16 posts tagged “autumn”
The leaves, in drifts on the ground, are all brown and dry.
The days are shorter and the nights are chill.
The Great Square of Pegasus is overhead.
And I can smell the autumn.
Finally, a good night's sleep! Between struggling with a cold, work worries, and noisy neighbors I've been severely sleep deprived for the better part of a week. Eight hours still wasn't enough to fully recover, but at least I woke rested. It had been a rainy and windy night and, as is natural this time of year, the world went from one robed in colorful leaves to gray gloomful skies stabbed by the dark, bare branches of trees. What a difference from one week ago! It looked like mid-November. There was the weekly shopping to be done so we headed out and completed that, then took a little trip west and paid an afternoon visit to the Rocky River Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks. Walking in the woods and along the waters was invigorating and lovely. Some small gaps had opened in the overcast, allowing a few reassuring rays of sun through. Slow down and enjoy the season: fall is hard-set here.
Slightly past peak were the colors in North Central Ohio at Malabar Farm State Park. The entire area was gorgeous, nonetheless, decorating even the forest floor with a confetti-throw of leaves. We decided to follow a one-mile trail that headed uphill, through dense neighboring woods, for a loop back to the Farm. The trail had many wonderful sights to see and was fairly well marked until somewhat short of the half-way point. Seeing no trail blazes we continued on what appeared to be trampled leaves, began our turn back, and paralleled a road though still walking in damp leaf litter within the woods. In no danger of becoming lost we easily found our way back to the Farm's homestead. Then it was off on a cross-country trip over state roads (not freeways) towards home. The scenery was absolutely beautiful with groves of trees on low hills rising like islands out of a sea of brown soybean and corn fields. It was a fine rolling journey back under sunny skies.
It was a most excellent Sunday's sojourn experiencing the best fall colors.
Yesterday (Wednesday) I stayed home from work. My cold had interrupted my sleep and drained my energy to the point where I couldn't do anything at all constructive even around the house. I just sat and napped all day. Sounds nice and restful but, well, it was a cold and I was fairly miserable. Oh, and it was one of those gorgeous fall days, too, wasted on me.
Stayed home today, too. Though much improved over yesterday, I still felt a little weak in the knees and had occasional coughs. If I feel up to it I may work on some photos later today or tonight but I can't count on that.
Today's a cloudy but golden autumn day. The wind is kicking up and swirling the leaves around. From the couch I can hear the weather changing.
I feel like such a wuss being decked by a little thing like a cold but there you are. Now, for lunch and another dose of aspirin!
It's a shame when you're not feeling well and the day is absolutely beautiful; such days are often wasted on the sufferer. A head cold tightened its grip on me last night robbing me of long, quality rest and making the workday difficult to endure. The day wasn't a total waste, however. For several weeks I've been watching the light and the leaf colors changing along a stretch of the West Branch of the Rocky River I cross on my daily commute. Daily the view has become increasingly beautiful both by morning and evening light. Tonight was my first real opportunity to stop and shoot a few photos. I got several good ones but, if the weather holds, the views should only improve. I hope to stop a few more times before winter stomps its heavy foot down and the trees drop the last of their leaves. Above: The broad, shallow Rocky River flows along its shale banks and cliffs as it winds its way towards Lake Erie. The late day October sun falls upon the treetops while the waters lie in shade.
Please pardon this "group reply" to the kind comments from fellow Voxers: I spotted the leaf (previous post) in our parking lot yesterday --all those perfect beads of rain, the leaf so dramatically floating over black asphalt-- and photographed it. I was so compelled to capture the image after glancing at that leaf that I walked through the rain to my office, retrieved my camera, and went back out in the damp to shoot. It felt like a sad image. This morning I learned my mother had a very serious medical problem; I posted the picture because it illustrated how I was feeling. It is beautiful and it is sad. Mom, by the way, though hospitalized, is doing very well and is constantly on my mind. Spike, after I shot the faded yellow leaf I walked about 20 feet over to a tree and photographed a red leaf wet by the same rains. Not really done for you but, what the heck!
The switch back from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time (about time!) helped us get a good night's sleep Saturday night. Maybe not big shakes to you but we, and especially I, have been sleep deprived for the past several days and it felt great to wake rested! After a quiet morning around the house and lunch at home we headed back again to the Summit County Metro Parks and their Sand Run park, an area of 992 acres adjoining the Metro Park we visited one week ago. What an experience it was! Skies were partly cloudy, temperatures were cool to mild, and the park lands were hilly and gorgeous in what is now the declining period of fall color.
We chose the 3.3-mile Mingo Trail for its distance; we usually skip the really short walks. We found the unpaved, earthen trail a welcome challenge with a good amount hill climbing that really warmed us up and got our heart rates climbing as well. All along the way there was natural beauty to behold and, of course, photograph.
For me the day's shooting was a continuing exercise in re-learning my skills in photography with all manner of subjects available. This day I was also able to give my newer Canon EF 50mm Macro lens a good shake-down. Walks in dense wooded areas lend themselves well to finding subjects suited to close-up views and I really love viewing things close-up... have loved it ever since I started doing photography many years ago. As a kid I used a lens --objective lens off an old binocular, if I remember correctly-- as an improvised macro adapter. Worked pretty well, too! I still own a really good 50mm macro from my Minolta film SLRs but, because of the auto-focus revolution and my migration to Canon's system, it now sits unused. When I was doing fine art photography I loved using black & white and, in the darkroom, made excellent prints from my shots. I still find certain subjects lend themselves best to the strong graphical qualities of black & white. In one case we happened across a large tree that had toppled. Where the trunk had broken, splintered and bent fibers of wood posed in subdued light. Even standing there recording the view I was seeing the broken tree not in shades of light brown but in monochrome. So, back at my desk, I used Photoshop to remove all of the color from the shot to show viewers what my eye had already seen.
Then again, I like some images better in color. Of course I select different techniques for different subjects. The gray of the rotting wood embedded in colorful fallen leaves is an interesting study in contrasts. The small fungi are the only white in the shot.
While I was experimenting with the macro lens on non-"macro" subjects
I also tried out a longer exposure on the small waterfall we
encountered. Very nice effect. Yes, I know, it's been done many times
and by many others. I still like the shot and the macro, while not
ideal for a larger scene, did an acceptable job.
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