Blackened by cold with wrinkled and withered ruby skin, far removed from its plump youth. But it holds onto its place in life and nature, next to the yellow vibrancy of a neighbouring clump of mimosa.
Beautiful and intriguing enough to be captured, before its inexorable march towards death and disappearance.
This is a welcome barrage of colour in a long, dank and sodden winter.
I came across this robust clump of yellow mimosa in a street near my home, where a terrace of houses is painted in an array of pastel shades.
It’s a vibrant, fascinating plant which chooses to bloom in the winter months. Its pale yellow, berry-like buds explode into puffs of flower, while the foliage is made up of neat, pale green fronds.
Yellow mimosa is positively revered in parts of southern France, prompting festivals and even a trail to be named in its honour. Ironically, as I took these photographs, a French lady passed by to tell me all about it.
What a tonic to see this light up the neighbourhood, almost banishing the cold away.
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The winter in London has been nothing but wet. It’s been unrelenting downpours and stormy gusts to render umbrellas practically useless.
I visited my local park recently, camera in hand and with a specific goal in mind. But the heavens opened and I returned home to protect my gear from the wet.
I went back to be greeted with another downpour, but this time I was prepared. The shower passed and I witnessed the magic of surfaces and plants dappled with droplets.
The rain isn’t all doom and gloom. It produces a lot of beauty and inspiration for the lens.
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And here’s a happy post-script to an afternoon drenched in a west London park. A resurgent sun produced this effect, which can only warm the soul.
The British winter has been one of a barrage of storms steaming in from the Atlantic, bringing flooding, high winds and a sense that it will never end.
But in London it’s been relatively mild (if hopelessly wet). You can find sheltered corners where there are already signs of Spring, with green shoots of hope and floral bursts.
I stooped down amongst the undergrowth to capture some indications of more vital times to come.
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This was an exercise in looking for the finer details, crouching down, getting very close and capturing what is often missed or taken for granted.
I was in my local park in west London and honed in on the metal and wood objects that exist alongside living things – railings, fences and a sculpture fashioned from an old tree trunk.
And the place is studded with living trees, with their bark that looks like the terrain of another world through the macro lens. I finished close to home at a garden wall studded with moss – a tropical forest in miniature.
The discovery of photography’s fine print continues soon…
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