Down the Road

Photographs and stories by Jim Grey

Since 2007

Autumn in the suburbs

Jim Grey
13 comments on Autumn in the suburbs
1 minute
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I loaded my last roll of Fujifilm Superia Reala 100 into my little Olympus Stylus at the end of summer, thinking I would document the gradual shift to autumn’s colors with it. Mother Nature had other plans, and the leaves stayed mostly green until about mid-November. Then they suddenly changed to yellow, red, and orange, and then just as suddenly they all fell.

Fortunately, I managed to capture peak color on my many walks around my neighborhood. It’s all gone now, of course; it’s a week and a half before winter begins.

I love Fujifilm’s ISO 100 consumer color films. It’s well saturated, typical of the genre. But it looks realistic, and it does a stunning job of rendering blue. I’ve shot Fujicolor Industrial 100, Superia 100, and now this Superia Reala 100 (expired since March, 2002) and they all look the same to me. I think they’re all either the same stock, or close to it. Too bad Fujifilm doesn’t make this film anymore.

I hope you enjoy this look back at the recent past.

Autumn in the suburbs
Autumn in the suburbs
Autumn in the suburbs
Autumn in the suburbs
Autumn in the suburbs
Autumn in the suburbs
Autumn in the suburbs
Autumn in the suburbs
Autumn in the suburbs

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Comments

13 responses to “Autumn in the suburbs”

  1. adventurepdx Avatar
    adventurepdx

    Regarding Fuji 100: Freestyle managed somehow to import some of the Japan-only Fujicolor 100. I picked up a couple rolls of 36 exposure when I was in LA last week. It’s not cheap, though, but if you want it…
    https://www.freestylephoto.biz/60001036-Fujicolor-100-35mm-x-36-exp.

    They have it also in 24 exposure rolls:
    https://www.freestylephoto.biz/60001024-Fujicolor-100-35mm-x-24-exp.

    And I also picked up a couple rolls of Japan-only Superia Premium 400 when I was there: That appears to be now gone:
    https://www.freestylephoto.biz/60004027-Fujicolor-Superia-Premium-400-35mm-x-27-exp.

    Reply
    1. Jim Grey Avatar
      Jim Grey

      Nice that they have some — but those prices! Oy!

      Reply
      1. adventurepdx Avatar
        adventurepdx

        Yeah, they are steep, but that comes with the territory of importing directly from Japan vs. getting them through a US importer. And apparently Freestyle went through the trouble just to have SOME color film, as they are out of pretty much everything else.

        I shot some Fuji Industrial 100 earlier this year, which I got via Katie in Taiwan. I liked it a lot, but the difficulty in obtaining it meant that I didn’t get any more until I found some at Freestyle.

        Reply
  2. fishyfisharcade Avatar
    fishyfisharcade

    That’s a lovely set of photographs Jim. The colours are great – saturated but still natural.

    I love autumn but this year I’ve pretty much missed it completely I think, mostly because we were busy decorating the house and I just didn’t find the time to go out and make photos, but also partly because the weather was often a bit gloomy and not showing the colour in it’s true magnificence.

    There’s still colour there to be had at the momen, even if the best of it has passed, but I’ve really not been in the right frame of mind to make photographs this week, and I’m not sure any of the colour will be left by the time I do.

    Reply
    1. Jim Grey Avatar
      Jim Grey

      Well put – saturated but still natural.

      Of course you’re not in the right frame of mind. But that frame will come back in time.

      Reply
  3. Andy Umbo Avatar
    Andy Umbo

    Love the colors! Unfortunately for us, this is the second year in a row we got screwed out of a nice fall color scheme. Last year and this year the temperature was bouncing all over the place for weeks, from 15 degrees over “norm” to 10 degrees below. This resulted in the trees changing colors all different times, even the same trees on two different sides of the street! Never a full “spread” of colorful trees to photograph, like in past years! It was 33 degrees at noon today, with a 20 mile an hour wind, and yesterday at 5am, it was 62 degrees; people were sitting out on their porches drinking coffee and chatting at 6am! Half the trees still have their leaves on, and they never turned color, just shriveled. The city had to announce a late leaf pick-up on Sunday 11-21, when they usually never pick up after the end of October!

    Reply
    1. Jim Grey Avatar
      Jim Grey

      I’ll be out blowing my leaves into piles and bagging them up this weekend. :-(

      Reply
      1. Andy Umbo Avatar
        Andy Umbo

        We’re not allowed to bag any yard-waste here, it won’t decompose, you rake it into the street and the city comes around a couple of times, with a huge u-shaped brush thing, piles it at the end of the street, and then picks it up and throws it into the waste pile to decompose! BUT, I’m old enough to remember the smell of people burning their leaves at curb-side! That smell WAS fall!

        Reply
        1. Jim Grey Avatar
          Jim Grey

          In Zionsville proper they come suck up leaves as well, but not out here in Royal Run.

          I miss being able to burn leaves!

          Reply
  4. Dan Avatar
    Dan

    Gorgeous colors! Those are some great photos!

    Reply
    1. Jim Grey Avatar
      Jim Grey

      Thanks! This is such a lovely film.

      Reply
  5. Steve Mitchell Avatar
    Steve Mitchell

    Stunning this time Jim!

    Reply
    1. Jim Grey Avatar
      Jim Grey

      Thanks Steve!

      Reply

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