Autumn Vanishing - a photo on Flickriver

Autumn Vanishing

            Autumn is a bit of a lottery in Cornwall.  Blink and you'll miss it around here.  With the mildest climate in the UK the colours arrive later than anywhere else, often at the same time  as the storm season, which rips them from the branches before they really get going.  Around where I live the only real signs of the season are found on the Beeches, most of it in the canopy.  It's a pain in the neck - quite literally.  The Sycamores in the garden simply go brown and dump their foliage messily across the lawn.  Already, most of the trees around us are bare, without having bothered to put on a show.  

So Lee and I headed for Golitha Falls with no small degree of scepticism over what we might find, our reservations being replaced by almost boundless optimism as we drove the last few miles through the orange and gold glow of the Glynn Valley.  It seemed we'd discovered an oasis of vibrance amid the drab greys and browns and the stubborn greens along the way.  With our destination so close at hand it seemed a certainty that we'd be rewarded for our hundred mile round trip; but of course it never works like that does it?    In retrospect we should have parked in a layby along the main road and set out tripods up right there.  We might have got some funny looks from the endless flow of passing motorists, but we might have got some better pictures too.  On arrival at the visitors' hotspot the colours were all over the ground and noticeably absent from the branches around us.  We'd arranged to meet our friend Hudson, the only person I know with his own Wikipedia entry, and while we waited we queued at Inkies, the artisan fast food outlet that would prove to be the highlight of the day.  As we ate enormous protein products nestling within huge hunks of bread, we watched the action at the bird feeding station, getting particuarly excited by a beautiful Nuthatch that was helping itself to the goodies on offer.  When we'd finished eating I announced I might stay right where I was and try photographing the Nuthatch instead, unconvinced by the lack of autumn in the trees as I was.  But instead I dragged myself towards the wood, full of bread and brisket to spend three hours stumbling around on slippery surfaces, wiping rain spots from filters and cursing mildly as I tinkered with the histogram on the back of the camera.  Quite how any of my equipment didn't end up racing down the boulder strewn falls in a bid for freedom remains a mystery to me.  

After lots of grumbling and a brief discussion as to whether we should abort our mission and head for nearby Respryn I began to see compositions and settled into my zone, entering the rushing water as far as my wellies would allow me to go.  Convinced I was beginning to make sense of things I relaxed and started to enjoy myself.  At some point in the afternoon my phone made an unheard noise from somewhere in the depths of the bag to tell me that Lee had returned to the cafe.  Hudson had departed already for his appointment with someone from the medical profession wielding a booster jab.  At the point I realised an attempt to make contact with me had been made, I was engaged in an ultimately fruitless focus stack at the bottom of a waterfall and said I'd be a while.  Gradually I made my way back towards the top of the falls, gazing vacantly into the space, often wandering in and out of the river to try and grab a composition with some colourful leaves and mostly failing.  But I felt that I'd got something worthwhile from the outing at least.  Or at least until I got home and downloaded the raw files onto my computer.  My progress back to the car was delayed by an encounter with a fellow photographer whom it seemed would be able to talk the hind legs off a Brontosaurus if he were allowed to, and so I eventually stumbled out of the woods to find Lee waiting by the car.  I really ought to give him the spare key next time, but he was clearly quite contented, having helped himself to an ice cream at the cafe and he'd kept himself entertained by watching the activity at the bird feeders.  Apparently the Nuthatch had been joined by a Woodpecker and some Blackcaps, so I stopped feeling guilty about keeping him waiting.  A few hours later I was feeling pretty underwhelmed by the results of the day's efforts.  Too many cluttered scenes and too much over exposed water.  At least in this shot there were no black shadows and no clipped highlights.  Perhaps I should have had an ice cream and taken a picture of a Nuthatch instead.

Taken in: UK / England / St. Neot / Saint Neot (show map)

Taken on: November 12, 2021

Tags:

Golitha Falls

River Fowey

Autumn

colour

Cornwall

Water

water_captures

kernow

Great Britain

Britain

England

outdoor

woodland

trees « less

Sets appears in: • Golitha Falls • Rivers

Groups appears in: • Amateurs • Cornwall Flickr Users more » • Flickr Social Club • Photography Week • Flickr Social « less

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, f/14.0, 0.5 sec, 35mm, ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens:	EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM
Aperture:	f/14.0
Exposure Time:	0.5
Focal Length:	35mm
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 11.0 (Windows)
Show full info

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