Fall at Monk's Wood: Part II (Digital)

Fall continues to be interesting here in Cambridgeshire this year. The field maples are out in force with a vibrant yellow I normally attribute to aspen; though perhaps I am merely starved for color. This year feels different with the distinct sense that the very hot summer has led to some stress in the trees and resulted in earlier and brighter color. The evidence for this is my observation that the first areas to turn are the parts most exposed to the sky and sun. The field maple in particular runs from yellow to orange the closer you get to the edge or crown of the foliage. This orange in fact is mostly dried and dead leaves.

The aspen are showing spottily color now though they tend to develop color much later. Perhaps the most prominent is the rare wild serviceberry tree. One of which I have observed trying to get red in the past but not quite getting there. Now I can identify seven of them just by the color of the leaves which at first seems a bright red but is revealed on closer inspection to vary from red to a salmon-like red-orange color depending on how the leaves are lit. Unlike North America, Europe does not have a lot of red leafed trees in fall and so these stand out especially well.

I was out with Mollie today, another fantastic day with comfortable temperatures, scattered cumulus clouds and wonderfully blue sky with strong slanting sunlight. The colors seemed so vibrant and saturated I wondered if the camera could do them justice. This is how I see the forest on days like this. The sun lighting little scenes and drawing you eye to it. Small vignettes of tiny spectral dramas of no significance summing up to this special beauty.

It was one of those days you just didn't want to leave the forest. Again, I am with my lazy digital Fuji GFX 50s ii and shot mostly with the Mamiya 150mm f3.5 and later the Olympus/Zuiko 135mm f2.8 cropped to 35mm full frame.