While November is quickly slipping away and I can clearly feel winter creeping in (we just had the first snowfall of the season in the UK!) – I am still holding out for the most magical season of the year (personally): AUTUMN. I really enjoyed my autumn walks and photo diary posts last year (see: 1, 2, 3) and I was hoping to continue the streak this 2024. I’ve been trying to do a nice photoshoot but it was honestly so hard do alone, so I was really glad when I was able to recruit a friend to help me this year . Back to a familiar ground: this is Autumn on the Stormont Estate, revisited.
It was an unusually sunny day, with particularly strong winds that sent the leaves swirling and falling, as if they were paid actor in my very own fall fantasy. 🍂
I love the drama that sunshine adds to any photo. There were gray instances when the clouds block the sun, but every time it shows up again, the whole place just magically glitters!
Timing is always tricky because, before you know it, the trees are bare and all the leaves have been flattened on the wet ground. It was (almost) the middle of October, and we came at the perfect time, when a lot of leaves are already on the ground. I also did a similar thing last year in the early days of autumn. Although it was cloudy when I went last year, you can clearly see the difference with a little sunshine this time. It was really cold that day, so we couldn’t explore the estate as much, but I’m still so happy with all the photos we took. I was still wearing the same coat and the same bag but I think they looked way better than last year. I was also in a better state this time.
And of course, no photo shoot of mine would be complete without a couple of books. I brought the usual: Ali Smith’s Autumn from the Seasonal Quartet for the concept. But I also brought a book really close to my heart this time around: Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss. This book holds (part) of my heart and has become one of those books that helped me get through a rough 2023.
With the leaves crunching under my boots that day, one sentence just kept running through my head: It seems I am always falling in love with something in Octobers. And it’s true: with a feeling, a moment, a place, a thing. With people. With life. With myself. It happened last year. And it happened again this year. I always never want Octobers to end. Here’s to my new favorite month of the year! 🥂
📍 Stormont Estate
East Belfast, County Down, NI
October 12, 2024
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