OSWEGO COUNTY – Time passes, and so it goes, the leaves have now reached the ground. Bright shades of green and emerald, glossy and fresh in the spring, turning deep azure and broad, providing the gift of shade during the summer, and then turning a thousand tones of red, yellow and orange in the fall, it is now time for the trees to rest before producing another crop to delight us next year.
The colors that we are gifted with each autumn are a product of the weather conditions across the seasons, with rainfall amounts and temperature variations playing a role in the brightness of colors and the longevity of the season of colored foliage. Trees displaying the brightest reds give away the secret of their high sugar content, while some species show gold and burning orange as an indicator of the level of acid residing in the ground.
The autumn of 2020 produced a grand season for foliage lovers, with bright colors lasting for many weeks, until finally fading to brown and being blown from their branches by the gales of the approaching winter.
We all have memories of the moment of discovering a tree so perfectly colored that the vibrancy affects us on many levels and the vision stays with us for days to come. Perhaps it was the sight of a spectrum tree, glimpsed in a perfect moment of display, showing green leaves as well as red, orange and yellow. Perhaps it was a monochrome tree, showing a solid wall of a single shade, viewed in a shaft of sunlight breaking through an overcast sky.
I attempted to create a collection of images preserving the stunning foliage this fall, following the changes with my camera as the weather cooled and the trees put on their annual show. I hope these photos keep the memory of autumn alive in the viewer’s heart, and remind all of us of the beauty that surrounds us in every season.
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