Tag Archives: autumn

More leaves – it’s autumn

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It’s difficult to avoid leaves when out with a camera this time of year.  They’ve received little attention while living and now that they aren’t, they seem to find their way in front of the camera whatever the original motivation might have been.


Fascinating though, aren’t they?


Theses blades of grass (also leaves in my book) look as if they were perfectly still.  They weren’t.  The wind was blowing as if a front were coming through.


For all the wind, the leaves in the water were in a protected area and a slower shutter speed sufficed.


Weeds.  Appealing weeds.


The teasel has done it’s biological job, farewell.

Morning light

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The morning light was good today and who was I to waste it?

There is a bit of a ‘once upon a time’ element to this image.  It is a composite of five images taken at different exposures (high dynamic range or HDR).  I like to use that technique with good light in the autumn.

I’m still working with leaves caught in the chain link fence that keeps our dogs in the backyard and not wandering the neighborhood.


It says something to me about the light of God shining through us even in difficult circumstances.  Or I just like back-lighting.  Take your pick.

The morning light caught just a little of the flowering whatever-it-is.


A few more minutes and it just looked like weeds.


It can be rewarding to look up sometimes.

These few precious days, these few precious days.

Evening shoot

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I was out briefly this evening to shoot for just a little bit.  The light was too good to pass up.


I spotted this leaf caught up in a flowering what-ever-it-is late this afternoon and thought the evening light would be good.  It was.

Our friend Robin wanted to make my wife Ellie a birthday cake based on a quilting theme since Ellie is an avid quilter.  She outdid herself:


It’s every bit as good tasting as it looks.

Smorgasbord day

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Today I went out without any specific focus, in fact I was trying to avoid any preconceived notions of what I would shoot.


It’s a day in autumn so color would be part of it.

Not a day to be hung up on any particular theme except autumn.


That’s enough of the puns, visual and otherwise.


I wondered around a patch of milkweed;  they are coming along.


I used to be in R&D at AT&T and then at Lucent Technologies.  In other words, the telephone business.  When I first saw these teasels with the spider web connecting them, it seemed to represent a communications network.  I guess that isn’t a pun but a metaphor.


Teasels are easier to work with than some people.  Not as communicative though.

Another beautiful autumn day

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The ‘good’ weather continues.  With Indianapolis being down 18% in rainfall for the year, a nice day is a not nice day.  But we will enjoy it anyway.


In a normal year this leaf in this spot would have been a foot under water.  People are commenting on the lack of color in the leaves (caused by the lack of rain) and it is true that we have to look harder to see good color but it is there.


Time to quit complaining and just enjoy what there is in the woods.


This shot of the leaf in water was 1/15 sec. in duration.  Look at how viscous and ‘sticky’ the water seems.  This effect is enhanced by the comparatively long exposure.


Love that surface tension that produces the blue framing of the leaf.


Autumn comes and plants die back.  Seeds have been broadcast and that part of the work of the plant  is done.    What remains can be beautiful, can’t it?

A morning at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

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My friend Becky and I went to the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art today to see what there was to see and photograph. 
Flowers were still in bloom.

But it was clearly autumn.


As often happens, I found one area more satisfying than others.  In this case it was a small pond.


If you’ve been following my posts, yes, that is another leaves in water shot.


Nothing like a nice curve once in awhile.


And back-lighting.  Gotta have back-lighting.

Who knows that tomorrow will bring?

A day at Brown County State Park

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Friends Lee, Freddie and I went to Brown County State Park today.  We are all retired, and given that some of the routes around Indianapolis were tied up with a one-day beautification project, we didn’t get started shooting until nearly 10:30.  This is not the best time for landscape work but there was some nice reflection in Lake Ogle.

And there were leaves in the water.  I can’t get over the surface tension in this image.  It isn’t particularly noticeable before clicking the shutter.


I spent most of my time shooting little things (again).


But this time I have an excuse.  The competition this month in the camera club is narrow depth of field.  I like this one.


But I like this one better.


It was a good day all around.

Indian Summer

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It’s been cooler but now it has warmed up into Indian Summer.  Great day to be out in the woods and down by the water.


I’m trying to turn over a new leaf and not spend so much effort shooting leaves in the water but it’s hard to break away, there are so many interesting opportunities.


But progress is being made.


Still shooting leaves but at least they are now on dry land.  Very dry land.  We’ve had little rain in the last couple of months.


I’m going down to Brown County with friends tomorrow.  Maybe there will be opportunities other than leaves in the water.  Maybe.

A few small things

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My friend Sally and I went to a nature preserve outside of Cicero, IN this morning.  The sky was clear and it was rather windy.  The wind was sporadic and in between gusts there were opportunities for photographing plant life.


I go with every intention to photograph landscapes but I keep coming back to the small things.


I think one reason for shooting small things is that there are so many of the them and they are often overlooked.  Lots of opportunities there.

There were opportunities down by the creek as well.


There is something about these images that connote both motion and stillness, the ephemeral and the permanent.


These two images were shot a couple of minutes apart.  I was not aware of how pronounced the effect of surface tension is until I started photographing leaves in water.


Perhaps I’ll get out again tomorrow.

More than color

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There is no doubt autumn foliage can be beautiful.  New England, for example, will soon be filling up with ‘leaf peepers’ who travel significant distances to see what fall has to offer.  There are even websites tracking the status of autumn color.


We’ve had a lot of dry weather in Indiana this year, there are bans on open burning in over 50 counties in the state.  No one expects the leaves here to be very colorful this autumn.  But if the foliage in general will be comparatively dull in color, there are exceptions.


And one needs to be in the right place at the right time.


The sun backlit this maple leaf for only a few minutes and then it was gone.

But if the color is not there as we would like to see it, the texture of leaves is still with us.


If you picked up these leaves you would have to be careful with them or they would crumple and fall apart.  But as long we just look at them, preferably closely, the texture is there and it is beautiful.


Time to go do some more shooting.  Today’s leaves will be different from yesterday’s.