The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

Last of the Autumn Leaves

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"Excuse me, do you mind if I ask what you're up to?"

"Oh, er, yes, er, I'm just, er, filming leaves."

"Leaves?"

"Yes. I was waiting for my wife who's in visiting her father and I was sitting in the car just watching the leaves blowing on the trees and about the car park and was thinking about how hypnotic it all looked and perhaps it would make a nice wee film and... why, does it look a bit odd?"

The manager of the nursing home and her assistant laughed in a tension releasing sort of way.

"That's OK - we just saw you with a camera and wondered what you were up to."

They left me to get on with it, clearly relieved they didn't have to call the police to remove some nutter with a camera, or their lawyers in case I was a journalist trying to do some kind of exposée on their establishment.

Back home I remembered a piece of music I did with a friend back when I was in my early 20s, which I thought might go quite well with the images and would mean I wouldn't have to worry about copyright using someone elses soundtrack.



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48 comments

Entrepreneur Chick said...

Awww, LOVE IT!

Our leaves in Texas are only in the first stages of changing.

Of course, Satan lives here in the summer and that could be why. (HOT, hot, hot.)

Sausage said...

Nice video, the music was haunting and lovely at the same time.
cheers.

AA said...

Autumn, our ravishingly beautiful temperate season. I love the tow-cloured leaves lying resplendent on the ground. That the trees are left bereft and rather sombre looking is something I must learn to ignore. :)
Nice Video, Kim. Gorgeous atmospheric music.

Library girl said...

So beautiful. It must be nice to live somewhere that actually has 4 seasons rather than 'wet' and 'dry' :) Loved the music. It fit the film so well.

Cannwin said...

That is exactly why I'm a paranoid photographer. I'm just convinced everyone is watching me watching them.

We didn't really get a change of colors this year it was wet and chilly all summer and then just as the leaves started to change the temp. dropped and everything froze, thus ending all chance of pretty colors and ensuring a long winter. *sigh*

Single Dad / Disabled Daughter said...

So you're not a nutter?

Philip Dodd said...

Liked it a lot. Sometimes stuff just has to be captured doesn't it? I used to be all "why can't they just look and remember?". Till I realised that remembering ain't all that easy after a long life of looking. So nowadays I say look and remember by whatever means necessary. That means whatever anyone else shows you too. So, thanks for showing me.

The Confessionist said...

Beautiful! :)

Miss Blue Sky said...

hi Kim
The video is excellent, was the music Pink Floyd inspired? It's really good!
I liked the pumpkin in your previous post, it's a lot better than my one. Poppy broke the tooth I had made on it because she thought it looked cuter without it. She called it Pumpkie!

David Wagner said...

Very nice. Thx for the effort.

hope said...

I especially enjoyed the trees "dancing" to your tune. :)

What a restful moment. Thanks.

PoMiFoS said...

You went all American Beauty on those leaves. 'It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing and there's this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. And that's the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and... this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video's a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember... and I need to remember... Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in.'

mapstew said...

A perfect marriage Kim.

Lovely.

erika said...

Beautifully melancholic.

Barlinnie said...

Was it an underwater filum by any chance? We're still drying out up here.

Susan Carpenter Sims said...

I'm stuttering, I have so much to say about this. The video and its music is enchanting, delightful, stunning.

I, too, thought of American Beauty, which is another one of those blogosphere interlacings, because Dan, at A Mindful Heart, just yesterday posted about that movie.

Ok. I'll leave it at that.

Helen said...

Hey Bearded One - you sure fooled that manager and his assistant!! AS IF you were there just to film those beautiful leaves, add such a lovely soundtrack to it and turn the whole thing into such a peaceful, restful snippet of nature. Undercover nutter with a camera.....

Pat said...

Nice!=)

Hindsfeet said...

What a lovely epilogue...a beautiful bridge for us to cross into the next season.....

As always, thank you...

A Daft Scots Lass said...

Beautiful

emma said...

"oh, er, yes. er"
The post made me laugh out loud, which is always a good way to start the day.

BB said...

Cool little video.
One can really feel the vybe of the Scotish autumn.

Ron said...

To find the beauty in everyday life is the mark of a true talent. I find myself wanting to steal your original ideas. I feel now like I did in 11th grade art class when I was trying to draw our art assignment of a horse. I struggled and struggled and couldn't get the proportion of the horse's head to its body. While I'm struggling, the girl sitting next to me (I still remember her name, Joan Kent) was effortlessly drawing a perfect horse and she wasn't even interested in art class. That was the first time I realized I had no talent. That's the way I feel when I read and see your blog, a true natural talent.

I enjoyed your "Last of the Autumn Leaves" tremendously. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Love it, love it. Did you say that you created this music? Gorgeous...

Pat said...

Kim that's lovely. It really captures the sadness of autumn. You are a talented so and so.

Falak said...

It is really beautiful and sad at the same time. Kind of bittersweet... It reminds me of loneliness and wasted time.... Could'nt hear the music because my computer is acting wierd......

Kim Ayres said...

Entrepreneur Chick - the biggest problem with Scotland is Autumn starts a month earlier and Spring starts a month later that where I grew up, so it always feels winter is too long

Sausage Fingers - thank you :)

TalesNtypos - Late Spring/early summer is by far and away my favourite time of year

Stinkypaw - thank you :)

Library Girl - to be honest, if I could live somewhere that varied between Spriing and Summer all year, I would happily move there :)

Cannwin - actually I find as time goes on I care less and less whether anyone is watching me. They're the ones who will just end up bored stupid...

SD/DD - you're asking the wrong person - every madman believes himself to be the sane one, so how would I know?

Philip - I have a seriously crap memory, so any memory aids are a good idea to me :)

Confessionist - thank you :)

Layla - nearly all my music up until the folk stuff on the mandolin was Pink Floyd inspired on one level or another. Did you get a photo of our pumpkin? You should put it up on your blog, or on Facebook at least :)

David - thank you :)

Hope - they were actuall dancing to Eminem, but I sneakily changed the soundtrack...

Kyle - originally I thought about putting that haunting bit of music from that scene over the images, but felt that a) it then became too much of a rip off, and b) there could be copyright problems if anyone complained

Mapstew - thank you :)

Erika - thank you :)

Jimmy - if it had been today, the camera would have broken under the machine gun fire of hailstones

Pollinatrix - feel free to write more if you wish :)

Helen - I know, I am a master of disguise... bwahahahahaaaa

Patrick - thank you :)

Gillian - thank you :)

Emma - glad to be of assistance, maam

bonequinhoda bic - for a better vibe, there needed to be rain

Ron - then steal the ideas! You'll inevitable put your own take on anything you do, so go ahead - just make sure you post is so we can see :)

Starrlife - thank you. And yes, back in my early 20s I had a friend, Dan who I really enjoyed creating music with. It's one of my big regrets that we never pursued it further together.

Pat - I live for your praise, Pat, thank you :)

Falak - it might be better watching it in silence :)

Anonymous said...

Very nice.

Dan said...

Very American Beauty there. All you needed was a plastic bag to float across the screen, and a Neo Nazi man to try it on with you, and the homage would be complete.

Really liked the music as well.

Entrepreneur Chick said...

Upon watching for a second time:

Certain images make me take a deep breath and relax.

Pumpkins. Snow. Are oddly two. Cemeteries (weird, huh?) are three.

This video combined with music is incredibly soothing.

Sooo, I've a great idea! What if you, Kim, started a sideline specialty of your existing company and sold these types of vids that you'd create and set to your own music? Called.. called...? Hmmm.

Well, it's your company. You figure it out. lol

Think of the vast market! How many people do you think there are stressed out in the world?!

Or, what about people in therapy? Or people recovering from drug and alcohol abuse?

Frankly, I haven't had an idea for a new business in about 2 months and I was starting to get worried! Whew. (I'm busy enough with my own tho.)

Anyway, this is the type of thing people, like me, would want to watch over and over.

Suz said...

Kim - That was somewhat hypnotic. We so often are too busy to appreciate the nature around us. Thanks for making us slow down for a little while.

Was the a dulcimar (the instrument)? I'm not sure how to spell it but hopefully you will know what I mean.

Kim Ayres said...

Allen - thank you :)

Dan - I did try with an Irn Bru bottle, but it didn't work the same...

Entrepreneur Chick - you mentioned on a previous post you wanted to run an idea by me - my email's on my profile :)

Suz - it was actually just your common or garden variety electric guitar through a decent reverb/echo box :)

Mary Witzl said...

I envy you those leaves, you know? Here, we are FINALLY getting into autumn, and it's about time!

I can't play the music tonight -- maybe tomorrow it will work...?

Caitlin said...

This video reminds me of a nice walk I took today. I sat on a swing in a park, eating an ice cream, listening to Pink Floyd and watching the leaves.

Except here in New Zealand it's the middle of spring, and the leaves are all green and soft. And everything's all damp and surprised-looking, like it was in autumn, but without the wind and cold. But the spring leaves have that same vulnerable look as autumn leaves.

That song of yours reminds me of Led Zeppelin.

Debbie said...

What! Doesn't everyone go out and take video and pictures of their leaves? Oh, I guess that is just me and now you. I thought I was the only one. Of course today I must move the rest of the leaves from the lawn where they are happily residing, to the ravine where they belong. But it has been fun while it lasted.

RainyWest said...

Very nice. A man of many talents from photography to sculpting groovy pumpkins and now this. Very calming. Thanks.

Kim Ayres said...

Mary - if you can play the video, but not hear the music, then either you've got it on mute, turned down, or your speakers are off or not working.

Caitlin - Spring seems so far away :(

There were very few young guitarists 20 years ago who hadn't been influenced by Led Zep & Pink Floyd :)

Debbie - have you been filming the leaves too? Do paste a link to your video, if you have one :)

Rainywest - yeah, but I'm crap at putting up shelves...

Charlie said...

Bypassing all the other comments for lack of time, your talents never cease to amaze me. I mean that with all sincerity, my friend.

Kim Ayres said...

Charlie - if you've skipped the other comments, then that means I can repeat an answer, which is you'd think differently if you ever saw me attempting to put up a shelf :)

Lisa Page Rosenberg said...

Beautiful and evocative..

Apex Zombie said...

Nice music, dude :) Quite enjoyed that!

Sami said...

beautiful.

Mar said...

I never knew the disappearance of leaves was so sinister. Great music. The beautiful melancholy of fall has arrived with your video....

Scotsman said...

Its funny having moved across the pond I realise now how much restricted I was with a camera in hand. People in the USA seem to pretty much ignore or act with indifference but in the UK for some reason they'll give your strange looks as they pass you or just come right up and ask what you are up to.

When Seville played Espanol in Glasgow for the UEFA cup I tried to take a picture of the Spanish fans celebrating in the city before the match but I was stopped by a policeman thinking he was doing is job. I can't think of any instance where anyone here has responded to my photograph taking in a negative manner.

Kim Ayres said...

Lisa, FLG, Sami and MMW - thank you :)

Scotsman - paranoia of terrorists and paedophiles is spiraling out of control - and anyone with a camera is surely either, if not both. I might suggest that the authotrities encourage this view as it helps those in power to keep the masses in fear, and pass ever more draconian laws to restrict our freedoms without much in the way of dissent. But then that would just be showing my own paranoia...

Anonymous said...

Great blog! I notice you said something about copyrights and background music. Are you aware of freeplaymusic.com ? I first heard of that site at a district in-service day (I'm a teacher). I later used the site for background music on a video I made of my son's Cub Scout group.

Anyway, have a great day.

Unknown said...

The music lends a nice touch.. almost like the intro to a movie! A very sad movie at that! haw haw

Unknown said...

Leaves make people do weird things. I remember as a kid my neighbor and I would run around trying to catch the most leaves as they fell. Then he went inside to take a bath and I stayed outside like an idiot running around keeping track of how many leaves I caught. Needless to say people walking by did not believe I was a competitive leaf catcher in the throws of battle, and thought I was just a nut. Looking back, perhaps they were right!

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