One of the good things about having a dog is that you’re out in the woods several times a week. One of the bad things about having a dog is that you’re out in the woods even when it rains (and I hate rain). It didn’t rain last Friday however so I got to shoot a less moody autumn variety of my best-selling “on the origin of barcode”. Now, six days later, it seems autumn has already left the building and winter has arrived.

Let’s continue with surreal. This image was taken a few steps from the chapel of the previous entry. The path used to be a road lined with houses where 422 people lived; all that remains nowadays are a few stones and signs saying “school” or “farm” near overgrown bomb craters. Expect more in just under two weeks in the regional Dutch newspapers.

I’ll introduce two fresh ones on our theme: fallen soldiers and falling grenades. This lovely spot, tucked away in the gently rolling hills north of Verdun, is where one of the most destructive battles of WW-I was fought. 300 long days and 300 dark nights in 1916 resulted in almost 300.000 dead and more than 1 million wounded. This chapel to commemorate them stands on the grounds where the village of Fleury used to be. Until 1916. Surreal.

It’s unintentionally kind of becoming a theme: falling leaves, falling rain and now falling night, shot yesterday on the magical Pont Alexandre III bridge, just around the corner from our home. I’ll miss fall in Paris when we’ll be living somewhere else this time next year.

The falling leaves drift by the window / The autumn leaves of red and gold / I see your lips, the summer kisses / The sun-burned hands I used to hold / Since you went away the days grow long / And soon I’ll hear old winter’s song / But I miss you most of all my darling / When autumn leaves start to fall

Falling leaves always remind me of the sheer nostalgia that oozes out of this classic, written by Johnny Mercer and performed by numerous jazz giants including Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald and Sinatra. Falling stockmarkets do too I’m afraid.

What can I say: autumn’s here. Golden light, long shadows, crispy air, the last whiff of summer and a premonition of winter, falling leaves, the first big storms of the season: you know the drill. I love it, being the sentimental fool I am.

An empty chair in the Tuileries during the last days of autumn. Last year I would have sat there with a book, this year I’ve been postprocessing and keywording images for the PhotoShelter Collection, the new stock agency I’ve mentioned. Some 200 images of mine, including this one, are on sale now and can be found at my PhotoShelter gallery (edit Nov. 2008: link removed, no longer working due to the demise of the PhotoShelter Collection). I’ve asked that chair on a date for next autumn though and she accepted.

It took a while because of above average temperatures during the last few months, but autumn is finally here in all it’s splendor. This photo was taken in the vast (and once upon a long ago very royal) forests near Compiègne, some 80 kilometers north of Paris, which have become a favorite hideaway for us during the weekends.