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Taking my courage and camera in both hands, a walk through the streets of my local village, not the easiest of contexts for a shy street photographer. And processing the resultant images is definitely a challenge!

So far autumn is crispy dry here in the Apennine foothills with no rain forecast for the foreseeable future. But there are consolations, in the form of one of my iconic flowers, the ivy-leaved cyclamen, with its delicate blossoms bursting up through the forest floor.

As the days grow shorter and the winds grow colder, the skies are emptying as species after species, flock after flock migrate south. The last to leave are the house martins as they pass overhead, small groups at a time.

This pitilessly hot summer has been characterised by ferocious late-afternoon storms with gale-force winds, bringing down a myriad of colourless twigs and half-bleached leaves prematurely torn from their branches by the strong winds.

Just one day of intense rain has put an effective full stop to one of the hottest driest summers here in Italy’s central Apennines. A few late summer flowers, the last of the insects and we’re ready for autumn.

When the stress of summer gets in the way of motivation, sometimes all you have to do is sit and wait.

In the northern hemisphere, Summer 2026 will long be remembered in shades of black, accompanied by the acrid smell of wood smoke. Sometimes our planet as we know it seems such a fragile place.

Sometimes a dried-up shrivelled leaf is all it takes to dissipate a bad dose of summer season grumpiness and re-awake creativity.

Rain can be both a curse and a blessing… but at this time of year when wildfires threaten on every side, it is definitely the latter. It was also a fun opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and try a little “street” photography.

How lucky we “hunters of light” are to appreciate those little things. Just a few seconds, an angle changes by a couple of degrees, a leaf shifts in the breeze, shimmering, shifting… that’s all it takes to remain spellbound.