Dead leaf

Dead leaf, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Dead leaf at St.Paul's church, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire.

I find it interesting that having spent a whole day in Burton on Trent with the aim of taking some photos, the only one I came back with that I liked was this one, which could be anywhere. Actually it ended up being a dull, cold, windy day so some of the shots that I might have taken were just not bright and colourful enough. Burton, like many industrial towns in England is clearly suffering from decline through the loss of industry and manufacturing, though it does remain a large centre for brewing ale. Add to all this the fact that I was coming down with a flu-like virus and well, let's say that what creative leaning I have was somewhat dulled. But I saw this shot immediately, and just got right down on the floor and in quite close. I liked the contrast between the formality and greyness of the architecture on the one hand, the the colour, naturalness and curvature of the leaf on the other. Yet the whole thing retains that element of death and decay that seemed to capture for me both the feel of the weather and the town on that day.