Autumn at Winkworth Arboretum

During the past few days I am spending most of my time sorting through some old photos (and other stuff). It just had to be done. I didn’t find any actual treasures but I came across good memories: more shots of that magical time when nature starts preparing for the cold winter. The one we call Autumn. They form part of a kind of set taken at Winkworth Arboretum which I published almost a year ago. I have no idea why I didn’t include them in an earlier post. As mentioned previously, I do tend to either forget about stuff, or I would have decided to let them fester a bit in my photo files.

I want to share a few that remain; I’m not happy with all of them however this post is not exclusively about the images. It’s also an ode to the season itself and the hope of better things to come, even though the leaves have started to fall. In the meantime here in Malta, some are hoping for cooler temperatures. Including yours truly.

Winkworth is one of our favourite places to be. The last time I visited this year was when the bluebells were in full bloom and it really rained. A lot. Well, not really a lot, but I’m a wuss and I hate walking in wet weather. I took a few pretty flower shots and went over to our car for shelter. I was done with all the mud. On my way back to the parking lot a little girl appeared from no where (I really wanted her to be an angel actually) and she asked me in a sweet voice if she could share my umbrella. I said sure she could but looked behind me to check if her family was there. Her mum nodded and smiled, joined us and we walked together towards the exit. We exchanged names, pleasantries and of course our conversation ended with a now-what-do-you-say-to-the-kind-lady? and two sweet smiles. On the way back home, I saw a little girl with a pink polka-dot rain jacket waving at me like mad from a car. It was that little angel! Winkworth is full of surprises!

This is J taking his time on one shot. As it should be mind you. Bless him. I don’t have this sort of patience…OK…I just don’t have any, and you will understand me if your partner in life is an avid photographer. I’m the one who gets antsy if we’re on a walk and we stop for more than ten minutes just to take a nice picture. There is method in his madness, as they say, and I do get mad at him if he overtakes the time limit that I have in my mind. Unjustly so, poor thing. Unjustly so. With regards to the photo itself, I could have framed it much better. What bothered while trying to figure it out was the extra brightness coming from the sky. The Sun was out only for a few minutes; the rest of the morning was pretty grey but not really gloomy. So the sky was a bright grey for most of the time. So I opted to show more grass, which looks better.

I have to say that these last two are the ones I like best. The intensity of the colours helps. J always tells me that this was the best place for good autumnal photos nearest to Guildford. And the boy is obviously right.