Autumn Mists

We've been shrouded in mist for the last few days. Fortunately not at Brigadoon levels, and usually by mid morning it's lightened up a bit. This morning sunshine and frost.  Either way its been useful for some photography practise. Flat/dull light, slightly brighter, very bright - all present their own challenges, so I've been getting out and about most mornings, sometimes on my own, other times Mike comes along and very kindly chauffeurs me around. It's really helpful. I think he enjoys it. Hopefully he's going to start sketching while I do the snapping. We're working on a joint project that combines paper sculpture and photography. It's at fledgling idea stage. Chucked out loads of photos and have a small collection of around twenty now that are interesting and hopefully give us something to start with. More info as soon as we know what we're doing.

Think Autumn is my favourite season. It's a toss-up with spring. But the colours autumn offers are so wonderful and for photography just ideal. Where we are the leaf tones particularly on the vines are so varied, from palest yellow to dark russet, with the full colour range often in the same row, as the soil changes. This year with so much rain, the colours haven't been so intense. Also the time when they are changing has been in comparison to other years, much shorter, with the leaves dropping sooner than expected. So I've needed to get quick to get some shots in. So far so good.

The harvest may be over but really that's only the start of the process. As well as grapes there has also been a lot of crop harvesting. Fields around us once high with sweetcorn and sunflowers are now covered in stubble. Tractors are out and about ploughing the fields. But not everyone is working on the same thing at the same time, so for me there are wonderful contrasts of golden vines alongside freshly ploughed field of almost chocolate brown soil. 

Keeping fingers crossed that the weather keeps going as it is for a while longer. As we go around we keep spotting new tracks to explore. With the hedgerow thinning out you can see quite a way off and at the moment in virtually every direction there are swathes of golden yellow. It's one of the pleasures at this time of year, that with the harvest in and less foliage everywhere, you can see the shape of the land more easily, and the serried ranks of planting. Very beautiful.