Bleak, but atmospheric

Welcome to my first #wednesdaywalk post for ages and on this bleak morning you find me wandering around my favourite local Roman site. Silchester is a place I've been to a load of times over the years and even if I do photograph the same things time and time again, they never turn out the same, there is always something different to focus the camera lens on.

We've had a funny week weather wise here in this little part of the UK, it has been tapping on the shoulder of twenty celcius some days but today it plummeted to around 6 celcius with a blanket of grey skies and feint rain in the air.

There are some glorious trees scattered around the area, dominating the ancient deciduous woodlands that may have been just saplings when the Romans inhabited this area. The lichen covered this gnarly old specimen, as if it had been to the tattoo parlour.

The pathways are still very muddy after the rain we've had. Some parts of the UK have seen nothing but rain for 60 or so days.

I am drawn to rickety old gates in my photohraphy, especially ones like this that have been layered, presumably to keep a feisty bull in the field, to prevent him from escaping the pasture. I have seen bulls in this field before, so this theory could be true?

This path cuts through the middle of the site and would have originally been the Roman Town's High Street of sorts. There is often an atmosphere here, one of protection and calmness. It's a soothing place to be. If I feel bad about something or have had a tough time of late - Believe you me these past few weeks have been hell and hence my lack of writing here

I am pleased that there are two people walking off into the mist, adds a high degree of mystery to the photo. They were real people, not apparitions of the distant past.

Cattle feeders often appeal to me, I guess are part of the story, I am trying to tell about this landscape. Whilst quiet now and devoid of much life, won't be for long, once cows or sheep are reintroduced to these pastures, it will be a haven of life again.

Mind you; with that said, I could hear the calls of the Skylarks returning for Spring and Summer into our landscape. I didn't record them, should have done.

Last year's windfalls below a Crab Apple tree, slowly decaying into the ground and the great cycle of nature goes full circle. It won't be long before we shall observe these trees with their fresh crop suspended from their branches.

I was especially pleased with the above photo, the way in which the foreground landscape and background "tilt" in opposite directions, creating a rhythm in the scene and a distinct set of layers that helps the foreground spread of daffodils stand out much beter.

I love the pathway that leads to the chuch, the eye being aided by the perspective elements of this scene, with the fence, wall, path and the splash of yellow.

We finish with these lovely church detail images, both os which make use of a compositional device that I call the "Art of Threes", don't know if anyone has come up with this before. It's a kind of asymmetry in the image.