B&W or color ?

I rarely use black and white in photography because I love colors so much. Sometimes though B&W has a way of emphasizing the contrasts in a picture. Like in this landscape where an early morning mist added some mystery or softness to the countryside. It even showed the glimmer of the railway line under a pale sun.An old iron bird’s cage in my neighbor’s garden. The little bird was lost somehow between  the colorful foliage of trees, vines and the rusty cage. When I looked at my picture in B&W, the decorative bird took a greater importance and it felt as it was set free at last!Two weeks ago as I woke up, the usual landscape around our house has changed colors. No need for a B&W treatment there : snow had fallen during the night, not much but enough to see the world in subdued shades, softer and relaxing in some way. Not quite black and white tones but definitely not colorful.

Since then, snow has receded to the mountains, faded autumnal colors are still covering the sides of the hills and I just love the blending of the different layers.Contrasts are what make our surroundings more alive, so fascinating to look at, Season after Season. Tomorrow snow should fall  again and not just in a light carpet. A lovely way to begin the Advent weeks before Christmas. Happy Advent time to you all.

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Moments in the Fall

Trees have lost their greenness these days,  leaves fall each day, slowly but surely  the grass is all carpeted with warm colors. A rustling sound I love.In the Alps Fall gets cooler, the morning mist adds a softer hue to the landscape. It looks a bit surreal and sounds are muted.Flowers, here a hibiscus, have given  us their best colors and brightness all along  Summer. Now it is time for them to slow down, gently closing their petals, accepting the yellowing of their leaves and preparing for cooler days and a long Winter.What a long and warm Autumn we had !  Every day offered a new landscape of beauty. Here is the farmhouse where I get the vegetables for my family  each week. There has been plenty of them all along Summertime, an endless choice of fruits, berries, herbs, veges and flowers. Much gratitude for all the work being done over many months.Forests have been  just enchanting ! What a pleasure to walk every day on the forest paths and listen to the birds’ songs  or the loud noises of branches, to the wind gently moving  the high canopy of these families of trees.Now trees are getting more bare, still beautiful but preparing for the long dormancy of Winter. A few leaves called my attention on a dark tree trunk as if to say: We’ll be back next Spring !Above them a blue sky, as beautiful as ever, showing its own migration of fluffy clouds, like a flock of sheep running away from the cold… Isn’t Nature a marvel to observe and preserve ?