Day 363 : leaf revisited

Back home and there's still a handful of these coloured leaves blowing around. I like the contrast against the grey pavement. Ironically one of the earliest pictures I took at the beginning of this 365 day project was a similar leaf and the marks left its decaying cousins. This time the tactile pavement caught my eye as a contrasting texture. These are the domes indicating a place to cross the road for the blind and visually impaired.

I was hoping I could get some nice frosty shots on my return but I suspect I got to wait a few weeks because it seems more like rain coming than frost.

It might be full on winter but this is a touch of Autumn revisited.

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Day 336 : (not) tweeting about leaves

I was wondering whether it’s possible to maintain my daily photo blog if it was on Twitter. And if I did I guess I'd have to stop typing now...

But then I'm not sure I could say much about the photograph or have any of the wild flights of fancy I seem to end up going on. And if I was being strict, there wouldn't be enough characters to post the actual photo itself. So the whole point would be lost really. But maintaining this blog is very time consuming, the daily photography I can cope with but the writing up afterwards is more challenging so I thought brevity might be the key. But then thinking again, trying to confine what I want to say to 140 is a challenge in itself. Sadly I'm no Stephen Fry but here goes...

Most leaves have left their home branches and accumulated in crunchy piles on the pavement. A stray red leaf is held aloft on a nearby bush.

Okay that was remarkably tricky, that's really not a lot of characters and I normally seem to feel the need to say so much more. Rightly or wrongly I want to record my inspiration. Today it was my red radar again, my “redar”, that drew me to the image. The vivid Autumnal tinged with orange red against the deep, dark green of the imposing bush was what caught my eye.

If I were tweeting this curious missive, I would have used a mere ten tweets to write pretty much nothing. Some might say that such is the definition of tweeting!

 

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Day 327 : popping cherry

There's this cherry tree I pass most days a few paces from my front door that may be my favourite tree. I think it's cherry, though despite seeing copious amounts of blossom I've never seen a cherry. In the height of Spring the blossom forms a thick canopy that you have to duck under as you walk along the pavement. And when the blossom is raining down in a breeze you are very likely to be confettied. I've photographed it throughout the seasons but I'm missing a decent photograph of the tree heavy with snow, so I’ll add this to my wish list. I took a picture of some of the branches in the dark the other night on the way back from being out with the girls. This morning I spotted a lone branch partially clothed with vibrant cherry red leaves on the now nearly naked tree popping against the blue, blue sky.

 

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Day 321 : 50 shades of brown

The Frui weekly challenge is “Autumn”, and I've definitely got plenty of material this time. Do I select the bright orange hue of the crenelated edge of a leaf or the cache of acorns in another? Or should I choose the colourful crunchy leaves against the cornflower blue sky in Richmond? Maybe I could select a fungi shot, though my favourite one looks more like a fairy umbrella and not particularly Autumnal. There's always the birth of a tiny oak tree but could that hint towards spring (dead brown leaves aside)? In the end I plump for the prickly sweet chestnuts close-up as epitomising the season of mellow fruitfulness. Was that the right choice?

 

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Day 320 : best laid plans!

I really intended to get out earlier with my camera before meeting up with the girls for dinner in Battersea. I even had a vague idea of trying to get some interesting shots of the power station itself. But the sun seemed to disappear pretty sharpish today and I was still recovering from my busy-week-induced-coma and missed the day entirely. Ah well, best laid plans and all that, clearly I need to embrace night photography it seems.

On my return from the super-chilled night at the pub I thought I would see if I could capture the leaves of one of my favourite trees against the inky black sky. I hadn't taken my tripod out for a girl’s dinner so it had to be handheld. I didn't use my flash but the nearby street lamp cast it’s orange-y glow over the outstretched branches. Not really an iconic multi-chimneyed building though.

 

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Day 314 : leaves and cheese!

Meandering through Richmond Green again whilst catching up on the week’s shopping (the truffled Brie at the newly opened Wholefood Store is to seriously die for) the leaves are calling me again.

The sky is blue and the orangey yellow leaves are silhouetted against the cornflower hue is very refreshing. Yet again I'm reminded that I live in a beautiful place (and we also have very fine cheese!)

 

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Day 312 : a fun day with fungi

After attending my first Robert Canis workshop back in May where we cavorted in bluebells I suspected that I'd be back in another season. This time we’re in a different wood looking for Autumnal inspiration. I’d set my heart on some baby fungus shots but was also keen to find some perfect sweet chestnut specimens.

Robert had cased the joint and warned us we’d need wellies. Hmmm, hiking boots are my normal nod to sensible footwear but I guess if there is a total mud-fest my hiking boots aren't going to cut it. My first problem with wellies, being an inveterate high-heel wearer, is that they're rather flat. I did once try on some wedge-heeled wellies whilst visiting Oxford, and that takes me neatly to my second issues with wellies. Rubber! I'm allergic to rubber! If there was any doubt, it took me maybe a minute or two to don said wellies and then about 40 minutes to have them laboriously pulled off. The first minute or two were okay and then my feet and legs blew up in a violent reaction to the rubber and then the more we struggled to get them off, the hotter I became which always exacerbates the whole anti-rubber reaction. But if I did some research I reckoned I could at least procure non-rubber wellies, a slight heel would be a great, but unlikely, bonus. So leopard print wellies duly scored, not much of a heel though! But at least I'm prepared for what mighty puddles and mud may await us in a Kent woodland.

I don't quite get there in time, annoyingly, it’s a right old trek involving a bus, a tube, another tube and hopefully a train but then it turned out to be yet another train and then a taxi. And then I'm there suitably booted in Blean Woods. Everyone else has seen some of Robert’s inspirational photographs as this is a familiar stomping ground for him.

I try to catch up and first I'm drawn to screwing on the closer ups filters and checking out some fine sweet but oh so prickly chestnuts. They are really well protected with their vicious spines but I have to tweak one a little to get the angle I desire. The only safe way to relocate the spiky creatures was to gently grab the fleshy bit between two long finger nails and shift them to a more desirable pose.

After the sweet chestnuts, I experimented with ferns, some still verdant and frondy and others brown and crispy against the background of the wood. A couple of weeks ago I was photographing in Cambridge Heath park and the colours were reds, oranges and ochres. Likewise more recently in Richmond, the place is awash with vibrant hues which my camera loves. This wood is older, the abundance of oak trees eschews the orange and red palettes so it’s all shades of brown, with a smattering greens and yellows from the mosses and leaves not turned for Autumn yet.

I'm fascinated by the edged of crenelated leaves against the soft focus bokeh of the surrounding trees.

Robert found a fabulous acorn that had started sprouting into a tiny oak treelet. He found a a mossy covered cradle between two gnarly trees and placed it there. He knows there's great potential but he’s here to tutor us so he resolves to return on another to capture the shot. As he's set it up so nicely, it seems rude not to nip in there and try myself before he finds a safe spot to secrete the acorn for his next visit. I hope a squirrel doesn't discover his hidey-hole.

I've been hankering for a perfect fungi specimen and Robert spotted some teeny, tiny parasol that he believes will be entirely up my boulevard growing on a old tree stump on his last trip. It transpires to be very me, a miniature umbrella emerging out from a clump of delicate moss. The parasol is a perfect pearlescent miniature dome with its woody backdrop. Everyone is eager to have a go so I relinquish my spot for the next photographer.

I move to more fungi, much larger this time so no need for close up filters. This one isn’t so handily located on an elevated tree stump so I have to practically lie face down on my groundsheet square to get up close and personal.

Higher up my eye alight on a little arrangement of leaves that also have a single blade of grass bisecting the oak leaf splashed with the earlier rain.

Spinning around there's another intriguing fungus, hmmm my mind turns to mushroom risotto, is it lunchtime yet?

Thrusting through the carpet of fallen oak leaves is a baby oak tree. It's already proved resilient as it has withstood several waterproof blankets flung over it and a Wellington boot planted dangerously close. I'm assuming a mighty oak will eventually arise from this spot.

We’re due to pack up soon but a lone leaf hanging by a silken thread of spider web is being whipped around by the burgeoning wind. I'm determined to capture the cavorting leaf.
I had intended to stay on in Blean Wood but at the time of the workshop finishing the rain started and I'm a fair weather photographer. After the rain I'm there, but I am not so keen of being in the middle of it all. Lunch is definitely a good idea and MS kindly offers to drive us to find some hearty pub food. The first pub we try is being converted to offices, curiously, so we end up in a garden centre. Not only do we procure a bowl of soul-warming macaroni cheese we discover some fine knee pads for future crawling on the ground photography excursions. Score!

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Day 311 : it’s raining again!

The front path is strewn with leaves dotted with shiny raindrops. The rain has abated for the moment and the fast growing tree in our garden (which I always believed was a London plane but after research I realise I was misled) is much balder now. I took my usual close-ups but also took a couple of slightly wider shots of the rain sodden doorstep. And I think I've now learnt the tree is an Ash, it's certainly fast-growing. Various attempts at curtailing its rapid growth over the years has just encouraged it to grow even bigger. It held onto its leaves longer than its neighbours this Autumn but they've succumbed to the latest gusts and are now carpeting the lawn and path. And now also in my camera.

 

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Day 309 : seeing red!

There's a brick wall encircling the house at the end of my road that I walk past to reach the bus stop each day. I've been watching the leaves, on what I suspect is a Virginia creeper, turning from green, to yellowy gold, to orange, to deep plummy red.

It's at the perfect stage now and is just begging to be photographed, luckily I'm very happy to oblige.

 

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Day 307 : a beautiful crisp day

I don't mind when it gets a little nippy because it’s a perfect excuse to break out some of my favourite snuggly hats and cosy wraps. And a blue sky with the wintry sun picking out the coppery and burnished tone of the leaves in the trees is a huge bonus. I like to photograph the after effects of a rainstorm but don't like to be caught in it, I don't make a very happy wet photographer!

Today was a perfect crisp day in Richmond, the cornucopia of Autumnal colours against the cornflower blue sky was a sight to behold. To get the right effect it was required to get down below the overhanging branches and shoot up to the sky and all without getting your knees wet in the piles of soggy (and slippery) fallen leaves everywhere. If I was prepared for an impromptu photoshoot I’d have bought something waterproof to lay on the ground to curtail the rising damp but rather than one sensible thing I have the shopping I picked up from the market, a photography book, some other random purchases and I'm juggling camera, filters, batteries and my handbag.

On Friday I have a day tramping around fungi-filled Kent woods, I will arm myself with sensible waterproofy things, a tripod, my new Plamp, proper leaf crunching hiking boots, fabulous new hat (it has sensible cashmere ear-toasting aspects too but is also gorgeous!) and a camera bag less delicate than my handbag. Would it be too much to ask for a blue sky or at least no rain...please, pretty please?

 

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Day 304 : The pumpkin that Hallowe’en forget!

I haven't carved a pumpkin of my own this year and have seen so many admirable examples in other people's photographs. This one is sat on the steps of one my neighbours. It caught my eye as it looks rather woebegone! Maybe it'd look scarier at night with a candle within but really this looks like the pumpkin that Hallowe’en forget. For some reason it vaguely reminds me of “It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”, maybe I'm thinking of the expression on Charlie Brown’s face when he gets given a rock by everyone whilst out trick or treating!

 

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Day 297 : forever Autumn

This beautiful vibrant leaf had caught my eye. It had drifted down in a gust of wind. It had then caught on a bush revealing the vivid orange hue against the verdant darker leaves behind. Just a golden sunset of a leaf to epitomise the colours of Autumn and give me a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness profile picture.

 

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Day 292 : mellow fruitfulness

Autumn is most definitely oozing out of every tree, flower and plant. I think I may have stumbled upon a squirrel hoard on a park bench but in reality they've probably been collected by little boy or girl’s hands instead. Just loving the autumnal colours everywhere, unusually I'm thinking orange, red and brown rather than pink.

One thing that did perplex me is that the tree that produced the acorns didn't seem to have the standard crenelated oak leaves. I'm not a tree expert but I can recognise the leaves of an oak, a beech, horse chestnut, willow, sycamore, holly and spruce. The leaf the acorns are resting on is a sycamore. But the leaves on the tree I can’t identify and the acorns are definitely from this tree so it'll just have to remain a mystery for now.

 

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Day 286 : leafmotif

Well that was proper rain today, full on constant, super drenching ceiling-ripping rain. Yes, the hole in my lounge ceiling is now bigger, it has been joined by a new smaller friend and I’ve been forced to graduate to three bowls to collect the rainwater plus plastic sheeting to catch the ricochets and splashes.

Luckily, however, when I was ready to venture outside the rain had more or less abated leaving the world scattered with crystal rain drops. A leitmotif or, if you can bear the pun, “leafmotif” of my blog has been raindrops on roses and leaves so I don't see why the season of mellow fruitfulness and falling leaves should curtail that minor obsession. Luckily I found a perfect fallen leaf that had drifted down from the tree above and impaled itself on a bush below, exposing its sawtooth edge. The rain had anointed the surface of the leaf with shiny drops, all reflecting the grey sky. I don't mind the rain in my photographs I just really need to keep it out of my flat.

 

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Day 278 : where have all conkers gone?

Yes it's happened, the leaves on the horse chestnut tree are crisping up and falling in the occasional gust. I didn't see a single conker from this tree this year. I heard done of Kew Gardens’ fine specimens suffered from the same blight, I hope it's a temporarily blip. Either that or the local squirrel population were really quick off the mark!

There's another horse chestnut tree further up the road and it did definitely produce conkers. When I walked past en route to the bus-stop I could hear them falling on the roofs of cars and the bungalow next door. They were making a proper thwack so I don't know if any of the shiny cars got dinged by them. I was hoping to find a couple still partially nestling in their spiky jackets but to no avail. I suspect I was competing with the neighbourhood squirrels and schoolboys, not necessarily in that order.

 

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Day 266 : glimpse of Autumn

The early signs of Autumn coming are starting to show. Green berries are turning red, conkers are scattered in the ground, browning leaves are falling and strewn all over the pavements. I was taking pictures of berries that catch my eye and I discovered what looks like an immature raspberry. I can't find any others so it seems like it’s a rogue possible raspberry. Close-up filters to hand I snap the lone berry against the blurry backdrop of the surrounding shrubs.

 

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