Autumn leaves in Aix les Bains
Autumn leaves is a recurring theme, and now is the right period for this kind of pictures. Here’s a series of shots taken on October 31 in Aix les Bains.
Above, a beautiful 1900s building. I really need to get rid of these awful green posts on the right though. It’s a never-ending discussion with the wife : should I tweak this photo to make it more beautiful, and distort reality, or should I leave it as is even though it would be better without this ugly detail.
Autumn leaves, a recurring theme
To an extent it doesn’t matter. You weren’t there at the time when I took the picture and you will never be able to check that the picture has been tampered with (in fact, you could, browsing through the EXIF data). Anyway, each picture is its own interpretation rather than a depiction of reality, we’ll come back to that later. In the above shot, I made sure I got rid of all the cars that were parked haphazardly all over the place. A photograph is always some form of lie.
I loved the way that the leaves were stuck against this 1960s glass brick wall. the October light was beautiful on that day, unfortunately, it didn’t last.
I find modern day automobiles rather ugly yet when they are covered with leaves they are transfigured. Cars look best when hidden (I admit, I’m a cycling fiend).
Coming back to Jacques Prévert and autumn leaves, here’s the famous poem with a translation by San Cassimally, that can be found on Medium
Oh I so wish you’d remember the days
When we were friends and happy
Those days when life was much lovelier
And the sun shone much more brightlyThe dead leaves of autumn are gathered in spades
You see I’ve never forgotten it
The dead leaves of autumn are gathered in spades
As are our memories and regrets.And the north wind blows them away
In the dark night of forgetting
You see I’ve forgotten nothing
Not the refrain you sand to me[…]
- An Afternoon With Vincent Van Gogh - August 2, 2023
- Dutch angle and Dutch tulips - July 20, 2023
- Tilt-Shift Photography and the Miniature Effect - June 29, 2023
