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….

One frame – Bluebell view

One notable absence from my photographic calendar in the last two or three years, has been the annual pilgrimage to photograph the bluebells at Emsworthy Mire on Dartmoor.

This particular location is very popular with photographers, as it has a barn with a rusting tin roof to add contrast to the trees surrounding it, as well as the blanket of bluebells that parade their late spring splendour in the sunshine.

I had imagined that this well photographed scene would form the basis of this particular ‘one frame’ post but as I looked through the many images I captured on the day, it is this view that I particularly liked more than the cliched image.

The said barn is hidden from view just right of centre in the cluster of trees but it was the wall in the foreground forming a kind of frame that I liked, the small cluster of bluebells at its base, then the centre ground with its cavalcade of colour that completed the scene for me.

In just a few days, this scene will disappear for another year but the memories of this beautiful late spring morning will remain.

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.

Autumn fungi

October, one of my favourite months for photography, with the autumnal carnival of colour preparing it’s annual show.
It is not just the foliage that attracts me to local woodlands at this time of year, there is also the hunt for the varied species of fungi to be be found around fallen trees and among the decaying leaves on the woodlands floor.

Each autumn I keep meaning to educate myself to become more familiar with the names of the various fungi, but today I step into the woodland just as uneducated as the previous year, apart from the knowledge of the elusive fly agaric, that red and white fairy tale toadstool, to me, the holy grail of the fungi kingdom.

Without doubt, my walk here today was one of the most productive in terms of finding my subject matter, the recent rain and mild conditions, a perfect storm for these often strange but beautiful gems of the woodland, perhaps next year will be the year I finally identify each and every one.

My Escape

We all need an escape from the treadmill of our daily routine,that personal haven that offers a little peace from the damands of a hurried and frantic world.

My escape is Dartmoor, three hundred and sixty five square miles of vast open landscape of which I have barely scratched the surface of.

Home to ancient oak woodlands, towering granite monoliths and custodian of countless tales of folklore and fable.

Quarrymen, farmers and miners have toiled in this unforgiving landscape, their legacy the scattered remains of farmsteads and buidings for the inquisitve to explore.

I love Dartmoor in all it’s moods, serene summer days where skylarks swoop and soar, the landscape painted with the purple and yellows of heather and gorse, even those frequent wet winter days of mist and greywashed skies have a beauty of their own.

To me, Dartmoor is a source of constant inspiration for my photography and word craft alike, as well as an enormous sense of well being and gratitude that I live so close.

50 days of 50mm #49

As I edge ever closer to the finishing line of my 50 days project, I am keen to reach my goal by the end of this weekend, so decide to get out for a rare week evening outing, for a short stroll with my Pentacon lens

The evening is still rather warm, temperatures have been in the mid to high twenties celcius this week but at just after 7pm, the harsh sunlight has gone.

I decide to take in one of the public parks / gardens, about a 15 minute walk from home, just to see what nature shots I may find.

Using a 50mm lens for this length of time has brought me a lot of pleasure and I have truly realised the versaltility of this focal length.

I have always enjoyed macro photography, but this old lens can focus close in to capture the finer details of nature without the expense of a dedicated lens.

A pleasant way to spend a summer evening

50 days of 50mm #46

Back in the late spring, I visited a forest that to my shame, I had not really explored that much, despite being just a few miles from my doorstep.

I blame my preoccupation of Dartmoor and the nearby coast for my lapse but today, I intend to fulfil a promise I made to myself after the last trip, which was to become more familiar with my local forests and woods.

Immersing myself within this beautiful landscape is not hard, listening to the stonechat just ahead of me, interrupted very rudely by the screech of a jay, neither of which I see, just knowing they are here is good enough.

I choose once more to use my manual focus 50mm lenses (50mm takumar F1.4 and Pentacon F1.8), as I find the act of twisting a focus ring so much more pleasurable than pressing a button, that same feeling goes for changing aperture value on the lens itself, rather than through a screen.

Hopefully the enjoyment I had here is evident in my selection of photos in the gallery below, I will also ensure my next visit will sooner than the autumn.

50 days of 50mm #32

In the years that I have spent on my photographic journey, it is clear that in every photographer’s repertoire, certain iconic images are sought by amateurs and professionals alike.

The row of coloured beach huts lining a seaside beach front, the colours of morning sunrises and evening sunsets and those late spring woodlands carpeted in bluebells, just to name a few.

It is the latter that forms a variation on a theme for day 32 of my 50mm challenge, bluebells.

There is a popular location on Dartmoor where it is possible to capture these beautiful spring flowers in all their glory, a place that I have not visited for over two years because of lockdown, so I was looking forward to this walk immensely.

Unsure of whether there would be the sea of blue I was hoping for, there is plenty here to photograph, it’s just that the bluebells really add that something to any image here.

Its a short stroll from the car park to my destination, it is clear that although it is just after ten AM, there is plenty of other photographers already here, toting huge wildlife lenses, their prey, a pair of redstarts nesting in the vicinity, as well as a pair of elusive cuckoos.

I try to keep a distance from these photographers, so as not to disturb the subject they may have waited some time for already, I work around the scene skirting my main objective.

One of the photographers takes some to chat to me, he has already photographed the redstarts, he also shows me some wonderful images of the stonechats and wheatears he has captured today, I admire his patience, he admires my discipline in shooting one focal length for a long period of time.

Once they have moved on to other locations, I am able to work closer to the old barn that adds such a lovely contrast to the verdant grass and of course, the bluebells.

Once again, I have my favourite vintage 50mm attached to my camera, manually focusing is a more deliberate and enjoyable process than half pressing a shutter or back button focusing, I am an integral part of the image making, not a bit part player.

In the space of an hour, the location is filling with more walkers and photographers, it is time for me to make room for them to get their shots of spring time glory.

One frame – Into the woods

It has been some time since my last ‘one frame’ blog but as I have been going through my images from the last couple of months, I have picked out one of my favourite images from just a couple of weeks ago.

A walk around a local forest had started off with dull clouds smothering any sunlight but gradually the cloud disappeared, offering small areas of light for brief periods of time.

With the untrodden areas of woodland, a carpet of verdant ferns surround the base of the trees, this particular tree, catching the light as it finally escaped its prison of cloud.

With my vintage 50mm lens at an aperture of F2, I wanted to capture the detail and texture of the tree bark with its adornment of ivy, while leaving a softer out of focus background.

50 days of 50mm #30

My last few Saturdays have been early starts, as I have been keen to catch those late spring sunrises around the local coastline of Dawlish and Teignmouth respectively.

Day 30 starts with grey, overcast skies with brighter sunny spells later in the day, so decide that a trip to a local woodland just a few miles away may be an idea, after all, I have not visited this one for a couple of years.

Ashclyst forest is owned and maintained by the National trust, just on the outskirts of the village of Broadclyst in East Devon and a stones throw away from Killerton House.

As with any location on one’s doorstep, I Have not visited Ashclyst as many times as perhaps I should but I am certainly looking forward to exploring the myriad of trails and footpaths that make any woodland and forest so enjoyable.

Even if I were not involved in my current 50mm project, a 50mm lens would be my choice for today’s venue, the wider aperture of a 50mm prime lens is perfect for those out of focus backgrounds in woodland, as well as plenty of scope for those close up shots that have become a part of my photographic repertoire over the years.

There is something very calming about ambling around these forest trails, the pure joy of hearing the birds singing, their melodies undiluted from traffic noise and other man made interruptions.

I take a little time to experiment with some ‘intentional camera movement’ (ICM) shots, as I stand in a clearing, facing a copse of fir trees, a three stop ND filter attached to my lens gives me an exposure time of around two seconds, enough to create some abstract images of the scene before me.

After a number of attempts., I have a couple that I am happy with, it is this type of experimenting that keeps me wanting to get out and trying new (to me) techniques.

First attempt at ICM in the woodland

My favourite ICM shot of today’s outing

With patches of concealed bluebells just waiting to be found, the paths are a riot of late spring colour, with buttercups and celandine offering a vivid contrast to the campion that sways gently in the pleasant May breeze.

Dandelions lie in various states of undress, some with their full Afro of pappus, others semi bald, their party crowns long since stolen away by the breeze.

Even among this spring time palette, traces of the ochres and browns of winter can be found, oases of fallen ferns and fir cones, lying forgotten as last years Christmas toys, yet still beautiful, even in decay.