NOVEMBER 2024 · GROUNDED
Into sleep
South Gloucestershire, England
By November the woods in South Gloucestershire are mid-transition. Not the peak colour of October — that's gone. What's left is a specific quietness: the floor thick with fallen leaves, the trees still holding some gold, moss reasserting itself on every trunk and log. The cold has arrived but the dormancy isn't complete.
I brought the Pentacon and the Flektogon. The vintage lenses were a deliberate choice for a season that's about softness and decomposition. The Flektogon especially — at F1.8 it swirls the background into something close to what the woods felt like. I shot the same ivy-covered trunk at both F5.6 and F1.8. Sharp versus soft. The F5.6 version is technically better. The F1.8 version is more accurate.
The F1.8 version is more accurate.
South Gloucestershire woodland — November 2024
What persists in November woods: moss on every horizontal surface, toadstools in clusters on the decaying wood, ivy green against all the brown. A single yellow maple leaf centred on the dark rust-brown floor — isolated, lit from somewhere above. Three luminous yellow-green maple leaves with scattered gold below them, backlit, the Flektogon catching something close to stained glass.
The floor photographs better than the canopy. Fallen logs carpeted in moss, roots emerging from the leaf litter, trunks with dried ivy draped along their length. Low angle: the scale shifts, fallen branches become landscape.
Frosted seed heads appear in the last few frames — delicate silhouettes against the soft woodland blur. The bokeh swirls around them. Dried fern fronds fill one whole frame, earthen gold, nothing else. Pale ivy on a weathered trunk, ferns blurred behind.
The woods are going to sleep. Not dead — just very quiet. The camera was trying to hear it.
Golden autumn leaves with soft bokeh on branches against dark background
Rough tree trunk covered in moss with ivy leaves sprouting vertically
Dense woodland floor carpeted in orange fallen leaves with green saplings
Moss-covered tree roots emerging from carpet of rust-brown fallen leaves
Low angle of moss-covered fallen logs surrounded by autumn leaves
Moss-covered trunk with scattered autumn leaves and ferns in soft light
Clustered brown toadstools growing on verdant moss among autumn debris
Small green ivy leaves backlit against golden beech leaves with soft blur
Pale green heart-shaped ivy leaves against vivid moss-covered bark
Single bright yellow maple leaf centred on dark rust-brown forest floor
Three luminous yellow-green maple leaves with scattered golden leaves below
Massive moss-covered tree trunks in darkened forest with autumn canopy
Golden sapling surrounded by tall darkened trees in autumn woodland
Dark fallen tree trunk covered in dried ivy leaves crossing forest floor
Tree trunk with cascading ivy leaves against blurred autumn background
Fallen branches shelter beneath tall tree trunks on golden leaf bed
Autumn beech foliage glowing orange above dark moss-covered trunk
Delicate frosted seed heads silhouetted with soft bokeh woodland blur
Dried fern fronds in earthy golden-brown tones filling the frame
Pale ivy leaves clinging to weathered trunk with brown ferns blurred behind