Autumn 2024

The Autumnal period is an exciting time for all photographers in the landscape space. After the very early starts and the late finishes of the Summer, the opportunity to operate during reasonable day light hours feels like a blessing. This, in combination with the colour change in the environment, the more inclement weather conditions adding atmosphere and drama to the landscape, combine to offer up a wide range of opportunity for landscape photographers.

Approaching this period, my brief was simple. I need to work on the collection of images that I have been working on for over four years. I have many images of the Worcestershire woodlands but very few from Autumn. Traditionally, I spend a large portion of this time of year in Scotland. In 2024 (apart from one week) I committed to staying local and avoid the trappings north of the border.

Early signs of Autumn, Shrawley wood, Worcestershire.

Despite the excitement, the process remains the same. I have built up a lot of knowledge over the years of the local woodlands. I know that the native trees such as Beech and Oak would be developing later in the season so concentrated my early efforts on areas where Acers and Maples are more dominant. It is then a case of getting the miles on the feet monitoring the development, looking for potential subjects and all while waiting for favourable conditions.

The biggest threat to Autumn is from stormy conditions, In 2023, three storms passed over the UK. These high winds strip the leaves off the trees before they have time to develop. With hurricane season underway in the United States and Storm Ashley due to hit the UK in late October, there was a period of apprehension on my part. Coincidentally, this storm was due to pass through during the solitary week I was up in Scotland.

A scene that I had been monitoring for some time finally came good during a rain shower.

Scotland

The trip to Scotland was part of a workshop that I had booked onto. Personal development is vital and if you want to get better at anything in life, you have to spend time with people that are better than you. The trip was based around the Coigach and Assynt peninsulas and would involve a few mountain climbs if the weather allowed. The forecast was foreboding but that was offset by an enormous amount of optimism. High winds and stormy skies normally produce the most dramatic light so a bit of hard work, a good set of waterproofs and a few sandwiches were called for.

Brief moments of amazing light during 40 mph gusts of wind

I learned a lot during this trip. Conversations with both Joe Cornish and Alex Nail are never going to be wasted. The visual aspect, watching people at the top of their game working, is just as informative as learning through conversation and demonstration. There is a calmness and authority about both of them as they go about their business that is born out of years of experience. This is randomly juxtaposed with a maniacal sense of determination that you just can not help but admire, and ultimately, feed off. The images that they both produced at the locations that we visited were of such quality that it offered me the chance to reflect on my own work and what it is that I would like to add to my work moving forward.

The Rowan trees were a feature of the trip and looked incredible where ever we visited

My time in Scotland ended on the very day that the wind abated. I stayed an extra day to enjoy some calm conditions and to bask in my own enthusiasm for the future before removing the last of the ticks and heading south. Visits to a local lochan, a walk along the River Broom and a visit to Lael forest produced a few images of note that day.

Lael forest, Northwest Scotland

Back Home

Determined to find more selective images, I set straight to work. The calm weather had set in over the UK and this was to be a feature of November. An area of low pressure had stalled over the Atlantic which created high pressure conditions over the UK that have so far (as I write this) lasted for 2.5 weeks. The calm conditions were going to be perfect for allowing the native trees to fully develop their colour. It was now just a race against time as the colour in general had appeared early this year and would not last long.

One of the ancient Sweet Chestnut trees at Hanbury woods. The settled conditions should allow trees like this to fully develop their colour.

The diffused light caused by the heavy haze in the first week after returning from Scotland meant that the most productive periods of the day were between 11am - 14:00pm. Absolutely perfect for the school run and a breakfast. This changed as the haze lifted but the calmness remained. The ambient light allowing me to make the most of the bright red colours of the Birch.

Diffused light cutting through the thick haze softly illuminates this ancient Beech tree

The date today is the 15th November 2024. I was out this morning on the Malvern Hills after fog appeared over Worcester for the first time this Autumn. Unfortunately, the conditions did not materialise into anything special but the walk was pleasant. The colour is on the decline now and over the past few days I have found myself relying more on the long lens to try and isolate the colour in the landscape. This has produced a few images for me which may compliment other work but I do not find them overly compelling as stand alone images.

As autumn comes to an end, I find myself using the long lens to isolate colour in the landscape

The weather forecast for the future indicates some severe cold spells so I will most likely be moving away from the woodlands of Worcestershire and onto the larger scenes. Until then though, there will always be opportunities. In my mind, I will be looking for general woodland scenes and using the remaining colour to accent any scenes as opposed to the colour being main subject. I feel like there is one last image out there and I am looking forward to the hunt.

Overall, the last four weeks have been relatively successful. I feel like I have improved as a photographer and that I have produced some reasonable work. Moving forward over the next few weeks, I will begin collating all of the work for the project that I have. Depending on how I feel about it all will determine the project’s end point. I am looking forward to bringing that to it’s conclusion and moving forward with other ideas.

I would just like to conclude this spiel by wishing you all the very best for the Christmas period. I shall write again soon and in the meantime, I look forward to seeing your images.

Mark

The native species in the UK will develop their colour later