Not usually my type of subject in photography, but It suits the atmosphere i experienced today.
The sky was a bright blue and the sun shone through the trees and brought out many different colours of the plants. It was cold, but only in the shade, a sublte cold and the blackbirds of the forest flew over and into the leaves, this was a very peaceful day and to do it justice, all you had to do was walk slowly and admire.
Walking in the ancient forests of Wales, along the pathway with my dog and my Nikon camera in my hand on a beautiful sunny day I walk past quite a few people along the way with their dogs. besides the path there stands many different types of trees which have changed colour due to the season. I stopped and stood under a tree whose leaves were a bright red, I had never seen leaves this beautiful and red before, so as natural I take a few photos and compliment the tree as much as possible in my photographs.
My dog shoots off as he's just spotted another dog coming up the path, this is usual so I didn't become distracted, the other dog dashed over to greet my dog. The owner of the dog stops just beside the tree I'm standing underneath, he looks to be about mid 50's maybe even 60, with a subtle Italian accent but spoke perfect English, he greets my dog with the happiest voice I've ever heard. He looks up at the tree and says "Isn't nature beautiful?" to which I smiled at him and replied "Yeah, I've never seen the leaves so red before"
He continues to look, and says "See, nature can provide you with the best sights, I came here a month ago and the leaves were a bright pink, it was absolutely beautiful" at no point did he stop smiling, behind him walks his other dog, who looks quite old too, the man wished me a good day and continued to walk up the path.
My words probably didn't do this conversation justice, but let me tell you why it was important to me today. The way this guy smiled and spoke, was that of someone who knows the value of everyday life, the way he walked, right down to the way he looked at things, he wasn't in a rush, he greeted everyone with a smile, even the dogs received more of a greeting then the people, the way he spoke was so innocent and kind, the Elderly really are so important, This guy brightened up my day, I felt I didn't even need my camera after that! .
It's a type of kindness that I love to encounter, and what could be a better place for it, so I hope this photograph does the scene justice :)