Half autumn

I don't really care for obviously doctored photos - I grew up watching my father's photography, the results he achieved using a Leica and a yellow filter, and have always felt drawn to as little interference as possible with what the eye and the lens can achieve. But this afternoon, when it was gently grey and our walk was so late as to be back along the Pensioners' Mile where I've taken more photos than I can recall, I saw this tree in the field and before I even took the photo was thinking I'd like to do the Schindler's List thing with the image.

We're really not having much of an autumn so far: after such a dreadful summer the leaves are more just giving up and looking sad rather than bursting into russets and reds. But this tree is half autumnal, with its south-facing leaves a wonderful rich red colour while the northern half is still green. In the flat light of teatime today this didn't really show up on the screen as well as it did in life, so I've tampered with it.

So there you are. A tree that's half autumn. Rather like me, really ...