Surreal Times

At this time of year I love taking pictures of the changing colours of the leaves. We’ve been going for walks in the woods, not just to take pictures of the leaves, though that’s a big part of it. The leaves are also spectacular in the park near our house, where I go for tennis lessons.

As well as taking ordinary pictures I’ve also been experimenting with a new app that simulates the effect of infrared film. I’ve always been vaguely aware of infrared photography, and the way it can produce wonderfully other-worldly images, but doing it with real film seemed like a faff, so I never tried it. But now it’s just a tap away in a smartphone app. And it makes the leaves look even more amazing!

When I posted these images online I didn’t explain that they were taken using an app that had changed the colours, and some people thought this was how the leaves actually looked. I wasn’t that surprised. This has been such a strange year that if the leaves suddenly decided they wanted to turn bright red, we’d probably just shrug. Stranger things have happened in the past few months. And when reality itself seems so surreal, with lockdowns and masks and constantly changing rules, this seems like an appropriate way to take pictures of it.

kirstin