“A Cotswolds Trail” — Two Cotswolds hikers pause in the sunlight between old trees and a wheat field.
I have to confess some (OK, a lot of) ignorance about England outside of its cities. We’ve been to the country a number of times, but that usually means going to London and then visiting a few other relatively urbanized places. So “my England” has been basically London and a few (mostly popular) towns. We’ve passed through the country on trains and looked down on it from the air, but this trip was the first time that we actually went out and walked through it. I learned a lot!
“Utah Aspen Grove” — An extensive forest of tall Utah aspen trees with autumn foliage.
This is another of those photographs from a distinctly non-iconic location. Once again, while driving a main route I spotted a little gravel road heading off in the general direction of a shallow valley filled with aspens. Being of a mind to explore, turned off and followed it into large groves of tall, colorful autumn aspen trees.
This scene illustrates something I have mentioned before: the California aspens in the Sierra Nevada are much different from what you see in the Southwest and any other places. I’m used to smaller groves and smaller trees, often growing so densely that it is hard to walk among them. But these trees grow tall and remarkably straight, and are spaced widely enough to allow plenty of light on the forest floor.
“The Old Oak Tree” — An old oak tree with autumn foliage, Yosemite Valley.
While this big oak tree grows in a meadow filled with scores of other beautiful oaks, it presents a different appearance than its neighbors. The other trees, perhaps because many of them grow close together, tend to be somewhat tall and slender. But this tree is massive, with thick trunk and main branches, and it spreads widely — enough so that it is as wide as it is tall.
One of Yosemite Valley’s monumental granite faces rises nearby behind this tree and its neighbors. Because that face is tall and to the south, its shadow falls across the trees for hours every day. I photographing it after the late-day shadow had arrived, which gives a softness to the image that would not be there in full sunlight.
“Narrow Street, Evening” — Evening lights along a narrow street in Riquewihr, France.
When we stayed at Riquewihr, France, in the Alsace region a month or so before Christmas 2024, our lodgings were just barely outside the center of the old town. We could easily walk over there and back. While the main street could be busy, side streets were nearly deserted. Here one of those streets is lit by lights on the sides of the buildings as dusk arrives.
Like many other towns in this part of Alsace, the place seems to thrive on cuteness — and wine, food, and other goodies. the Main Street, decorated with holiday lights, is where most of the visitors happily spent their time and money.
