This is how each year's fall colors are described by tourism advertising.
Beautiful, isn't it? It's not a lie, it really happened on an exceptional morning in the New York Catskills in October 2010. Colors are rich and the three geese just happened to drift into position. Add to the equation a month or two of perfect rain and sun, so the trees were in prime condition. It doesn't hurt if our location is largely maples to yield warm reds and oranges. Isn't that how our memory conditions our expectations? Can you still enjoy fall in a dry year such as now, that being 2024? Let's explore our options.
A good ingredient for meeting expectations is adding reflections to create a second subject that flips the principle subject and gently ripples the image surface. This one was on Rock Creek Park in the District of Columbia.
It's not quite up to any heightened expectations in terms of rich colors, yet the mirroring satisfies and stimulates the mind. It is the reality of November 2023 in DC. This is my first suggestion to capture autumn when it is not rich with colors.Next, let's introduce another approach to capture an engaging composition. Below is a a landscape of the deep gorge in Canaan Valley, West Virginia.
It's
the twisted tree in the foreground that begins your exploration of the
scene. Otherwise, it is just distant, and boring. Creating this composition was not
easy. Why? It was necessary to lie on the ground to keep the tree's
trunk separate from the dark grasses and weeds. Lesson: If the image isn't working, keep shifting around looking for a simpler result.How about forgetting leaf color. Autumn is often a time for fungi to send up fruiting bodies, also known as mushrooms. One nearly sure example is a puff ball. There is a truism in the sketching community "Draw what drew you." In the image above, the tiny maple tree captured my attention. It is a random alignment of two subjects growing close together. So, what else can the photographer find that has brilliant fall color? Hiking in a nearby state park, there were some red bittersweet berries that had yet to be found by hungry birds. The withered leaves added character.
It was a fine day to hike and this was my only capture of anything saying "autumn". It helps to slow down when hiking. It's not a race, after all. Going a little further off the normal, here is an idea. Think of community harvest festivals. No brilliant red maples yet? How about orange pumpkins? Always bright subjects. This began as an outing with Urban Sketchers that introduced a new idea to my subject list.Next is something that surprises most. Cemeteries, very old ones specifically. I look for nineteenth century or older with stories to discover. This stone in Etna Cemetery is dated 1818. Nice yellow tree frames the stone and fallen leaves surround.
Another plot suggests how hard life was in the nineteenth century. There are six stones beginning with a very young child, followed by three progressively older siblings and ending with both parents. An entire family gone in the same year.
Hard times.On the same day, we continued to find Morris Chapel Cemetery near Brooktondale. The day was beautiful with blue skies and colorful yellow leaves. It was lacking the care of the previous cemetery, yet some of the stones were amazingly clear after 183 years. The inscription reads: HARMON son of Hezekiah & Lovice HOOKER died December 25,1841 aged 23 yrs, 16 days There is always to opportunity to be playful.Stop what? Maybe the falling leaves that I need to shred and load into compost. Finally, you need not have high-end cameras. The best one is one you always have. The images above and below came from my phone's camera. Here's what I discovered walking the riverside trail along the Corning Headquarters building. Looks like another beautiful day. Hope you can enjoy a little outside time.
Paul
