autumn

Manchester: Autumn inertia

/ mikeosbornphoto / 4 Comments

An endless blanket of thick grey cloud. Barely a breath of wind. Nothing moves or changes.

This is the weather we’ve had on repeat in Manchester and much of the UK recently, as a vast autumn anticyclone settled over us.

Sluggish grey skies tend to put a downer on capturing colourful, active photographs.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. In my Castlefield neighbourhood, the waterways were so still that reflections were solid and dynamic. Autumn leaves hadn’t been strewn about in the wind.

One morning the gloom descended deeper in the guise of fog, making the local skyscrapers shrouded and eerie.

Do you like the dull calm or prefer your weather to move faster?

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Photographer Mike Osborn flat on the pavement capturing Manchester's skyscrapers.

I lay flat on the ground to see foggy skyscrapers!

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Manchester autumn

/ mikeosbornphoto / 23 Comments

Autumn. Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness. Beautiful leaves. Some years it’s left me cold. But this year it’s caught my eye here in Manchester. READ MORE BELOW

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My neighbourhood of Castlefield, set by the canal close to central Manchester, was an obvious place to explore. The trees are rich with colour and leaves have scattered into the water.

I contrasted this urban setting with a trip to Fletcher Moss Park, a delightful area of gardens and woodland in Didsbury, south Manchester. They didn’t disappoint.

This year, for whatever reasons, I’ve revitalised a passion for capturing autumn/fall. It might be obvious, but it’s good for the soul and absorbing, don’t you think?

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Autumn sunflowers

/ mikeosbornphoto / 17 Comments

A summer field filled with bright yellow sunflowers is a glorious sight. But what is it like when the colour has faded and the season shifted? READ MORE BELOW

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I visited this Cheshire field beyond the fringes of Greater Manchester on our final summery September day. It belongs to Little Heath Farm who encouraged visitors to come and enjoy the sunflowers and take photographs in the uncertainty of a pandemic.

The field is now maturing and the carpet of yellow has faded. The flower heads are heavy with seeds and drying out. It’s a picture of natural progression and the cycle of life, full of textures and more muted colours.

The sunflowers may have aged but they remain a thing of beauty.

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Autumnal notes

/ mikeosbornphoto / 6 Comments

Autumn arrives every year without fail, and with it a billion photographs of warm oranges and burnt russets. It’s hard to resist, but I wonder why we do it. One year I avoided the fall altogether, another year I took some leaves indoors in an effort to do something different.

On a recent break in Wales, I found an autumnal spot and succumbed to the inevitable. Do you ever think it’s best to sail against the tide and put your camera down when everyone else is snapping away?

Sweeping leaves to one side, a seasonal moment came to me one dark afternoon as the rain lashed against the window pane and darkness had already set in. A moment when outdoor bleakness almost seeped in. This capture of mood made me want to pick up my camera.

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Urban vegetation

/ mikeosbornphoto / 4 Comments

Arnold Circus stepsIn some parts of London, greenery appears hard to come by. On a recent photo walk around Shoreditch, this is the best I did – a scattering of autumn leaves on steps at Arnold Circus, a small park set at the confluence of several streets with a small bandstand at its centre. As this city crawls into winter, fall vegetation is becoming scarcer as it is cleared up and the trees grow bare.

Not so for this upstanding pair of trees I found in the business area near Liverpool Street station, guarding a chunky office block. They look like fish out of water, trying to bring a glimmer of nature to a natureless place…

Potted city trees

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