Is Spring the light at the end of the tunnel, or the oncoming train? For me, it's the train, as Summer is my least favourite season. Look out, here it comes. I keep quiet about it, though, as I know it's a minority view. Most people, it seems, can't wait to rip off their togs and show off the new tattoo.
This field is always remarkable, as despite many year of ploughing, it still shows clearly the abrupt change in soil colour from the chalk uplands to the rich black river deposits of the Test Valley. In fact, I doubt whether the "brown" sloping parts were ever ploughed until recent years, when EC subsidies became available for converting upland grazing into arable. We were shocked, a few years ago, to see whole hillsides in Wales that had been ploughed up (quite a feat, given the angle); it won't take long for all that soil to find its way to the bottom of the hill.
Anselm Kiefer is back in town (he has an exhibition at the White Cube Gallery) and I found I had taken an Anselm Kiefer tribute photograph yesterday. I have resisted the temptation to scrawl references to Elgar, Churchill and the British Empire on it.
7 comments:
"Is Spring the light at the end of the tunnel, or the oncoming train?"
. . . or, as John Fogarty said, "it's nothing but a burglar's torch".
I like Spring, too. And Autumn. Nice pictures . . .
Are those bramble stalks really slate blue?
Struan,
They're more a blackish colour I think -- the blue is either reflected sky or the result of over-enthusiastic colour correction on my part (the original balance was a bit too warm). They're definitely not red, anyway -- maybe not bramble? I'm no botanist.
Mike
They look like blackberry stalks, and the dark green leaves are right. But I only play at being a botanist on the internet.
This is the time of year the rubus stalks flush with colour. We have a dewberry/bramble cross which produces inedible fruit, but which has springtime stalks ranging from deep red to bright orange. On a damp day the positively glow. I've never seen one that blue though. Perhaps it's the little known Rampant Testberry.
I like the pic, and the rapeseed stalks. The old-mans-beard as blossom shot is a nice idea, but the arch framing takes it into camera club territory for me.
"Camera club territory"? Now that's stepping on my blue suede shoes. You're right, though, and I will swiftly click my slide carousel on... Oh look, a tramp on a bench.
You're holding me to a high standard for a Sunday evening, Struan.
Mike
Just thinking out loud. I know you're a big boy.
Perhaps 'camera club' was a bit below the belt. 'Easily read' would be fairer. It's nice.
Stop, stop... No more, ulp, sarcasm.
It won't happen again. Probably.
Mike
Post a Comment