Autumn this year turned out to be far better than I thought it would be from a color standpoint. After a long hot summer and weeks of little to no rainfall, I was expecting the leaves to just turn brown and fall off. Maybe a few little spots of color here and there but nothing to write home about. To my surprise and my enjoyment, the color turned out to be some of the best we’ve had in several years, and the season was one of the most productive I’ve had in quite some time, photographically speaking.
As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and so it is with my favorite season of the year. After several good weeks of nice color on the trees, I began to notice the leaves were beginning to quickly drop from the trees, and the ones that were still clinging to their branches were looking brown and dried up. Wanting to squeeze out one more opportunity to photograph fall leaves before they were gone for good, I made one last trip to the Dagmar Wildlife Management Area one evening a few days before Thanksgiving, to find those last few colorful fall leaves.
As I made my way slowly down the road that winds through the area, I saw some leaves being backlit by the sun and quickly pulled over to investigate. That particular subject didn’t pan out as I had hoped but, as I was about to leave, I happened to notice all the leaves that were lying on the ground. After about five minutes of searching for a composition, I found this small scene. Two things caught my eye: the contrast between three brighter leaves lying atop the darker leaves beneath and the monochromatic brown tones.
I continued on to Lake Hickson hoping to photograph the red needles of the cypress trees, but the needles seemed to have been gone for some time. By this time, the light was beginning to fade, so I turned around and began heading home. I was just a few minutes from getting to the main highway when I came across this astounding scene. Figuratively, it jumped out and slapped me in the face. Slamming on the brakes, I pulled into a small parking area, and grabbed my equipment.
I love paintings and photographs that have a fantasy-like feel to them where I could look at them for hours and lose myself in my own imagination. What initially caught my attention was the way the bright, vibrant foreground leaves contrasted with the dark background. But, as I viewed the scene through the viewfinder, I felt as if I was looking at a secret portal that was beckoning me to step into that dark, mysterious forest and see what I might discover.
I’ll say goodbye to Autumn, for now, as the season comes to a close for this year. I’ll be waiting to see you again next year.