The Cotoneaster leaves offered a wide palette of colours while the Nandina offered its scarlet intensity. The past autumn with its crisp nights, clear sunny and calm days meant a more striking autumn season here in the garden.
A new “smarty pants” camera means a lot of playing is needed to learn how it works and how to get satisfying results with it.
The Japanese Maple tree has provided me with a great subject to play around with on the camera. I also love to explore light as I take photographs.
So some of these following images are taken with the sunlight behind me, some with the leaves backlit, others a wonderful example of the sheer beauty this tree has offered to us in the past fortnight.
Three days went by between these photos and the ones I posted in my previous post. The colours on the tree had intensified dramatically. The tree had become a visual treat of autumn blaze with some of the lower branches still holding to green. It is easy to sit and enjoy the display being played out in front of our eyes and to wonder at the exact factors which have influenced such drama.
We planted a Japanese maple in our garden almost 20 years ago and it offers delight during every season. Spring and autumn are the most spectacular times for this tree to display its beauty. We have not enjoyed settled weather at all this year until late April. Since then we have had some splendid autumn weather and perhaps chilly nights, no wind and warm days account for the amazing colour display we have been enjoying. Members of the household agree that this has been one of the very best displays we have seen on this tree.
These photos were taken on 25th April 2017 and show the branchlets turning fiery red but the leaves a mix of green and coloured.
Three days later I took some more photos. Look out for these in my next post.
After a long, gentle, mild autumn, winter finally arrived here a week or so ago bringing with it snow on our nearby hills. This is not a common occurrence.
The next night or two saw frosts coat the rooftops, cars and grass. Another relatively uncommon occurrence given how close we live to the Pauatahanui Inlet and its maritime influence that moves or warms the air.
We have a number of flowering cherry trees in and around our garden and they had been very slow to turn into their autumn colours.
This bitter cold snap has seen a dramatic change and some very striking colours emerge.
The nice aspect after a good frost, as seen here along a fence in the garden
is the stunning sunny, blue sky day that can often provide a clear backdrop to this firey beauty in the cherry tree leaves.
Our flowering Cherry Tree was a picture of “fire” this morning.
The leaves have been turning quite quickly in the past week but it had reached flame toned proportions this morning.
It is a breath catching picture directly out from our living area. A bright torch against the grey skies of the past days.
The weather forecasters have predicted a storm to hit this afternoon and they are on the money on this prediction.
The sky when I went out with the camera this morning was grey-blue with a foreboding look about it as the forces of nature slowly gathered.
As I type this post the wind is at gale force and the trees are bending deeply. I wonder what my “fiery” picture tree will look like tomorrow.
I am playing around with the point and shoot camera a lot at the moment and on this gloomy day earlier in the week I visited the stand of Flowering Cherry Trees which were in various stages of autumn decline.
A few trees were still displaying vibrant and colourful leaves.
The light was rather cold on this day but here is a photo looking into the light.
And this shot, with the light behind me is looking at the other side of the tree.
The differences were surprising and pleasing to me and my growing curiosity with photography.
Our incredible summer has given way to a slow, gentle and warm autumn with the occasional storm and chilly snap.
No matter the calmness and mild temperatures because the light is decreasing noticeably now and the shortest day is only a month or so away.
Lowering light levels and the cold of last weekend has seen leaf colour turn and the leaves beginning to fall in large numbers now.
On a short walk yesterday before the rain set in I captured these photos.
I am persisting in my attempts to achieve a great shot of the fantails (Piwakawaka) who are constantly visiting the garden at the moment. They are playful, cheeky, wee birds who can fly temptingly close to humans at times. They are not still for more than a second or two and all the while they chirrup and tweet in a very happy manner. As insect eaters they dive in and out amongst the leaves on trees to find food which also means a clear view is almost impossible. But I am not deterred and it is a joy to watch them flit about.
Here are some of my recent attempts…..
Found me in the maple tree!
Now I’m on the creeper on the trellis…can you see me?
Clear shot! Got me….mostly
I’m off again
Hey! Over here I am on the fence now….
But I’m off! See you later…..
Tweet, tweet, I’m back again, quick!!!!
Well almost Wordless Wednesday……Summer temperatures, blue sky intensity, autumn russets.
ordinarygoodness 