An eye for light.

As we move into the middle of November, the countryside seems to be changing every day. The colorful leaves that decorate the whole valley are beginning to fall, and preparations are being made for the long, cold winter. I am trying to go for walks as often as I can because the days are so beautiful. As long as you wear warm enough clothes, you can be refreshed by a lovely walk. There is no reason to stay inside, really. On my walks, I take my camera, to capture anything that I can write about. Recently, I have been using alot of space on my camera's SD card for photos of the sun shining through the trees. It's become a bit of an obsession. Every part of every tree is different. Each hour that the light changes, everything looks different, and each day, of course, there are marked differences in what you can see. My camera is just a cheapo, digital one, but with a good editing software ( I use Picassa), you can get inspiring photos. So, on my walks, it's not unusual for me to quickly make my way into an orchard, or into a hedgerow, to get the shot that I want, before the light changes. I'm sure it looks a bit strange to people driving by. The photo on the blog today, was taken in my back garden one afternoon. From our kitchen, as you look out, there are several trees, one after another. The closest is a red japanese maple, behind which is an aspen. The change of season had made their colors quite dramatic, and contrasting with eachother's. So, I abandoned my cooking, grabbed my camera and got out of the door before the sun went down. My dogs didn't know what the excitement was all about. They brought me a ball to throw to them, and dropped it at my feet. But I was too busy focusing my camera. I climbed onto the patio table to get a good shot. So the dogs climbed up too. The three of us stood there on the table: me, totally engrossed in the trees, and the dogs probably wondering what we were doing on the table. But, when the light is right, you have to forget everything else and focus. Grammar notes. Related vocabulary: as long as, a marked difference, engrossed. 1. You can go to your friend's house, as long as you're back by eight. 2. There has been a marked difference in his reading; it is very much improved. 3. The film was so good that we were thoroughly engrossed. // //