Autumn Woodland Stroll

          The sun beckoned me out from where I had parked my car close by a Vauxhall Car Showroom; a handy spot from where to cross the busy main road, and enter a park. One of the beauties of sunlight when photographing leaves is that when leaves are backlit, the internal structures are revealed, adding interest to even the most mundane of leaves. So it was hardly surprising that seeing sunlight streaming in from the direction my camera was facing, rather than over my left shoulder, it would feature such an image so early in my walk. Nevertheless, strongly textured leaves soon became the focus of my attention in the seasonally natural hues of dark green and red.
          Against such a backdrop, I then sighted a Shield bug, making its lethargic way around the handily, rippled textures of the leaf. The combination of sunlight and the season’s varied and rich colours always appeal, as do the dark gold of dying leaves due to drop from their stem when the wind breaks their grip.
          It is interesting to note that when I am spotted aiming my camera’s lens close to something of interest to me, and almost right on top of my subject, passers-by are often sufficiently puzzled to enquire just what it might be that I am looking at? This breaks down any reticence they might feel normally, about asking me what has caught my interest? I cannot be sure in this instance whether this was the case, but one of the next shots I took was of a couple of well covered, happy people who engaged me in brief conversation. If they spot this image I hope they were pleased with the outcome.
          I continued walking close by the trees to spot further subjects for the camera and was alerted by the loud and obviously happy chirping of an immaculately groomed Robin generously providing me with differing backgrounds for the shots! Up till then, I had not taken much note of the sky and it’s few clouds, but I took a quick shot before going back to closer subjects of tree trunk textures and leaves, and leave you with an ivy-clad tree ‘giving me the bird’!