Permanent Tourist

The personal website of Mark Howells-Mead

A busy summer and autumn has meant that I’ve had little time to stop and smell the roses for a while. First world problems, I know, but having complex projects to work on means that my down-time been about resting and taking things easy. I’ve been out in the mountains a handful of times and managed to get some nice photos and very calming experiences, which I hope to share soon.

Autumn is still with us, but days of rain and breezes over the past week or so have been the annual sign at which the picturesque colours are shaken from their branches to drop wetly to the ground. The clocks have obviously gone back, which means darker late afternoons and longer evenings, but this isn’t a bad thing in itself. It has brought a change in focus for my inspiration — pun intended — and instead of the autumnal colours, the glistening wet ground and pools of light begin coming to the fore.

It’s also the time of year when I have to remind myself that because the upper mountains are no longer hikeable as they were until a couple of weeks ago — mainly because of the wet snow and inclement weather — doesn’t mean that it’s not possible to go for a walk. It’s time to break out the wet-weather gear in which I’ve invested over the past few years and get out and enjoy walks around the local lanes and local countryside.

After spending an enjoyable, damp afternoon with friends, we decided to walk back from Spiez this evening and after taking a few snaps along the dripping trees of the lake shore, I punctuated the walk home in the dark by trying out my new iPhone on the pools of light cast by the irregular individual street lamps in the back lanes of our route home. Full-resolution images with the regular lens on this iPhone are 48 megapixels but although these low-light images are only 12 megapixels — because of the built-in long-exposure settings affecting the maximum resolution — the quality is still remarkable for a phone.

Pool of light in the back lanes near Faulensee
Pool of light in the back lanes near Faulensee
Intercity train passing the back lanes near Faulensee

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google’s reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.