4/10/2017 They say that when the sun shines in England it’s the best country in the world to live in and I agree with that because A. It’s true and B. I’m English. Of course there’s a problem with that and if your English you’ll know what I mean because It’s only true when the sun takes the trouble to actually come out. Now I know Some would say the sun is always out and were it should be on any given day on any given year, but non of that counts for much when it’s cloudy, and for a lot of the time in this green and pleasant land, it is. When I was a child ( yes, yes, you’ve herd all this before ) the summers were very long and hot and in contrast the winters long and very cold, and snowy, very snowy, in fact so snowy it prevented us from leaving the house on more than one occasion until dad shoveled his way through so we could go out for walk and freeze to death.
Today we have a rather less defined landscape to our weather, so much so that many of us like to talk about it whenever we get the chance, It’s a National pass time for us English, like maypole dancing and bobbing for apples at the local summer fare where you hold your best mates head under the water until he’s an inch away from drowning.
By now you’re probably wondering where I might be going with this but I ask you to carry on reading as this is just a precursor to a much more interesting full length dazzling Technicolor feature of an English Autumn season which I'm sure you will enjoy.
To give an example of how unpredictable the weather is here it changes at least two or three maybe four times each day. Today I woke up to, poor Light, Blustery Winds, Damp air and wet shrubbery on the lane where I walk my dog, you know, the kind that dumps two gallons of water on your trousers as you brush past and takes the stitches out at the same time. By the time I'm home the wind has dropped the clouds have disappeared the dogs dried out and it’s still only nine o’clock. England is a country where the weather can't make it's mind up.
I don’t know how it goes in other countries but over here we get our weather forecasts in the evening to tell us what happened during the day, and a summary of what might happen tomorrow which will most likely be just the same as we get most days, until they get it wrong which is usually when the sun shines.
The people at the Met office are good at getting the weather right when it's awful because it’s awful most of the time but some praise must go to them for being accurate for at least 70% of the time even though it’s mostly guesswork. Anyway here in Manchester (often referred to as rainy city) we are made of stern stuff and never let the weather get us down, Rain, Hail, Gale force winds, lightning, Fog, Sleet, Snow, Hurricanes, Floods, Destruction of property, Famine Disease and Death, we never complain we embrace it. Honest !
Although those more defined seasons are gone, as a lad I went to bed on the last long hot day of summer and woke up to the perfect autumnal setting of golden russet red leaves dancing gently in the mild morning breeze astonished at the difference, least that's how I like to remember it. It still happens from time to time but with more of an Ahh than a Woooow..
Rather than walking to the comforting sound of crackling leaves under foot and the mildly sweet aroma of evaporating plant oils, the mid morning scene from my window right now is one of wet rotting leaves by the roadside and a sharpness in the air more in keeping with winter. I hate to say it but just as spring and summer have been and gone unnoticed and unloved by anyone, autumn is threatening to do the same. Still we have two months left before the it's end and the beginning of Winter so there's time a plenty to capture the essence of the season. As a starter to the new IPJ Seasons column
I took this inside backlit through a sheet of diffused glass with a tripod and 50mm prime lens
As the season progresses I'll be out and about taking pictures that reflect the Autumn season and looking for anything that has the making of a good yarn.
Thanks For Looking & Have A Nice day
6/10/2017
I'm loving the October sun today, it's a real comfort to the soul, but as we approach the meteorological middle of Autumn diminishing daylight and an early morning chill, I'm subconsciously preparing for the onset of Winter already. It's been raining in the night and small pools of water dot a waterlogged landscape behind the house, reflecting the suns low rays at crazy angles and the farmland glistens like the baubles on a Christmas tree. The trees have yet to shed their leaves but the first signs of muted yellows and browns have started to show and well into the fifth week of autumn I'm preparing myself for the grand finale of the year when nature creates the most spectacular show of colour.
In meteorological terms (Gregorian Calendar) 2017 autumn starts on September 1st in astronomical terms it starts on September 22nd when day and night are of roughly equal length. There is also a third more fluid definition that comes from phenonlogy – the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena. The start of autumn in this field is dictated by changes in the natural world such as tinting in leaves and the ripening of autumn fruit.
Experts from the forestry commission say soggy weather over the summer is likely to give way to a long and stunning display of colour. Maple species are expected to kick off first followed by Beeches and Oaks with a crescendo of colour in the last two weeks of October, as long as we don't get heavy rain or wind to upset the apple cart. Sounds like a disclaimer to me we shall see, but I hope they are right.
Of course we all know that leaves change colour because they stop producing chlorophyll, the stuff that makes them green in the first place. Dry weather leads to more sugar in the leaves which increases the amount of anthocyanins that make them red. Maples are known for their red blaze but Oaks Hickory Ash and Beeches are all worth watching out for.
Just in case you didn't know and to to confuse matters more British Summer time comes to an end on the 29th of October when the clocks go back one hour at 2 am and GMT resumes.
Now I have to say that I'm no expert in these matters, I'm not a botanist I just love Nature and all it has to offer. I carry my cameras whenever I go out so I'm hoping to capture some photographs worth sharing on the PJ Web Site.
- Thanks for looking & Have a Nice Day -
- Irwell Valley - 17/102017
- River Irwell Clifton Manchester -
Hurricane Ophelia hit the shores of the UK yesterday and a rather windy day ensued here in the North of England. Today however was much more settled and we even managed to see the sun at intervals during the afternoon. I took the picture from a bridge above a bend in the river close to where I live. It's not perfect but i wanted to catch the mood of the moment and it's worked quite well even though the far side of the bank was in shadow.
I got up to a huge pile of leaves in front of the house this morning and fine drizzle, but in spite of the day not starting well I enjoyed an hour or two walking the river hoping to lift my spirits and arrest the head cold I've acquired.
Any photographer knows that pictures can be found on their own doorsteps if you look hard enough which was the case with this one. I took this one from behind the local sewage works where the landscape can be bleak and unattractive. Behind me there's an outpouring of treated water into the river and along the banks various plastic bags caught in trees from previous high waters. The foreground had an old tire and couple of rusting old buckets in it along with various bit of degraded detritus discarded during it's years of industrial misuse which I managed to omit from the composition.
It's not the prettiest place in the world but the outcrop of rock and the rusty leaves in the background gives a hint of Autumn. Soggy weather is holding back the blaze of colors I was hoping for but this is Manchester England doing what it does best, raining a lot of the time.
The scene looks pleasant enough and the water here no more than a few feet deep, but the brackish nature of the water is testament to the fact that most of its feed comes from up on the North Pennine Moors twenty miles away. When the moore is saturated as it often is, heavy downpours can cause flash flooding as was the case last year when water levels rose by ten or twelve feet overnight and brought the public out in crowds to see it in spate.
A mile upstream in the ancient village of Ringley, houses were flooded when the river broke its banks sweeping away garden sheds and furniture at an alarming speed, further downstream an entire bridge was lost after debris trapped behind it caused the water to rise high enough to sweep it away.
Most of the time this tiny unassuming river is home to Ducks Swans and people fishing, but once in awhile it wakes up and becomes a raging torrent you wouldn't want to fall into, the bedrock curbing any ambition for a change of course. This is a river that sits deep and hidden from view in a landscape full of trees and thick vegetation, and for the most part along much of its course it's ignored and often spoken poorly of, but as a child of some considerable years gone bye I remember the river for the fetid foaming trash ridden waterway it was, but it has a place in my heart and I hold fond memories of a happy childhood playing there. Once a sick and ailing victim of the industrial revolution it's now a patient in long term recovery and now provides a pleasant place for locals to walk their dogs and children. Scenery here is anything but panoramic but I think you will agree I captured a pleasing scene in an otherwise not so precious landscape.