Autumn's Second Season

My engagement with the scenes of fall has been extended by a simple idea.  When the brilliant red maples shed their leaves, it is not over.  I move in to see more closely. On a recent Sunday, I walked along Corning's riverside trails and found unexpected inspiration.  Hidden in an alcove of Corning Incorporated's headquarters building were some hold-out colors reflected in the facade.

Continuing along the river, I found an unexpected wide landscape.  Substitute red sumac for the maple's reds.

Now, let's get a look at what I found on another day along an abandoned farm road.   Again, it's red sumac.

A bit farther along the road, I looked down and found this.  This time, no reds for a change.  Still works.

There doesn't need to be any catchy color, or even color at all, to speak of the second season of autumn.  The killing frost earlier this week removed all green from the delicate maidenhair ferns growing in a corner of my garden.

But, I have to complete my story with a magical jumble of leaves that I found. I could never have assembled such a screen deliberately.  The single feature that stopped me was the beads of water on the overturned leaf in the upper part of the frame.   I recall that this was just after a brief shower.

So, this is my piece on the delights of the second season of fall.  It extended my autumn.

All of these images used my recently acquired iPhone 13 Pro and the ProCamera app that extends controls greatly beyond the Apple offering.

Paul Schmitt

Adirondack Autumn Concluded- Seeing in Sixes

Waterfalls and autumn colors are a strong combination.  Here's an image that I had to work hard to compose and yet leaves me with mixed feelings. Why?   The central drop over the precipice hits a huge boulder in the lower right corner and is strongly redirected by 90 degrees to the left.  My eye often follows the flow downward to the right and continues out of the frame; but at times I accept the redirect to the center.

Another waterfall looks best in monochrome.  This has a backstory of a missed opportunity.   A fisherman was casting a fly rod next to the left bridge foundation.  I wanted to show the beautiful arc of the rod as the line looped out over the stream.  That would add a beautiful plus in the composition.  Needed to increase shutter speed.  In the half minute to make the change, he moved downstream and out of the frame.  Lost it!

Never assume the magic with continue.  Still, I like the image as is.

The Adirondacks are about rocks, often big ones.  The huge ones are called glacial erratics.   Their size and mass amazes me.  A rough calculation suggests that this one weighs about 110 tons.  In the fall, the fallen leaves starkly reveal its size.

In fall, I am often looking at the ground after any rain hoping to see mushrooms. That explains why my right knee is often dirty, as I find it necessary to get as low as possible.  The variety of sizes, colors and forms seen in fungi is of great interest to me.  This guy was hard to initially see, as it blended in with the freshly fallen leaf litter.  It's part of the classification called LBMs,  Little Brown Mushrooms.

While exploring the trails at Lake Durant, I discovered a nice joke.   Someone pried open the hollow remains of a fallen tree to position a nice bird box in the center.  Maybe a good caption for the photo would be: 

Is anybody home?

Probably not in October.

After the group dispersed, our leader Chris Murray noted in a message that there is a second part of autumn, which I take to be when attention shifts to smaller areas closer to the ground and more intimate.  Here is the final image that takes it direction from Chris's teaching.

 It offers simple colors and no distractions from the central subject.  I am continuing to photograph here at home mostly using a new phone camera with multiple lenses.  I will post on my progress learning the new system soon.

Paul Schmitt

Adirondack Autumn Continued- Seeing in Sixes

Autumn in temperate regions carries many meanings.  It is a sign of the impermanence of life.  There are abundant examples in the fall colors, foggy mornings, killing freezes in the garden, apple harvesting and the need for a warm sweater.  A calm October day in the Adirondacks stirs the spirits while reminding one that it is ephemeral. A cold front with steady rain will erase the view.

  The sensible person does not delay.  

It is also a time to look deeper, maybe lower to the textures that the falling leaves create.  This scene captured my attention. At the tree's base are different measures of permanence.  Soon, the fern will  wither like the tree's leaves. 

Water and autumn colors are sometimes a magical combination.  The first image of leaves reflected on glassy smooth water is highly attractive.  Add moving water and a bit of fog to add drama.

Maybe it time for a more serene moment to see the patterns usually overlooked.  The red and yellow are backed by green with little to confuse the brain.  Lovely.

 Now for a sundown finale.  

It was amazing.

 

Paul Schmitt

Adirondack Autumn- Seeing (It) in Sixes

Back from two and a half days exploring a small part of the Adirondacks during peak color.  The beauty at that time can be overwhelming and even intimidating.  It is so easy to create a repetitive package of photos that fail to really explore anything beyond the sweeping landscape view for example.  I will limit each of my blog posts to a set of just six images. Each photo is selected to offer a different subject and also use a different expanse of the shot.  (In video production, the type of shots used go from the master shot to the close up in six steps.)  Consider this an experiment in creativity.

Let's begin with the early mornings in autumn.  It's quiet and chilly that early.  Often it offers soft light on a foggy mountain lake as below.  A distant point on the lake is obscured by the fog.

After day break on another morning, the water is far from placid where the Raquette River cascades  toward Long Lake. The golden birch on the distant bank becomes a dappled reflection in the foreground.

Looking more closely in the forest, there is a pleasing symphony of colors.  Reds and yellows are separated the the bluish green of a few pine boughs.  This is easy to miss amid the temptations of waterfalls and wide angle views.

Autumn offers offers many ways to become immersed in the day.  Doesn't an afternoon paddle on the lake sounds wonderful?  Take your dog too.  Heavenly, I'd say.

For a new twist, let's abandon the fall colors to look at how weather can create an interesting image. The autumn fog that hugs the lake is flanked by a distant cloud bank, and both are duplicated in reflections on the lake with some detail added by the lake grasses.  It resembles some supersonic passage of some strange projectile. 

Now for the final image from my first day. On that particular night, the lunar cycle was approaching the Hunter's Moon.  It's bright.  I'm back on the same lake seen above, but at night.  The moon is so bright that I can dimly see the form of a canoe and a red kayak on the shore.  The fires of a few campers appear on the lake shore.  Above the canoe in the sky is Jupiter plus a few stars.  

What a way to end a day of photography.

Paul Schmitt