Autumn

 Autumn is upon us here in the northern hemisphere and nature is showing her last colour before winter. Through the year we get a riot of colour from nature, but for me Autumn is her "Hold My Beer" moment. Across the forests of the north all the deciduous trees are shedding their leaves and sporting a myriad of red, yellow and orange hues before dropping their leaves to the ground. From certain angles it looks like the trees are sparkling with gold as a final salute to the year before their winter hibernation.

Sadly there are some places that will not see this annual riot of colour this year as wild fires have engulfed many deciduous forests around the world. One cannot help but feel sad for the loss of many millions of trees that provide our world with oxygen. Some of those fires were natural, caused by lightning strikes and fanned by the wind that accompanies the storms associated with it. Others have been man made, sometimes in a controlled manner as part of land management, but many others caused by carelessness or criminal intent.

Nature has seen wildfires many, many times down the milennia and has always found a way to return the forests to the land once more. We can help by being mindful of how we interact with our forests. Simple things we can all do to reduce fire hazards are really easy to follow. Don't light fires you can't put out. If you must have a camp fire keep it small and clear the ground around it of leaf litter which is the kindling that quickly escalates a small localised blaze into a massive disaster. The most important being never leave a fire unattended. 

Years of drought have seen the forests around the world become so dry that an ember from a fire can quickly burn a nation. Australia burned during their summer and caused so much damage to that most unique of ecosystems that it may never recover. Millions of animals that live only in Australia, Kangaroo's and Koala's in particular, were decimated by the fires that ravaged the nation. I have no doubt that Climate Change payed a part in that natural disaster and we still have time to do something about it.

Photographers have a unique capability to showcase the world to our fellow human beings and share the beauty of nature that is all around us. Sir David Attenborough has spent a lifetime studying nature and showcasing it in his books, his photographs and on TV. He has earned a world wide reputation as one of the finest educators our world has ever had and when he says we must act now, the world has to listen to what he is saying. We have a responsibility to take care of our favourite forests, our local woodlands and our National and Municipal Parks. These places are often the source of income that puts food on our tables and a roof over our heads as we share our images. Nature will find a way to recover, but it takes time.

Here are some images i shot this week with my Nikon D700. I love film, but I wanted to share some digital images with you this week. The local woodland is being transformed into a myriad of colours with natures last and surely it's greatest display of the year. The Nikon D700 truly showcases the beauty of natures colour. It has held a multitude of photographers in thrall of it's superb colour rendition since it's first apearance on the market in 2008 and shares many of its features and hardware with it's big brother the D3. Technology has moved on, but the Nikon D700 can still hold it's own against any of todays mirrorless giants. I have shot them as three shot brackets and merged them together in Affinity Photo. The detail you can achieve in your images this way is incredible. I did try it in camera, but as I didn't have my tripod with me on the day they were not as good as I had hoped. I did them in post instead. I hope you enjoy them and they inspire you to get out and document nature in your area in all it's glory. You can see more of my images on my Flickr account at Autumn Album