Until July 2017, documenting the seasons of coastal Dorset. I'm a complete amateur so don't trust I'm always right. If ever you see I'm wrong - whether with identifications or in anything else - do say! Meanwhile . . . I've now moved to Halifax in West Yorkshire. Click on the link below to collect the new URL. Don't forget to follow there!

Tuesday 17 January 2012

BLACKBERRIES IN THE GLOOM

There have been some lovely sunny, blue sky days recently but, for the most part, those have been the days when I haven't had time to go out with my camera. So I've been missing the startlingly crisp afternoons when one can take startlingly crisp pictures . . . and have been left with gloomy days - days when everything sort of merges into a mush. All that means, of course, is that we are invited to look a little harder.

Here we go - the big scene (which is never very big - too much choice!) . . . and the view when we hone in. It's a bit like a spy film. And today - today we are spying on blackberries.

First, the bramble picture from the recent Loose and Leafy post 'Prickles and Thorns'.


At least it's clear what the photo is off. None the less


go closer in and one is less aware of the shape of the branch and more of the arrangement of thorns. I even find myself wondering what happened to the missing limb.

Blackberry fruits which weren't eaten and didn't fall.


I could, of course, have walked on by. Most people would. Most people are simply marching down a path or walking back. They aren't out with a camera with a post in mind. I'm glad I had my eyes skinned.


Leaves which hang on to autumn stand out more, even at ground level.



But there's a world in there which could be missed if we didn't go in closer still.




Perhaps there should be a little sign beside it: 'INSECTS AT WORK!'

And, far less obtrusive, agreeing to stay muted - a dessicated twig.



Sometimes, the tiniest of details need their own frame.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Super post Lucy, I like the close work that you do. The leaf series is excellent.

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Thanks Toffeeapple. Wouldn't it be good to have a lens that could go closer still?!

LINDA'S said...

Lucy what a lovely blog and your photo's are out of this world

Mark Willis said...

Great post, especially for people like me. This is just the sort of photography that I like best.

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

I love this really close stuff Lucy. Could I do it with my ordinary, cheapo digital camera? I have had a go using the macro setting but it is a bit hit and miss. Do you think that is the camera? Might be just me!

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Hello Linda and Mark. Glad you like the photos - and thanks for saying so. Very encouraging!

Elizabeth - I'm sure you could take photos exactly like these. The yellow leaf photo was not taken especially close up. The first is the whole frame and the ones which follow are not different pictures, they are all cropped from it. When the light is low and even a slight breeze waggles the leaves, standing back, then cropping, often produces crisper images than going right close - where everything has to be very still

Chloe m said...

There is so much beauty in these rustic type photos. I like the shriveled up berries best!

Carole Barkett said...

They look beautiful even in the gloom

Rowan said...

Those are really interesting photos and it's surprising how much there is in the way of small patches of colour when you look closely. Nice post.

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Hello Rosey. I like the look of the shrivelled blackberries a lot and am glad you do too. They are interesting when life-sized but one of the advantages of photographs is that one can easily look at small things made large and that changes the way one 'sees' them.

Hello Country Mouse. Just as well these plants look good in the gloom. We do have sunny moments, even sunny half-days, but 'gloom' is currently the default lighting.

Hello Rowan. Dull light makes one miss colour for most of the time but the patterns are always there - patterns made by damage (!). Finding patterns (damage!)at this time of year is as easy as walking up to any old leaf - and there they are!

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Dear Everyone.

You might like to know there's a new post on Loose and Leafy.

It introduces a new tree to follow this year - an elder, along with the plants round and about it.

Here's the link

http://looseandleafy.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-tree-sambucus-nigra.html