I decided to share some photos taken on Sunday 5th December. When I started this post I felt the embarrassing need to fact check before I began my introductory ramble. Is it Autumn? Or is it Winter?

I feel better now that I can say with some certainty that it is Autumn. Or Winter. Confused? I’ll explain, maybe.

Yesterday was a good day for a (autumn? winter?) walk. A stroll from Broomfleet in East Yorkshire to the Market Weighton Canal where it drains into the Humber and then along the canal. Leaving my DSLR at home it was a good opportunity to test the iPhone 12 Pro Max to capture the shots and then process them at home on the computer in Lightroom.

The sign points away from the Humber and along the canal. This is Market Weighton Canal lock.

A sunny 7°C made for excellent walking conditions and conversation, none of which included any debate as to the current season. So which is it?

Apparently both autumn and winter are correct. The meteorological season is winter as the seasons are divided nicely into 3 month chunks – so winter started on the 1st of December. Using the astronomical season, however, means that this is still autumn – since winter does not start until the winter solstice i.e. the shortest daylight of the year, which can vary between the 20th and 23rd of December. This year it is the 21st which is most common and we will see about 7 ½ hours of daylight around these parts. I was beginning to understand this version of the start of astronomical winter until I read that the winter solstice is also known as mid-winter, as the days start to get longer after this….

So. Now it is winter. And it is also autumn but on the first day of winter it will be mid-winter. Got it?

A simple flooded field forms a reflective backdrop to the trees and heavy rain clouds

All of that was of no concern as we walked back towards Broomfleet, coming to a halt as we approached a fishing pond known locally as the ‘Blue Lagoon’ which perhaps conjures up a more tropical image than in truth. However, given the right lighting it can be impressive. Today, as the sun went down behind the clouds and without a breath of air to disturb the water I captured the moment.

(Left) this is the reflection in the water, cropped and inverted to give a shimmering, fluid image. (Right) a black and white treatment of a few reeds in perfectly still water.

It would have been nice to watch the sun dip further into the blue hour and capture some more with a tripod but it was time to move on – whether it be autumn or winter.

Technical Notes for Nerds
Images captured as native HEIC files on an iPhone 12 Pro Max and imported to Lightroom Classic for adjustments and cropping.

Normally I capture any special iPhone images as raw DNG in Lightroom Mobile to extract maximum image data but I wanted to see the capabilities of the native files. On close inspection there is a fair amount of noise when lifting the shadows, which is to be expected on these. 

It will be interesting to trial the Apple DNG format when introduced on the next update.