Autumn is a second spring when every leaf's a flower
--Albert Camus
Blame it on years of schooling. For me the year starts in September, not January, and I associate autumn with the beginning of a new cycle. Overlayed on this is the end of a natural cycle, which makes autumn the most enigmatic of seasons. While the leaves turn to yellow and red, I recall the smell of freshly sharpened Ticonderoga No. 2 pencils and new books and writing pads.
Fall is my favourite time for photography. I love the other seasons too, but the russets and golds and browns of autumn appeal to my sense of colour and texture. Each leaf is a melody. A tree is a medley. A forest is a symphony, building to a crescendo of colour, then falling to a soft pianissimo tapering to the subliminal sound of falling snowflakes.
Birch Leaf in Birdbath
(click on image for a larger, clearer view)
Fall is also the time of year the migrating birds disappear. Already the warblers have passed through and the only remaining stragglers I'm seeing are brown creepers and golden-crowned kinglets. I miss the summer bird population, but we still have the chickadees, nuthatches and cardinals to tide us over til spring.
What challenges me every autumn is trying to decide on how to best capture a sense of the season. Should I focus on the big picture, such as a river or lake reflecting the foliage of many trees, or focus on small details like an individual leaf? I try to do both. What's in between? I'm still exploring that.
The most troubling aspect of autumn, from a photographic point of view, is its unpredictability. The leaves peak sometimes overnight. If this happens early in the week, I'm unable to get out in the field due to work commitments. If the wind blows too vigourously, the leaves come down too soon. The colours vary from one autumn to another. The autumn photographer's motto: carpe diem!
(16-Oct-2003, Revised 16-Jun-2004)
www.NorthernJourney.com -- gene@wilburn.ca