Late Fall

Autumn will soon give way to winter. The last of the intensely colored leaves, still clinging to their branches against a backdrop of dimly lit piles of color on the ground.


A few leaves shone brightly in a beam of sunlight filtering through breaks in the passing storm clouds.













Some leaves still remain on the Japanese Maple trees.


Blue sky is revealed, however briefly, between storms. Large maples still holding most of their leaves, now illuminated in their bright yellow-orange hues.


Even the shrubs put on a display.


Firewood stacked for the coming winter.




Fallen leaves are still very pretty.


Tiny mushrooms grow from garden debris as it is consumed by the flames.

More Fall Colors

Day dawns foggy. Brightly colored trees stand in sharp contrast to the dreary morning.




Later in the morning, along the river, the fog lifts.



In the full sun of the afternoon, the intentsity of the colors is striking.

Fall Colors

Autumn puts on a spectacular show. As the temperatures drop, the leaves begin to change. The color and intensity varies from year to year but it's always beautiful. Ordinarily I don't post this many frames in a single posting but I just couldn't omit any of these.

Sierra Fire, Valley Smoke

Seen from 41,000', Smoke from a fire in the Sierra Nevada Mountains fills canyons and valleys above Bakersfield, California.

Fire

Fire is an interesting photographic subject. It is dynamic, behaving almost as though alive. It transmits light yet casts a shadow. Staring at it can be mesmerizing. It is hot. A camera can be damaged - melted - if brought too close.


A huge pile of Debris from trees cleared earlier in the year is burning. Though not apparent in the picture, rain is falling and has been, heavily at times, for the past several days. Everything is very wet. This effectively prevents hot embers from spreading flames to nearby vegetation and structures.


The stump of an old cedar tree cut down long ago burns in the fire.


The smoldering wood glows red-hot in this contrast-exaggerated image.


Wood cut from the cleared trees burns in the fireplace, warming my home.

Night sky

In the hour or so just before dawn, this star trail was taken. The Big Dipper is in the center. Polaris, the North Star, is to the upper left. The exposure time was limited to 8 minutes by the equipment I'm using.
This tiny version does not do justice to the image. Click on the image to see a higher resolution rendition.

Raindrops

Rain falls. The droplets cover everything. This leaf repels the water causing it to ball up into tiny droplets.