Millions of pumpkins, pumpkins for me

Every local farm and church seems to have their own fallfests filled to the brim with pumpkin fun. The farms run hayrides to their pumpkin patches, where you can wander, hidden amongst the corn, to find that perfect pumpkin to adorn your country porch.

obligatory hipster hayride shoe shot

choosing your pumpkin is a serious business, like choosing a Christmas tree

I TOLD YOU I'd go for the ones bigger than my head first

One fellow pumpkin-picker claimed that the reason the farms run hayrides to the pumpkin patches, which are nestled deep in the farm amongst the fields of corn, is to prevent wayward autumn revellers from stealing their produce. I'm sure it'd be a formidable, spooky place to visit at night - some places out here do offer night-time hayrides and scream events.

And, just because I'm British and I have to mention it, the weather has been impressively warm over the past couple of weeks. Slowly but surely it's becoming crisper by night and day, but I can still feel the heat of the sun, and it's surprisingly bright. While I do miss the lush greenness of Scotland, I don't miss the short gray days of autumn and winter. Plus the brightness here is dream light to photograph.

It's about a year since I got my camera and taught myself to use it (with a little help from my friends - thanks). Most of the shots I've taken here and blogged, since moving to the US, have been manual snapshots, and not overly staged. It's a fantastic hobby, and I enjoy it a lot. Moving somewhere new has given me the excuse to be a real shutterbug too. At some point I'd like to take the chance to challenge myself again to learn some new photo-skills.