” says Josephine. ” I just try and get outside as much as I can.”

So, what about those of us who live in a built up city, where escaping to green space isn’t always an option?

“Where you may normally drive, you could walk – or even just drive a different way to work to see something new,” she says.

“People just don’t really notice things anymore. You always see the same things which is so boring. Explore new places and try something a bit different everyday.”