Late Afternoon Local Walk

          My younger daughter and her family came to visit and, since they had spent the time mainly indoors, Lizzy prepared a cooked meal so that on their return it was ‘bath and beds’, to be ready in the morning for the return to School the next day. Once I had waved them off on their journey home the sun was yet to set, and I could not resist grabbing the camera and heading out. After almost immediately crossing the main road, I found beaming flowers inviting me to capture their images even before I had reached the path into the woods. It was gratifying to know that I had recorded these blooms before the onset of Autumn, and heading past the bend and onto the path into the woods. 
          Although the fresh, red berries were an announcement of the next season, there were still brave new leaves to suggest the current season was not yet over, and there were still blackberries to fully ripen; I succumbed to the temptation to sample a few after at least honouring their presence in a photo! The versatility of this camera allowed me to squat to record a shot of the slow passage of a slug across the path. Later, on my return home I was able to note it had survived the wheels of bikes and the feet of passing humans, though unable to confirm whether this was as a result of fewer evening footfalls, pure chance, or simply a different slug in a similar spot on the return trip. 
          I feel there is great beauty and power in clouds and I often find myself drawn to capturing them both alone in towering power, or restful backdrops to buildings, hills, landscapes, lakes, sea, or trees — theirs is an attraction I have felt over years and they still retain this power. 
          This walk was not over long, nor was there a wind to make vast and rapid changes to their form or stature, but they nevertheless changed their structure during the few minutes that elapsed as I walked on both my outward and return journey, which exercised my limbs as well as my imagination and enjoyment of the late afternoon.

A Sunny Autumn Day

Autumn in England when sunny, cheers the spirit; it is a time when farmers plough their fields in readiness for the next season. The landscape looks far cleaner and tidier somehow for all this effort, and I took the opportunity to capture some of these labours.

Also it may come as a surprise to many, but there can be a lot of colour to be found at this tail end of the year – in gardens and the hedgerows. I set out to capture this and along the way learnt about an unusual occurrence where a lone dear had suffered an identity crisis and thought itself to be a sheep, sadly I learnt this rather late in the day and the deer was lying down, but as you can see, it is entirely at ease amidst the surrounding sheep.

Autumn is generally noted for its golds, but red leaves and shades of reds with hints of green also abound. The difficulty capturing these in the hedgerows is that a breeze coupled with the difficulties finding suitable unmuddy places to shoot from make this rather hit ‘n’ miss, so a good deal of ‘chimping’ and erasing has often to take place; composition is often tricky as the wind blows leaves out of frame at the very moment when the lighting is just right and intervening branches and other leaves have been blown aside.

Taking photographs in the lanes and byways of the rural Home Counties can attract queries from the locals, some of whom are surprised that you find beauty in what they see as mundane, but in this way I often find myself invited to take a look at other attractions and get directed to even more interesting locations. I have learnt a lot in this manner, and had some very fascinating conversations. Had I not been photographing tractors in the field, I would never have learnt about the lone deer by way of example.

The flowers at the end of the gallery were taken after sunset, showing just how versatile the modern digital camera is under low light conditions.