I recently took a week off from work to give myself some time to rest and recharge the ol’ batteries. It was nice to not deal with phone calls, emails, or meetings. But, with Autumn about to be in full swing, I had to take advantage of the time and get out and do some photography, and that’s exactly what I did.
My first trip was to Petit Jean State Park (which you can read about here). Autumn colors were not yet on full display, but I still captured a few nice images. After the Petit Jean trip, I decided my next location would be the Blanchard Springs area. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling very inspired that day, and the pictures I took that morning showed that lack of inspiration. I decided to make one more trip before my week of freedom ended, and I chose to go somewhere a little bit closer to home: Dagmar Wildlife Management Area.
I arrived at Dagmar and made my way to Hickson Lake just as it got light enough to walk around without needing a flashlight. In fact, the lighting conditions were fantastic and reminded me so much of the times I would go fishing with my grandfather when I was a child. For several minutes, I just stood there soaking it in and reminiscing about those days many, many years ago. I thought of a quote made by the character Andy Bernard in the show The Office, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.” He was so right.
After spending about an hour at Hickson Lake and not finding anything that interested me enough to photograph it. I began to very, very slowly make my way back to the main highway stopping every now and then whenever something caught my eye. I captured a couple of images I liked: a bald cypress tree whose leaves had changed, and a nice layer of leaves of different types, colors, and sizes that had fallen to the ground.
But, it wasn’t until I went to another small body of water, Teal Pond, that I found a scene that embodied the essence of early Autumn. However, it was only luck that I saw it.
I had driven to the pond, given it a quick glance, turned around, and began heading back down the road. That’s when I happened to glance in my rearview mirror and notice some color in the leaves across the pond behind me. I immediately turned my truck around and returned to the edge of the pond. Setting my camera up, I framed this scene with its myriad of colors: reds, yellows, oranges, greens, and maybe a few purples.
Exactly the sort of thing I picture when I think of early Autumn.