Autumn Color

Can’t see the forest for the trees, my feeling as I wandered the forest floor. Lost in autumn’s wonderland, trees stretching vertically toward the sky and leaves exploding in vibrant colors. Too much minutiae with little significance but how does it all fit together? Nature’s fanfare before winter’s rest; autumn color.


Wilting goldenrod and joe-pye weed color the ground with green and brown. Oak trees share their reflections by coloring the sky with rusty orange. Spears Woods saturated with autumn’s glow.


The orange and yellow hues of barberry bushes and green tints honeysuckle shrubs guard the creek at Crooked Creek Forest Preserve.


Three bare maple tree stand as sentinels for their glowing counterparts. Behind their protectors, companion trees drop their yellow leaves turning the forest into a golden paradise.


Autumn’s passage ignites the change at Hidden Pond Woods. The leaves on the oak trees are ablaze in radiant oranges and red hues.


The red, orange and yellow oak leaves set fire to the oak savanna at Hidden Pond Woods. Only the invasive honeysuckle keeps its bright green summer colors.


The change of season has taken its toll at Crooked Creek Woods turning almost all of the woodlands a shade of brown. Invasive barberry bushes are the only holdout, keeping their bright orange and yellow autumn colors.

To create the blurs I opened the camera shutter for approximately ¼ of a second. While the shutter was open, the camera was slowly moved upwards. The blurs convey a unique perspective of the colorful autumn scenery in the Cook County Forest Preserves.