Tuesday 5 November 2024

Ten Years Of Autumn/Winter. Favourite Photos of The Last Decade.

                                                 ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.


I don't normally look back too much at the blog but recently I was asked to find several seasonal posts to put a gallery together for someone else and I realised just how many good shots I had in previous years. I was also keener then to get out and take photographs... often rushing out if I suspected a good sunset might appear.  This above was the result of gathering autumn windfall bounty off the ground over just one three hour walk in Dawyck Botanic Gardens in the Scottish Borders after an October storm. Sums up autumn perfectly.


With autumn comes the darker nights and I would deliberately wait in parks for the sunset... something I rarely bother with now I'm older. I noticed this bird approaching and waited until it crossed right in front of me before taking this shot.


I also experimented a lot more, shooting directly into the sun using different camera settings or placing sunglasses over the lens to darken the image as here with corvids on Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. Young ravens I think.


Which worked fairly well...


Bellahouston Park with a wildflower strip.


Sometimes it was just pure luck being in the right area at the right time... but the more you are outdoors to capture it... the luckier you get. Reflections at Bowling here.


One from the early days of the blog. A bracket type fungi growing out of a wooden park bench in Cupar. Fife.


Bellahouston Park has long been a favourite. A lone dog here.


 One from years ago of a little child in nature. How I also first started out not far away as my parents would take me round the Barrhead Dams and through Pollok... first in a pram and then later on foot, exposed to the great outdoors and the seasons, almost from birth.


So although I grew up in a fairly rough council estate... this was also a large part of my upbringing. Woods, meadows, horizon to horizon hilltop views.


So lucky to grow up in Pollok and the Great Wood of Albion...


Where it was easy to believe in magical occurrence...


The Glade...


... where the light can produce strange effects...


Or a little imagination creates them. Teddy Bear moon.


Dark Magic. Dumbarton Rock after a thunderstorm viewed through a tinted sheet held over the camera lens...


Same effect on an old Glasgow tenement Street. The Light from Stars.


A zoom straight into the sun. Sunburst mode on camera.


Same effect with less cloud cover...


You often have to be around for a dozen sunsets to get two really good ones. 


And the really spectacular only occur a few times a year so loads of hours spent on hilltops or parks to get these...coming down in the dark.


Erskine Bridge in June 10:00pm... most good sunsets occur more frequently in autumn and winter though... more moisture and clouds then.


Mist rising after a day of rain. Lennox Castle and woods.


Leaving Glasgow on the A82 heading towards the Scottish west coast and the sea.


A carved tree house in Balloch Park.


A goldfinch.


In the park. October colours.


Lone cyclist. Autumn evening. A Bellahouston view.


Furry investigator...


Townhead.    She's 'the one.'


A book cover photo.


Nature's art. Base of a wild cherry tree.


Forth and Clyde canal. A peephole view.


An urban fox.  Just a fraction of my favourite photos during the last 10 years.


Wednesday 30 October 2024

The Autumn Colour Display for 2024. A Gallery.

                                                 ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.


I had three fantastic walks in October this year capturing the autumn colours on the trees. All three walks occurred between Anniesland and Clydebank. The sky was blue, no wind, not too warm or cold ...perfect conditions. The path along the Forth and Clyde Canal returning from Clydebank. This is a mix of all three walks.


Shopping Centre in Clydebank. Always a busy place yet the canal either side of it is usually quiet and peaceful.


An almost magical day for beauty and tranquillity.


One of my favourite walks, just past Clydebank heading for Dalmuir.


Colours starting to pick up now.


More than half the world believes in invisible beings that watch over us.


A thrush with a berry.


A grey squirrel with an acorn.


Colours in Knightswood Park.


The Golden Highway. Great Western Road. 2024.


Autumn on the edge of Drumchapel.


Bus on Great Western Road.


Titan Crane Path. Clydebank.


In the Garden of Earthly Delights. Clydebank Park.


Knightswood in October 2024.


Neilston Pad and Knightswood Park. After two decades of hunting Scotland wide I already know where the best trees are for rich blended colours.


Canal reflections.


Same thing.


Astonished Red Squirrel.


Cormorant on canal, drying off after fishing.


Clyde Walkway and Kilpatrick Hills.


Solo kayaker. River Clyde at Clydebank.


The last splash of flowers before the first frosts of winter.


River Clyde view at Yoker with the new swing bridge. Nearly open for traffic but not yet.


Also the season of mushrooms...


and great sunsets...


with the dark evenings now arriving around 4:30 pm.


and a damp, chill feel to the air....


So let us prey to our Gods...


Whoever they might be....


The end...


or is it...?