Essence of AUTUMN Expanded Edition
A Collection of Photographs by
David Favager
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First Published January 2017 Expanded edition October 2017 © D J Favager 2017, 2017
Front Cover: Port Sunlight Tree with Autumn Leaves (cubist) This Page: Leaves in an Autumn Garden (crystal) Back Cover Top: Autumn Woods at Aughton (distorted) Back Cover Below: Self Portrait of the Author 2
Contents In Search of Autumn Early Autumn Autumn Colour Autumn Places Autumn Gold Autumn’s End
page 4 page 11 page 24 page 37 page 55 page 72
Autumn in Birkenhead Park (crystal) 3
In Search of Autumn
Lane in West Lancashire in Autumn (distorted) What is autumn? A ‘Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness …’? Undoubtedly; words so evocative of autumn but how many know the rest of the poem which is, it might be said, something of a disappointment? It hardly describes autumn as we experience it either in reality or imagination. Autumn is of course a time of year. But if we ask ‘when?’ even in this apparently simple respect autumn is elusive. Autumn begins as the nights draw in and the leaves start to turn. The first hint of autumn can often be sensed early in August (and in Ireland, with its Gaelic tradition, August is actually considered an autumn month). The meteorologists consider September, October and November as autumn and some cultures regard the autumn equinox as the midpoint of the season but others insist that the equinox marks not the middle but the start of autumn. This ‘astronomical’ autumn begins around the 22nd of September and ends around the 20th of December. But who seriously thinks that mid-December is not winter? Is not the Winter Solstice Midwinter’s Day and is the Summer Solstice not known as Midsummer’s Day?
Autumn Trees in a Cemetery (crystal) 4
Pumpkin Truffles – the spirit of Halloween in the twenty-first century? Autumn is a time of festival – harvest festivals when the fruit of the land is brought in and churches hold services to thank God for His bounty. The apples, pears and grapes are gathered and pressed to make cider, perry and wine and wild berries are collected from hedgerows to make jam and fruit pies. The ancient Celtic festival of Samhain traditionally marks the beginning of the darker half of the year; it is a ’liminal’ time when the boundaries between this world and the other are blurred and the souls of the dead and other spirit beings can visit the homes of the living in search of hospitality or propitiation. Christianised as All Souls’ Day it is now known as Halloween, a celebration of the dark side and a time of lanterns (pumpkins or turnips) and apple bobbing.
Cemetery on a Dull Autumn Day – a liminal space 5
Cemetery on a Dull Autumn Day (distorted & original)
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Autumn is a feast for all the senses – birdsong, the distinctive fragrance of the forests, the often chilling breezes that shake the last leaves from their branches, the warmth of the crackling bonfire, the sulphurous fireworks, the aroma and taste of seasonal food and drink but above all colour, the vibrant and variegated colours of the trees, green, yellow, red, orange and brown, constantly changing – and gold, the golden light of the declining sun that filters through the trees on a late October afternoon and the golden brown of the leaves that carpet the paths and woodlands.
Fountain at Astley Park in Autumn (crystal)
Autumn Leaves on a Dull Morning 7
Autumn is more than a mere experience, it is a state of mind, a sense of melancholy of which artists and poets have been especially aware and which today is reflected in the names of groups purveying various genres of gothic and dark rock music - Autumn Mysts, Autumn Silence, Eternal Autumn, Endless Autumn, Forever Autumn, Autumn’s Shroud, Mid Autumn Nights, As Autumn Dies, Seasons in Autumn Rain, Remnants of Autumn and countless others in the same vein. The short-lived beauty that arises from the process of dying, giving way to the starkness of winter and apparent death – the compelling sadness represented by such imagery and its obvious relevance to the human condition has affected the more sensitive souls since ancient times. Paul Verlaine expressed this sense of loss in his Chanson d'Automne from Poèmes saturniens (1867): Les saglots longs Des violons De l'automne Blessent mon coeur D'une langueur Monotone.
The long sobs Of the violins Of autumn Wound my heart With a languor Monotonous
Tout suffocant Et blême, quand Sonne l'heure, Je me souviens Des jours anciens Et je pleure;
All suffocating And pale, when Strikes the hour I remember Former days And I cry
Et je m'en vais Au vent mauvais Qui m'emporte Deçà, delà, Pareil à la Feuille morte.
And I go away On the ill wind Which carries me away Here, beyond Like to the Dead leaf
Autumn Leaves (crystal) 8
Woods in Aughton (crystal & original) The same sentiments are expressed in the Autumn Song of Sarojini Naidu Like a joy on the heart of a sorrow, The sunset hangs on a cloud; A golden storm of glittering sheaves, Of fair and frail and fluttering leaves, The wild wind blows in a cloud. Hark to a voice that is calling To my heart in the voice of the wind: My heart is weary and sad and alone, For its dreams like the fluttering leaves have gone, And why should I stay behind? Yet we know that as winter comes so spring and with it the rebirth of new life cannot be far behind. And so the cycle continues – death and life, life and death, each contributing to the other and each imparting its own special element to the season that is autumn. Where can autumn be found? It is pervasive yet, as we have said, remarkably elusive. Go out to pin it down and it is liable to elude you. You will surely find its richness in villages, farms and fields, in woods and hills, vineyards and orchards; in shops and garden centres, in schools 9
and on playing fields and even on the railways where it is an annual irritant to long-suffering passengers but it is perhaps at its most magnificent on a fine October day in the gardens, parks and cemeteries of the suburbs where the greatest variety of colour can often be encountered. If the poets have failed to capture the meaning of autumn in their verses the photographers have surely been more successful in distilling its essence in the most direct and striking way. Take your camera and go out into the fall and try to bring a little piece of it back with you. I hope that the images in this book have, by abstracting from specific scenes something of the essential, and at times even anthropomorphic, spirit that is the season of autumn, succeeded in doing just that.
Dry Autumn Leaves
Early Autumn Trees 10
Early Autumn
Fountain at Astley Park in Autumn (distorted)
Fountain at Astley Park in Autumn (distorted) – different photographs of the same scene 11
Fountain at Astley Park in Autumn
Autumn Trees in a Cemetery
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Fountain at Astley Park in Autumn (cubist)
Path between Playing Fields (crystal) 13
Path between Playing Fields (distorted) 14
Tree Shedding its Leaves
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Tree Shedding its Leaves (distorted) 16
Tree Shedding its Leaves (cubist) 17
Tree with Hedge in Autumn (distorted) 18
Autumn Tree Edge Hill University
Autumn Tree Edge Hill University (distorted) 19
Storeton Woods Late Afternoon in Autumn
Storeton Woods Late Afternoon in Autumn (distorted)
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Sun Shining through Trees in a Cemetery
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Sun Shining through Trees in a Cemetery (distorted) 22
Autumn in Avenham Park, Preston (distorted)
Autumn in Avenham Park, Preston (crystal)
Tree with Green and Yellow Leaves (cubist) 23
Autumn Colour
Woodland at Aughton in Autumn 24
Woodland at Aughton in Autumn (distorted)
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Woodland at Aughton in Autumn (crystal) 26
Woodland at Aughton in Autumn (crystal) 2
Autumn Berries in West Lancashire (crystal) 27
Autumn Berries in West Lancashire
Autumn Colour Edge Hill University 28
Autumn Colour Edge Hill University (cubist & crystal) 29
Path in a Cemetery in Autumn
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Path in a Cemetery in Autumn (distorted) 31
Path in a Cemetery in Autumn (crystal)
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Park in the Autumn Preston (crystal)
Park in the Autumn Preston 33
Path in the Autumn Mist
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Path in the Autumn Mist (distorted) 35
Path in the Autumn Mist (crystal)
Squirrel Eating Berries (cubist) 36
Autumn Places
Chester City Walls in Autumn (distorted & original)
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Old Dee Bridge in Autumn (crystal)
Old Dee Bridge in Autumn 38
Chester Cathedral with Autumn Trees
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Chester Cathedral with Autumn Trees (crystal0 40
Autumn Leaves in Port Sunlight
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Autumn Leaves in Port Sunlight (distorted) 42
Autumn Leaves in Port Sunlight (cubist) 43
Autumn Leaves in Port Sunlight (crystal) 44
Port Sunlight Lyceum in Autumn (distorted)
Port Sunlight Lyceum in Autumn 45
Autumn Cottages Great Budworth (distorted & original) 46
Waterside Cottages Lymn (crystal & original) 47
Lane in West Lancashire in Autumn
Path, Birkenhead Park, Early Autumn 48
Lane in West Lancashire in Autumn (crystal)
Path, Birkenhead Park, Early Autumn (distorted) 49
Lodge, Upper Park in Autumn (crystal)
Path, Birkenhead Park, Early Autumn (crystal) 50
Lodge, Upper Park in Autumn
Lake in the Mist, Birkenhead Park (stretched & crystal)
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Boathouse in Autumn (cubist & original) 52
Aughton Church in Autumn (distorted & original)
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Aughton Churchyard in Autumn (original & cubist) 54
Autumn Gold
Autumn Leaves at Edgehill University (cubist) 55
Autumn Leaves at Edgehill University
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Autumn Leaves at Edgehill University (distorted)
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Autumn Leaves at Newton-le-Willows 58
Autumn Leaves at Newton-le-Willows (cubist) 59
Autumn Trees Newton-le-Willows (distorted) 60
Autumn Leaves on the Wirral Way (cubist)
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Autumn Leaves on the Wirral Way 62
Autumn Leaves and Sky
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Autumn Leaves and Sky (cubist) 64
Port Sunlight Tree with Autumn Leaves
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Port Sunlight Tree with Autumn Leaves (crystal)
Port Sunlight Tree with Autumn Leaves (Crystal) 66
Pillar Box at Edgehill (cubist)
Tree in an Autumn Sunset (crystal) 67
Autumn in Dibbinsdale
Autumn in Dibbinsdale (distorted) 68
Autumn in Dibbinsdale (cubist)
Autumn in Dibbinsdale (crystal)
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Autumn Tree Birkenhead Park with Golden Leaves
Autumn Tree Birkenhead Park with Golden Leaves (detail) 70
Autumn Tree Birkenhead Park with Golden Leaves (distorted)
Autumn Sunset (crystal)
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Autumn’s End
Misty Day in Birkenhead Park (distorted)
Trees in Birkenhead Park on a Misty Morning (crystal) 72
Misty Day in Birkenhead Park
Trees in Birkenhead Park on a Misty Morning 73
Tree with Two Red Leaves on a Misty Day
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Tree with Two Red Leaves on a Misty Day (distorted) 75
Tree with Two Red Leaves on a Misty Day (cubist) 76
Last Leaves of Autumn
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Last Leaves of Autumn (distorted) 78
Trees at Winter Sunrise (distorted)
On a withered branch A crow has alighted: Nightfall in autumn. (Bashu)
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Essence of AUTUMN is a collection of photographs which seek to capture the true spirit of autumn by a process of abstraction or semiabstraction and anthropomorphism. Stunning images distil the colours and the sensations of the most mellow and beautiful of the seasons from the first hints of red and yellow in the trees through the golden light of October to the final leaves clinging to the bare branches against stark powder blue skies. This new expanded edition includes many of the original unabstracted photographs.
Essence of AUTUMN New Expanded Edition 81