Frosted Figs

Sometimes a walk around town can yield completely unexpected results. On a particularly frosty morning I took a little detour after dropping a boy off at school to see what interesting pictures I could find.  Although palm trees are not particularly unusual in the South of England, they are not what I am thinking about when I am looking for frosty winter scenes.

Equally alien is this poor little fig tree, leafless in the dead of winter but with a cluster of figs clinging on, glistening with frost.

Sudden Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Sometimes a change in the light is all that is needed to lift a dull view into an exotic one. The last day of the half-term holiday was threatening rain but I needed to get the boys and myself out into the fresh air so we headed to the recreation ground to blow away a few cobwebs. It was late afternoon and very dull, with the clouds getting thicker and blacker so when I looked around to see if there were any photogenic sights I was disappointed. Then the sun came out, so bright and yellow, peeking through a crack in the clouds as if it had torn its way through to get to us. The once lifeless trees burst into life with a glow I've never seen before, the trunks and bare branches appearing to glow with their own light.

Blue Sky Days

I love blue skies, that azure colour lifts my spirits, even when I'm feeling down. I've also found the blue sky makes a beautiful backdrop for plain branches.


This one has an apparent colour fade in the sky, even as the branches themselves fade into almost nothing. I love the fractal nature of the branches, as they split off over and over again. I can imagine the branching continuing ad infinitum, well beyond the limits of vision and it gives me a feeling that there is always more than I can see.

The sky here makes the perfect background for beech husks while allowing the sunlit bud tips to stand out too:

or, from a different angle, the clear blue provides a calm background for the silhouette without competing detail to interrupt the view:

Whatever the subject of my attention, sky blue is such a calming colour, that I feel I can slow down and take the time to appreciate what is there to be seen. Staring at any of these pictures makes me feel that, if I chose to do so, I could lose myself in meditation within that image and it is lovely to find something that can give me that peace.

Alder Catkins

One of the more interesting trees I have seen this winter is the Alder, with its catkins and cones decorating the leafless branches, providing a feast of shapes in silhouette against the patchy grey sky of late January.

Just a few weeks later and the catkins have filled out; from a different angle and with the morning sun bringing a rich intensity to the colours, the same tree is almost unrecognisable: 

I'm certainly not in a hurry to see the leaves appearing on these beauties, when the winter branches are so beautifully adorned.

A walk in the park - January

On a clear January afternoon, in the recreation ground, the sky was mostly blue and the sun low in the sky so out came the camera. My interest, on this occasion, was specifically the trees, as I wanted to find and then share the glorious pride of the winter tree, standing unabashed with no impatience for the clothing of its spring leaves. There are so many different trees around but many of the shots were too ordinary or showed a little too much of the surrounding area, taking attention away from the tree itself.

I like the silver birches, the pale bark almost glowing as it reflects the ambient light. I find the relaxed droopiness of the general tree shape to be soothing - the tree stands tall while the branches are allowed to drape lazily, the catkin buds creating a little decorative treat on closer inspection.

I've also found there's something quite gentle about winter sun in the afternoon; the bright, yet almost watery, light casts a peaceful mood over the setting. The playground immediately to the left of this scene was chaotic with noisy after-school children, yet I just feel peace when I look at the picture.

My final picture from this outing gives a good example of how opinions can change when you look at something from a different point of view. I don't usually like pollarded trees, I feel the stumpy branches are clumsy and just look out of place in their customary surroundings. However, this time I was looking at shape, silhouette and contrast, concerned only with the tree and the sky, and ignoring the rest of the landscape. To my surprise, I found that the tree was showing a distinctly feisty personality. The cluster of new shoots were an expression of triumphant defiance. It may only be a tree but it's a tree with attitude and I found myself celebrating its determination to keep growing.

There are other pictures taken on this trip to the recreation ground but my interest is in finding new ways to look at things, looking for artistic expression in the everyday landscape. I will share my favourites and explain why I like them; I hope you like them too.

The Riverside Walk that started it all

Walks for the sake of walking are not as interesting as walks with another purpose so, knowing I needed to get out in the fresh air more often this year, I decided to take a camera down to the nearby River Stour. I hoped to find some interesting wildlife, since otters and kingfishers are rumoured to be found along this stretch of the river. Accompanied as I was by a pair of noisy boys, there were no otters and the only bird to be seen was an egret which, pretty as it was, only served to highlight the deficiency of my phone's camera with its limited 4x zoom. What I was able to photograph instead was the scenery and as I sat on a bench by the river I decided that this particular view, photographed at monthly intervals, would provide an interesting record of the passage of the seasons.

River Stour, near Eye Bridge, January 2012

At this time of year (this was early January) I am always desperately searching for signs of spring, hoping that one day soon I will see the first early leaves poking their way out. As I looked at this picture, however, I surprised myself by realising that the trees are just as interesting when they are stripped bare, the crisp lines of naked branches contrasting so beautifully against the sky behind. I found that the lines, the light, the contrast and the textures were fascinating to me. Suddenly I had a completely new way of looking at the winter landscape and at winter itself. I no longer wanted winter to hurry up and end, I just wanted to capture every sight and scene while it lasted.

I now look at everything with new eyes and often stop to pull my phone out of my bag to take another picture. My favourites will appear in this blog; many will be trees, or parts of trees, as I have found them so inspiring but I will not restrict myself simply to fit my title - I will simply share with you all the things I see that make my life a joy to live once more.