All is reflected

 

Framing.

There are ways you may of photographed this scene, front facing, straight on from the side but for me using the foliage to to frame the scene with the reflections caught seemed to me to the be better bet, giving you the emotional feel on a cool autumn morning.

Jadanik

 

While out, I noticed we still have mooring narrow boats ("Barges") although less than the summer months apart from encountering Anglers with their rods and tackle boxes but this scene with the reflections, autumnal colour and stillness appealed to me.

Again using a wider aperature and the telephoto end of the zoom lens helped to keep the focus on what the picture is about

More berries

 

As we exit November and prepare tomorrow to set our watches and clocks back to GMT , the berries are all out here having been out today and here 's a good example.

This was focussed by hand and by exploting the narrow depth of field this Nikon 24-85mm ED zoom lens has available the background desolves beautifully in a pleasant shade of green.

A golden touch

 

The crispness of autumn leaves backed by that golden colour makes you feel great when out on a hike.

Autumn Camp III

 

Well situated on the edge of the trees with a carpet of colourful autumn leaves the Scouts enjoy their camp observing the birds and squirrels, visiting places and having fun around a camp fire.

There always was something really magical about that

Moving along

 

The path may be uneven, even appearing deserted at times but seldom less than colourful especially at this time of year to which at this time of things round halloween and bonfire night are added.

It's magical.

Fall

 Autumn is very much upon us and the leaves are falling in their crisp golden colours making magical carpets.

Moored up

 Tis getting towards the end of the season on the canal here, actually as I sat with family having a meal in a local pub, I saw several travel up and down its length making their way to either Stoke itself or to join up with the Macclesfield canal which gets you near the large town and Borough of Stockport where among other things they made hats.

Autumn fruits

 

It may be late autumn but this tree has other ideas such as throwing out its apples resident in an era with plenty of water.

So much water that to deal with flooding and subsidence issues many trees were planted to suck the water up and add much needed fibreous roots to bind the soil.

 

These are the apples that have so far fell off the tree!

The classic Autumn.

 

As all of last weeks rain starts to receed with all the delays and closures to road and rail transportation at least we have the classic autumn copper leaves a;though shots like this require an increase in exposure to overcome the background lighting.

In the old days I'd typically set a +1.5 ev on the Minolta XD7 or X500 if I didn't use a seperate exposure meter and grey card to set it manually.

The majestic trees

One the one hand we've been told temperatures are several degrees warmer than the seasonal norm and yet as I type this it is raining hard!

Autumn is very much in air - I can surprisingly enough smell it when I'm about - and no doubt seasonal fungi will be in evidence too when it's fit enough to resume taking photograghs rather than getting ones camera soaked.

This is more like what I'm expecting shot very much against the light rendering the foilage translucent in one of our green lungs in all its glory.

The passing of the seasons

Although the last few days have featured much rain here, look about and you'll see signs we are moving into Autumn such as seeing the local squirrels at play, leaves starting to show signs that they aren't going to be about for much longer and so on.

We are quite fortunate beyond the wood to have a number of green spaces dotted across the locality in which you can not only play or relax in but see this all unfolding such as this bit of woodland left around a more recent estate development.
 

Restful views

 As I walk around the tree lined roads by woodland and fields here there is little escaping we are in autumn from the lower temperatures as much as they may rally by early afternoon as warmer coats and gloves are put on.

Nor as the low sun causes the richly coloured leaves in their final stages before departing for winter to look so attractive with a warm glow.

That captured in soft focus is one the things I just love to be surround in outdoors.

The seasons change

Going about in the last week shows we are almost ready for the greatest free show of all that comes around this time of year.

I just adore being out during the autumn watching the leaves change colours so vividly before ultimately falling down to the ground.

Indeed the mixture of Remembrance day parades along tree lined routes in vivid colours upon the early afternoon sun shining down on all remains strong in me.

Early Fall

Thankfully things improved later on this week so I was able to get out exploring a bit.

Autumn came suddenly just a couple of days into the month so it was time to explore the trees.

I like tree canopies so seeing the strong backlighting thought I'd experiment a bit more with Contre-Jour which work fairly well  although there is a bit of flaring around the low sun and bags of contrast.

The more 'classic' approach yields a different result of sunlit leaves undergoing photosynthesis against the tree trunk and branches.

Here we have amongst a group of leaves in early fall literally having fell off with two lit up from the sun contrasting with all around them.

A trip to the Rise

It was rather a wet start to the week with torrential downpours but I got my red waterproof jacket out, the one with the built in hood ideal for when it can be warm with showers and went out exploring.

Much of this area is reclaimed, some from the site of former Salt works that literally went under due to subsidence, a common local issue and part a local authority refuse site suitably landscaped and given a new title.

From where this picture was taken there are three pathways, one that leads to the local canal and two into the reclaimed area itself.

The central one leads through a steep drop which is terraced along a narrow path towards Lawton Heath over a brook where the Valley Cottage is underpinned to prevent it from sinking and where fresh sink holes are by no means uncommon.

The display board provides some background information on the area, a map and directions you may wish to explore.

The Rise itself has a higher section toward the backs of property in the village and a much lower area when the ground dropped (and slowly continues to over the years) which is kept more as meadowland.

The area often sees butterflies, a variety of birds and small mammals with views across the stream at base of the River Weaver which is much lower due to the subsidence which apart from taking the salt works also took a row of houses, a pub and chunk of agricultural land.

There are a few tables where you can sit and watch and further up some rustic seating.

Autumn meadowland

Exploring can be fine although I got chased by a Hornet when I was taking some pictured for this blog.

The meadowlands look rather like this with plenty of live around and under them included said hornet although there are mowed paths through part of it which saves damaging the environment just exploring.

Unfortunately we lost some wildlife to a police incident that bought helicopters, drones and armed police for two nights as having killed some ducks, persons turned on to people resulting in a lockdown at the nearby public house.

For those birds that survived that incident the berries are out in force very juicy looking part from those in the hedgerows that are like those I grew up with.

Meanwhile down at the farm the roses remain out.

The canal in Autumn

Weather was rather good this week so I've been out around the local canal exploring the nearby meadowland where I noticed this enjoyable view come together.

Often when you look at a scene you tend to notice just the main objects but often it is the details that make it and here it is the reflections of the sky and part of the tow path that adds to the overall picture.

It is still very busy on the canal so apart from those boats moored up no doubt taking advantage of local facilities such as shops and a post office you will see others going through like this on going towards Kidsgrove.

The boat decoration is a bit sparse compared with many but the floral display at the front  is a very nice touch.

A colourful morning

Been a pretty warm sunny week so far for exploring.

Many of the flowers remain out even if some of trees are starting to shred their foliage providing food for the bees that are still out and the butterfly some of which I was just point four of a metre away from.

One thing I did have to back away from at speed was a hornet exploring the meadows where after spotting him just in the direction I wanted to go he decided to go for me! 

This group of flowers with the almost burnt orange petals held my attention for a bit with those colours.

The onset of Winter

 As the Winter begins to approach us, it's time to look back upon this Autumn

Canopies in woodland has always fascinated me as the branches of the individual trees mingle into one structure not least when have the orangey sun reflecting brilliantly upon them.

Even the suburban hedgerow, beloved by the nations gardeners takes on a most colourful appearance in this time of year, which in a year so changed in ways non of us would of anticipated helps in staying alert and mentally resilient as hard as it has been for many.