Autumn color in recent years past

Autumn is reaching its peak right about now in central Indiana. Is it just me, or did the leaves start to change later than normal? Isn’t peak normally past by now?

Photographing autumn color helps me appreciate a season I historically have not enjoyed because its arrival means winter is coming. I do not enjoy winter.

This year my time is short. I forced open a small window of time last Saturday to photograph some color, even though peak had not yet arrived.

The refrigerator in the garage died. I kept my film in there. Dealing with it made me realize that I’ve stockpiled a lot of film. Now I’m trying to shoot it all up, including a roll of Fuji Velvia, the original RVP emulsion, expired since 2006 but always kept frozen. I took it and my Yashica-12 out last Saturday, and I put the film in the mail for processing only on Wednesday. It could be a couple weeks before I, and therefore you, see the results.

But man have the colors gotten much nicer since Saturday. It makes me want to post autumn photos now! So I’ve spelunked my archives. These images will have to tide you, I mean me, over.

Autumn color in the neighborhood
Kodak EasyShare Z730 Zoom, 2009.
Autumn at Turkey Run
Canon PowerShot S80, 2010.
Red leaf
Kodak EasyShare Z730 Zoom, 2012.
Red tree
Nikon N65, 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 AF Nikkor, Fujicolor 200, 2012.
Little leaves, out of focus
Olympus Stylus, Kodak Gold 200, 2013.
Red and path
Nikon F2, Fujifilm Velvia 50, 135mm f/3.5 AI Nikkor, 2014.
In transition
Nikon F2, Fujifilm Velvia 50, 135mm f/3.5 AI Nikkor, 2014.
Cemetery shade
Nikon N2000, 50mm f/1.8 Nikon Series E, Kodak Ektar 100, 2014.
Autumn leaves
Minolta SR-T 202, 50mm f/1.4 MD Rokkor-X, Kodak Gold 200, 2015.
Strange Evening Light
Nikkormat EL, 55mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor, Fujifilm Fujicolor 200, 2016.
Autumn tree in Crown Hill
Certo Super Sport Dolly, Model A, Kodak Ektar 100, 2017.
Yellow tree on Old 334
Olympus XA2, Agfa Vista 200, 2018.
Red
Olympus XA2, Agfa Vista 200, 2018.

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Comments

19 responses to “Autumn color in recent years past”

  1. J P Avatar

    Very nice! And it’s not you, I too wondered about the trees turning color later than usual this year.

    Isn’t the rule of garage refrigerators that you have to buy a new one for the kitchen and move the existing one out to the garage? Perhaps you need a second button at the bottom of your page: Buy me a refrigerator?

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Margaret and I have talked about it, and we agree that when the time comes we’ll move the house fridge into the garage and buy a new house fridge. Unfortunately, that purchase is about #30 on our list of things we need to buy.

  2. arhphotographic Avatar

    Hi
    Nice to see the shot with the Nikon n2000 with 50mm 1.8 E. I am currently using the same lens and body (301) loaded with 2008 Kodak Color Plus trying to capture autumn here in the UK.
    Andrew

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      The N2000 and that Series E are a lovely kit! It did lovely work on the Ektar.

  3. -N- Avatar
    -N-

    All these wonderful trees! I miss the autumn color. Here in California, I am fortunate to have a tulip tree and red bud, both of which are deciduous, but the winds have blown all the leaves away, and instead of looking up to red leaves, I look up to a red sky and hope we don’t get burned . . .

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      My wife lived in SoCal for a while and found the lack of seasons – and especially thunderstorms! – to be too challenging.

      1. -N- Avatar
        -N-

        The seasons are much more subtle here, but apparent once you get used to them. But I agree – leaves, snow, spring flowers, leafy trees, thunderstorms are all wonderful bits of nature. Tornadoes I can forego! Same with fire and earthquakes. 8-)

  4. Pat Chase Avatar
    Pat Chase

    Jim,
    This is off the subject, but since you know a lot about the photography business: My wife’s father took some picture of Elvis at what is now called Graceland in about 1957. He was a PR man for a company that sponsored Jimmy Davis of “You Are My Sunshine” fame. They were at Graceland twice. He had a big camera. We have about 8 or 10 negatives of Elvis, the interior of the house, and the Sunshine Boys. There are a couple really good shots of Elvis.
    Are there photo agents that would represent us?
    Can I get negatives made of the negatives?
    Who can develop the negatives?( we live outside of Dallas, TX.)

    can you email me direct?

  5. Marc Beebe Avatar

    One thing I miss about not living back East: the fall colour. Way up here we have limited deciduous trees so all we get is some yellow from birch, cottonwood, and poplar. No red maple, which is ironic given that this is Canada. At least we ho longer have the red lodgepole pine caused by the beetle infestation that devastated our forests years ago.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      We know about tree devastation here too. The emerald ash borer has largely wiped out the ash tree across the entire Midwest. If you spelunk my archives you’ll find stories from where I had to have 21 dead ash trees removed from my yard.

      >

  6. analogphotobug Avatar
    analogphotobug

    Real Fall Colors….not just Aspen Gold!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Yes! We get some terrific reds here.

  7. fishyfisharcade Avatar

    Lovely colours there. The trees here in the UK are on the turn, but the sights are somewhat lessened by the current run of wet and grey weather. We’re also in an odd situation where some trees are already almost bald, while many others are still fully green. I wish for better weather (hopefully when I’m free to make use of it!) – I’ve got a bunch of transparency film in the fridge just itching to to get its eyes on some autumn colour.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      We’ve been fortunate for dry weather most of the last month. But we should get a soaking rain on Saturday, which will shake a lot of the turned leaves off of these trees. So right now is the best time for fall color in central Indiana! I look forward to seeing your work with your slide film.

  8. M.B. Henry Avatar

    Beautiful pics!!! It is truly a marvelous time of year.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I admit, I’m always a little sad when the warm weather ends. The trees are some consolation.

      1. M.B. Henry Avatar

        Well I’m a SoCal resident now, but I grew up in Iowa so I certainly understand that!

  9. Steve Mitchell Avatar

    Lovely….spring is late down here this year, the flowering trees are all late. Cycles, which we don’t understand I suspect. I noticed one or two images from the Kodak Z730 – I still have mine. Don’t use it often these days, but it has a great lense, and renders colour really nicely!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I still have my Z730 somewhere too. I use it once every couple years. It was born for blue-sky sunny days. I love it’s color signature for days like that!

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