A Happier Place

I am trying to be in a happier frame of mind today as my heart begins to heal, and these photos won't hurt the process. Your comments on the previous post were also helpful and appreciated. Thanks.

One day last week, I made it to our Riverside Park for a little while with camera in hand. Actually, camera was on tripod. I seldom use a tripod, but when I do, it makes me feel a little more serious about the photoshoot.

Although I have displayed a number of autumn photos in this lil ole blog space of mine, and although I think that they have looked good enough, it has also not been the very best autumn for colour this year.

That continued to be the case at the park. Some of the trees hadn't yet turned much but others were already past their full splendour. So it was with the red maples in this photo, which I have seen redder and fuller in leaf in other years. I have been told that some consecutive nights of good frost are required to bring out the reds properly, and that just hasn't happened this year. You can see in the photo that the leaves are almost more orange than red, yet I have seen them wonderfully red in other years.

Nevertheless, I think that photo was still somewhat appealing as are these others that follow. I just need to appreciate what I can, and there was enough for me that day, like this single orange tree overlooking the blue river. This was actually my first photo of the day.

I took this next shot after the previous one but before the tighter shot of the red maples up top, from farther back. I like the path. You can see the variation of the change with the one tree to the left being bare but quite a lot of leaf and even green leaf on others.

As I strolled up, or was it down, the park I strayed from the path to take the next photo. The ground was covered in leaves, and the bright yellow leaves of the one tree seemed well framed by other trees.

On the way back to the car along the path once again, I got down low for a few takes. That is, I put the tripod low and hoped for the best because I don't get down and up so easily anymore. I could use a camera with a tilting screen to make low and high shots easier, but new cameras don't come cheaply. It is said that in future all Canon DSLRs will come with tilting screens. But again, at what price, particularly for a full frame, which is my preference?

When I was taking and processing this final shot, also a low shot, it seemed a bit like an afterthought, but I think I like it best of the lot when all is said and done. I like the path off centre in this case, the colour at the end, and how all of the lines, including the river, more or less converge. If I had centered the path, I would have missed the river. It also would have been fine in its own right though like the third shot from the top, only maybe better than that if I stayed low.

So that was possibly the last stroll in the park at least in terms of colour, or maybe not; we shall see. Whatever the case, too soon all of the branches will be bare, making November a very unappealing month for outdoor photography. Then, we almost wait for snow to make for prettier photos, but the problem then becomes access. Sigh. What will I blog about all winter, all long long winter?