<Insert all sorts of poetic stuff about how life is cyclic, and how the seasons perfectly represent human life, etc., etc.>

Once Spring hits England, all hell breaks loose and everything goes a truly fantastic, citrusy shade of green for a few months. The winter months (basically, October through April…) on the other hand are rather dull. As you’ve seen from my photos of Sussex, the most excitement we see is the occasional frost or, if we’re very lucky, some snow. The sunsets are OK too I guess, but really all we have (down South at least) are a few hills, some fields, some trees… and that’s about it really.

So, not to be defeated by the grey drizzle of England, I reached for my uber lens of telephoto doom (as featured in this photo) and wandered around underneath some of our lovely oak trees taking photos. Macro photos. Everyone loves macro photos, right?

Well I hope you enjoy these two; I like them! (Truth be told, I don’t do a lot of macro stuff but I’ve been told I should do more…)

(They’re large, but you should make space in your browser window to look at them in full-size, they’re quite pretty!)

Gah, that was way too poetic… Well, perhaps if I just leave poetry in the titles, and not in the actual entries…

Anyway, another photo, of some daffodils in the wrought iron window boxes that we have here on our estate (the blue blur is some kind of thermometer on the wall, I think… but I’m not sure! That’s the magic of macro shots and forced depth of field:  ‘Guess that blur?!’)

It also might be the last time I get to photograph our lovely garden as we’ve received a couple of good, cash offers this week; it seems like we might actually be moving!

Where we will move to however remains a big question!

I think I like this one. It’s not an AMAZING photo, but it’s interesting. I’m not quite sure why the depth of field is quite so shallow… might be because there was a lot of reflected light into the camera.

Anyway, if you know your foliage, you’ll be able to identify this is a honeysuckle plant! It’s a long way off budding though, as they don’t usually flower for another few months. The leaves are usually a rather dull red, but you can see here that when you let a low sun shine through their leaves you get some startling oranges and pinks and yellows!

Oh, and the spider web was an added bonus — note the sun glinting off it in the far bottom left!

I really hope the sun continues into the weekend. It actually feels like Spring is finally here!

Silver (and orange and gold) Birches & Skirts, Knitwear, Coats

(Click each photo for a larger version)

Seb: I told you I’d be photographing Autumn (Fall)! I tried some oaks, some beeches… but none of them were quite autumny enough! The silver birches were the first trees to go truly ‘autumnal’ in our garden; beautifully golden and yellow, every gust of wind blowing yet another handful of leaves fluttering from bough to ground.

I almost took a photo from the ground up, so you could see the leaves amongst the grass, but this angle worked better. I love how the very bright sun is just dappled enough to make this photo possible (though you can see a gap where the leaves didn’t quite block enough sunlight to prevent overexposure… damn!) — and of course, once the light passes through the yellow leaves… the ambient light is GOLDEN!

England — at least the south — is beautiful right now. It’s warm, but the nights have an edge of chill just to remind you of what’s coming. I’ve started wearing socks again! And most importantly, it’s blustery. If you’ve never been in a British forest in the Autumn with the wind blustering all about you, head hunkered down into your jacket to keep your ears warm — if you’ve never done that, you really ought to.

Abi: Skirts, Knitwear, Coats: The last days of Summer. The colder months are just around the corner… I hate to say it but lately the air has been all “back to school” cold in the mornings and I have stopped wanting to sleep naked, covered only by a white sheet at night. Soon the leaves will turn and fall and we will be no stranger to socks and practical footwear. But I’m OK with that, I like Autumn.

I took this when I was out and about yesterday. If ever you wondered where “Women of a Certain Age” go to get their clothes, then I think this is it. I am not sure if this type of fashion emporium cater for seasonal change.. nor am I certain of the approximate age when women are supposed to offer these places their custom, but the handpainted sign got me and seemed somewhat appropriate for the coming season.

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Seb’s Flickr Stream — Abi’s Flickr Stream — you can comment here, or there!

Autumn Bursts Forth & Twister

Seb: Hey, guess what, it’s AUTUMN. If last week didn’t make that clear, hopefully this does. I’ve never actually seen chestnuts still clutching onto the tree like this — normally they’re scattered about underneath the tree!

I was actually out to take some photos of the trees themselves — there’s a beautiful avenue of ancient chestnuts nearby which I thought would look good at sunset. We’re talking proper, thousand-year-old gnarled and twisted trees that have been around since England was invaded by the Normans. I’ll upload another one tomorrow, so that you can see what they’re like.

But anyway: I looked up, as I always do, being tall and all, and I spotted some chestnuts glinting in the warm, yellow sunset. That ‘golden hour’ has never been more obvious!

This photo is an attempt at staying true to my ‘landscape soul’, while still catering a little more for those that like interesting detail in their photos. And those that like bokeh, of course.

Abi: The fair has come to town- and when I say fair I mean a selection of rides manned by neanderthals, underscored by a lingering smell of fried onions and a soundtrack limited to dance tunes from the mid 90s.

I rarely take any photos at night, I set out this week with a vague idea of capturing light and movement (maybe some people) with no clear idea of what I was really doing. This is a bit of a departure for me so things can only improve.

When I was at school this fair was something approaching a big deal. It has dwindled in recent years but the sounds and smells are just the same as they always were. Only instead of cider the kids are most probably on Ketamine or something. Probably.

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Click the images to visit our Flickr streams. You can comment either here or there!

The Leaf Ninja & ‘Yes, they’re real’

Seb: Oh, look, it’s a… a… er… SOMETHING! Hiding in the trees!

The original concept for this photo was to have me laying on the ground, my face covered in leaves, with just my eyes visible.

Turns out the big-leaf trees aren’t shedding yet. And covering a head the size of mine in beech leaves is pretty hard…

So I did the only thing a man can do in such a situation. I rubbed leaves into my hair and torso until I looked like a tree! I’m topless, but sadly you can’t see — you’ll have to trust me that I looked very ‘Tarzan’.

And ta’da… stealthy, leaf ninja!

The ‘look’ is meant to be kind of ‘I could kill you with just my thumbs.’

But Abi thinks it looks more ‘creepy stalker in the garden’. Hmpf.

If you’re bored with the tree theme: I have a feeling that next week will be wildly different.

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Abi: I remember seeing makeup similar to this on a fashion shoot a while ago and always think about it. This is a play on nature versus natural beauty and how we try to emulate what is natural, often by the most false and synthetic means.

Incidentally, my eyelashes are really quite freakishly long. They are the first thing people comment on when they meet me and probably the most commented upon aspect on all my flickr photos.

In the words of Sir Walter Scott: “What I have to say is far more important than how long my eyelashes are.”

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Click the images to visit our Flickr streams. Feel free to comment here or there!