This time of year can be hard or it can be easy depending on how you view it. The day's of being outside in a t-shirt and shorts are waning and almost gone; sometimes we get that one autumn day that feels almost like summer and we embrace it before autumn closes in again. I often find myself during this time of year being at peace and making closures. I will try to be outside on a daily basis watching the leaves change, turning every day from a lighter shade of yellow, orange or red to a darker shade until finally they fall to the ground making a kaleidoscope I can walk over before they finally turn into the color of the earth and are gone. It's this peace I experience walking through places like Washoe Park, and watching the leaves fall slowly to the ground.
I experience the same driving down the Mill Creek highway - seeing the changes and hiking among the trees, trying to capture what I am seeing in my mind's eye and through my camera. I climb in an area full of trees below that make me feel like I somehow entered another world. Everything becomes richer.
These images keep me grounded and happy when I look at them. They remind me of change and beauty.
I hope that people view autumn like I do,. It is a time to find peace and perhaps closure, and a time to enjoy the uniquely brief beauty that surrounds us - where we find ourselves outside looking up at the leaves falling and we smile; the crisp air that catches our breath when we take a step outside. It makes us feel alive. The shortening of the days doesn't make us sad/ it makes us cherish the daylight that much more.
When the chill brings that first snow and we find ourselkves out in it as it's fallingm we can't help laughing at the beauty of it all. It stops us in our tracks.
This autumn has been absolutely enjoyable, and I know it isn't over quite yet. It still has much to show me. I hope these images from my trips this season inspire you to step outside and take a walk, photograph or paint what you see, write it down, stop and take it all in.
Enjoy and leave a comment about your trips this autumn and how it makes you feel.