Making the most of autumn

As we pass the mid November mark, the clocks have gone back an hour,we have celebrated Halloween and bonfire night and now with the local Christmas markets open and the decorations adorning high streets and shopping centres, the festive countdown has begun.

I like to drag my heels a little at this point, by this, I mean that I prefer to avoid the premature festivities and try to eke out the very last drop of autumn before winter takes up residence in the seasonal calendar.

With many preparing for the annual financial assault on their bank accounts this weekend, I was happy to leave them to it and go in search of what could be the last throes of what has been a very colourful few weeks.

In the same way that I still love to peer into rock pools at the seaside, I reawaken my inner child as I rustle through the leaves covering the woodland floor in carpets of gold and orange, simple pleasures often evoke the fondest memories.

Of course, I will have to join those festive queues at some point but these beautiful scenes will not last forever and somebody has to make the effort to capture them….

Autumn outings

Without doubt, autumn is my favourite season for photography, as I am so easily drawn to the colours and textures this time of year brings.

The autumnal change has seemed somewhat slower this year but two recent storms have made me want to get out more before the trees have been made bare of their coloured cloaks by incessant winds.

Having earned a bonus Friday off, a first visit to the Avon dam in South Brent was on the cards, my last trip was over three years ago, so this was an overdue appointment.

The walk to the dam from the car park is just over two miles, the road only really used by environment agency vehicles to access the water works, so makes for a quiet and enjoyable walk up to the dam and reservoir.

With the river in healthy flow after some heavy rain, it is more of a roar than a whisper, with trees either side of the river, it makes for the perfect autumnal composition of fallen leaves, sat like glitter on the verdant lichen coating the rocks above the water surface.

While I seized this first opportunity to capture the beauty of autumn, there would be plenty more on the route to the dam but I took the time to stop and marvel at this annual natural show of colour.

At just over half way up, the view becomes more open and rugged, here the skies are changing to a more rain filled colour of grey, and the sunlight escapes through the few gaps to fill the landscape with a gentle light that contrasts against the brown of the bracken.

At the dam itself, the wind is at its strongest, the reservoir water is a dark blue tipped with the white of the waves as they scud across the surface.

I take time to enjoy the view here, it may be another three years before I return, only when the rain begins do I decide to walk back to the car park where a cuppa and a light snack awaits.

One personal rule that I try to make a habit of, is to look back at where I have been, on this occasion the rule is justified by one of my favourite shots of the day…

I must have taken thirty or so shots of this scene as it unfolded but who doesn’t like taking photos of rainbows?

Autumn photography

October has always been one of my favourite months for photography, the colours of Autumn are always something I look forward to, a kind of photographic pilgrimage if you like.

This year has been particularly rich in its annual harvest, maybe because I am now in the habit of carrying a compact camera at all times, I am able to take more photos instead of waiting for the weekend, coupled with the unseasonably mild weather conditions, it has been ‘the perfect storm’.

My love of this time of year is always tinged with that bittersweet thought that winter is not far away, bringing with it, longer hours of darkness like an unwelcome guest at a wedding or birthday bash but for as long as I can, I will continue to enjoy this all too brief festival of colour that nature provides.

50 days of 50mm #44

Day 44, it’s just after 5am and I am back in Salcombe for an early morning stroll before the first day of the summer holiday begins in earnest

My hopes of catching the sunrise were to be thwarted by increasingly overcast skies but the occasional break in the clouds allowed brief opportunities for the light to escape and cast that early glow here and there, I just had to find those places.

The town is quiet, only the sound of squawking herring gulls break the silence, a noise that definitely is not the dawn chorus!

As much as I enjoy capturing the light on the landscape, I am finding more and more that I enjoy finding those close detail shots that any 50mm lens is so good at capturing, the last three shots in this selection were among my favourites of todays outing.

One frame – Beautiful light

Saturday had been a busy day, with no chance of getting out with the camera, so I decided to get out early on Sunday before the forecast band of rain set in.

I had meandered slowly through the city centre, honing my low light skills, heading towards Exeter quayside as the night began to fade into day.

It was as I neared the Haven banks area, I noticed the changing light, a dull orange / yellow hue hung over the water, my pace quickened to capture this brief unusual light show.

I have taken shots of this particular view countless times in my twenty plus years here in Exeter, this one is easily my favourite.