Reflection of marker-post in the water at Teddington lock - # 08/232

The 26th September brought us the last moments of hot and brilliant sunshine before the strong winds of Autumn fell upon us.

Capturing September # 071630 - # 08/231

To be honest this is one extremely rare "misty September sunrise - 2008". This year the conditions have been wrong, but we can hope that perhaps October will bring some more early morning delights.

It's too early for a "lone figure" to take its place on the seat (I waited for 3 hours, but none came ;-) Ho, Ho)....but it's already "Rush Hour", as you can see by the trail of cars on the main road. The photo is far from being a "stunner", but then this September has been quite disappointing. Today, the "endless" grey clouds are back. Can we hope for a "Golden October"?

The view is looking across Ham Common towards the Petersham Rd.

Capturing September attempt # P925004 - # 08/230

The meadows around us are being mown. Here I wanted to capture the graceful curving path taken by the mowing machine, and the cast of light and shade as the mid-day sun flooded the heaped grass - the piles are brilliantly lit on one side and darkly shaded behind. Of course, the "idiot camera" could not sense my "emotional gut feeling" and so this became a tricky exposure exercise. I admit to just a tiny bit of "post-processing" to improve the shadows (but only a tiny bit!!!). B&W proved better than colour, in my opinion, at capturing the mood.

I remember once on a visit to the French Alps in the Savoie we discovered the cheese Beaufort. This unique cheese comes from cows who spend the summer grazing the alpine meadows rich with wild flowers, and the scent of the flowers goes into the milk. This fragrance does not travel so well and it is (in my experience) difficult to find an excellent Beaufort anywhere that is far away from its origin in the Savoie.

Last week our local Ham and Petersham meadows were cut. One particular meadow had been especially rich in wild flowers. The scent of the hay was quite remarkable. The light breeze had gathered the fragrance into a corner of the walled area and concentrated it into the richest vanilla-like aroma I have ever experienced - magical and unforgettable, and totally unknown to the millions who live urban lives!

Nick's gum tree - # 08/226

My neighbour has a huge Australian gum tree in his front garden. I absolutely love it. He has fitted it out with strings of lights right up to the top. He switches them on in Winter and the tree twinkles in the darkness.

Here you can see a flash of late September sun on the bark.

Actually I'm longing to get back to some B & W shots, but at the moment they simply are not materialising. The other thing I should be doing - but am not - is getting up early to capture sun rises and mists. Next month I really must try harder.

(By the way; we have total thick grey cloud........yet again. What an abominable Summer! Aaaaaarrrrgh!!!!!!!!)

Capturing September: attempt # P91 - 5 - # 08/223

What are you doing? Why are you lying on the wet ground, in an old raincoat, fiddling with that camera again? Come in at once! Do something useful!

The garden apple crop this year is abundant but the apples are small in spite of the high rainfall. I suppose excessive cloud and lack of sun are to blame. But the squirrels and birds are getting the benefit from them.

My challenge here is to catch the juiciness, the whiteness and the squirrel's teeth marks. It's definitely not the world's finest September Apple Picture, but I had great fun doing it, and avoided having to do several "useful" things.

Capturing September attempt # 8(DF) - # 08/222

First: a mighty "Thank You" to all those who commented and encouraged me yesterday following my rant about the lousy summer and the unending cloud. Anon in Seattle and Virginia in Birmingham Ala. put it in perspective, AND Jules in Rabaul reminded me that she has to put up with Volcano dust several times a year.

As we all know, City DP is not a doddle. We all work quite hard at it. I went back a second time, with a tripod, to repeat and improve on earlier attempts to catch the essence of this rural scene.

But what is it? Things go up and things go down and everything changes. We can see that this old footpath was once well kept and it looks as if about 100 years ago someone put up an elegant and very clear boundary fence. It's "Douglas Footpath" running from Petersham Road down to the river Thames - very little used today but so charming and useful that "London's Arcadia" is restoring it to good condition. (click on the link at the right of this blog to read more about "London's Arcadia" - it's not always cloudy, even if it is for most of this year!!!!!).

Capturing September attempt # 32 - # 08/220

This a tricky task. After weeks of solid cloud the sun appeared. The rain has made the bushes and meadows lush and overwhelming. The drainage ditch is attractive; water running fast. The pebbles of the man-made banking make a good foreground. The pink wild flowers at the back are drenched in sunlight and the yellow bush further back is almost washed out even to the human eye because of the brilliant evening sun. The foreground is dark.

It's worth capturing, as you glimpse it from the river bank. The vision sucks you in and you enter the slightly slippery riverside undergrowth to get a good look at the drainage ditch on the far side of the tow path. The pink flowers are beguiling and the ripples on the clear water are delightful.

The human eye can take it all in, and sort it out, but the camera cannot cope with so many contrasts.

The camera is set up on the tripod. I chose a very low ISO, set the aperture at F22.0 to capture the depth of field, and set a shutter speed that gave a "correct" exposure for the brilliant, sun-drenched meadow at the back. I used a flash gun "off camera", holding it by hand on the left to light the tree and the dark shadowy bank of the stream.

The result is not quite as lovely as the one seen by the human eye, but it's as near as I could get to it.

Hints of Autumn- # 243

There's already a nip in the air, and the ground has become very dry. Leaves are turning yellow. This Heron is in his usual perch above "his" pond.

The picture's not pin sahrp. I've cropped it a bit, and had to zoom in to enlarge the Heron: and I tweaked the colour contrasts to boost the autumnal look, but on the whole, that's how things are looking now in Richmond Park. I need a longer lens to capture this bird in his element.