Autumn Colours in Anagach Woods

Having revelled in the autumn colours in the great forests of the High Sierra where the aspens glowed in the bright sunshine I've been delighted to find the autumn colours in our woods just as beautiful and intense. In Anagach Woods in Grantown-on-Spey the beeches are startlingly bright. On a day of low cloud, rain showers and just the occasional shaft of sunshine they lit up the landscape.
 

The River Spey was full with rain and roaring along under the steel grey sky with the outline of the Cromdale Hills hazily visible in the distance. Only the birches lining the banks gave colour to the scene and we soon headed back to the shelter of the woods.

Grantown-on-Spey 250th Anniversary

The 28th June sees the 250th anniversary of the laying of the first stone of the first building of the planned town of Grantown-on-Spey, which has been my home for just over 25 years - 10% of its existence.

The history of the town can be found in the excellent Grantown Museum, which is well worth a visit.

To celebrate the anniversary the town is putting on a series of events every day this week, details of which can be found on the Grantown 250 website. Yesterday was the day for local businesses, especially shops and cafes, under the banner Totally Locally as Grantown is the first town in the Scottish Highlands to join this excellent project. We had a family day out to join in the celebrations and managed to support quite a few local businesses.

To capture some of the eighteenth century feel there was much dressing up with some impressive costumes and some surreal scenes as 1765 mixed with 2015. Gentlemen in powdered wigs, ladies in mop caps and lace and big dresses, a hedge-witch and others mingled with summer visitors and street attractions ranging from musicians to stilt-walkers. The atmosphere in the town was wonderful, despite the rather dull weather (at least it didn't rain), and it was a grand day. Afterwards we felt that an annual event of some type would be a great idea for the town.

Autumn Leaves

After yesterday's TGO Award judging (see last post) I found myself in Grantown-on-Spey with a little free time so I wandered through the town under a steel grey overcast sky looking at the last traces of frost on the trees. The colourful leaves were damp with melted frost and shone brightly, a great contrast to the dull light.

Many leaves had fallen and more were swirling down, brittle and fragile, making the ground a wonderful mosaic of shapes and colours.

Grantown-on-Spey in the Snow

Yesterday I ventured into Grantown-on-Spey, half a mile on foot down a snowed-in track and five miles in the car on icy roads, for some needed supplies. While there I took some photographs of the frozen town. Much of the snow has been shovelled away now but there was still enough along with the icicles on shop fronts to give a wintry feel. With more snow forecast and no sign of a thaw for the next few days the town will continue to look and feel frozen.

Again wanting to see what the results were like I shot the pictures at ISO 12,800 on the Sony NEX 5. Shutter speeds were 1/2000 and 1/2500 and f stops f11 and f18. The results are surprisingly good for the huge ISO speed, though there is much noise. I'm amazed at what this sensor can produce.