Category: Macro/Closeup

August

When the blackberries hang
swollen in the woods, in the brambles
nobody owns, I spend

all day among the high
branches, reaching
my ripped arms, thinking

of nothing, cramming
the black honey of summer
into my mouth; all day my body

accepts what it is.  In the dark
creeks that run by there is
this thick paw of my life darting among

the black bells, the leaves; there is
this happy tongue.

Mary Oliver

Today’s camera walk turned up these beautiful gold and russet blackberry leaves. I am beginning to despair of finding enough autumn poems to get me through the 100 days without boring myself to tears. So, I made an executive decision that the poems do not have to be about autumn. And after all don’t golden blackberry leaves in October evoke the joy of picking and eating ripe blackberries in August?

from  Celebrating the Seasons of Life: Beltane to Mabon

The Wheel rolls more, and Autumn returns.
Cooler the rain; the Sun lower burns.
The coloring leaves presage the Year:
All things move into harvest’s sphere.
I vow to savor fruits first picked;
nor into grief shall I be tricked.
I vow to offer what once I spurned,
and face the Turning reassured.

– Asleen O’Gaea

And now the Autumnal Equinox is upon us. I’m busy trying to get ready for my trip to New England which starts tomorrow so I decided to make a quick tour of my neighbors flower beds. I got some nice sunflower shots but what speaks of September more than Asters? I’m not sure what is going to happen tomorrow as I am boarding a plane before sunrise and don’t get to my destination until after sunset. Hoping to find something autumnal on display at one of the three airports I get to visit, otherwise I’ll be reaching into the archives of the past 10 days. In any case don’t look for an update until evening.

Autumn

Earthy scented mornings
Thinly trailing mist
Acorns drop from weary trees
Yellow, red and russet frees
Leaves from branches, gently falling
Earth by coloured carpet kissed
Frosty, starlit evening
Palely shining moon

                   – Ann Shaw Griffiths

The current love of my life is this oak tree that stands near the Bear Creek Greenway off Suncrest Road in Talent. I walk by it nearly every day and occasionally I visit it with my camera. The acorns are still green as are most of it’s leaves but a few are beginning to drop, helped along by the wind we had the other day. I expect I will be visiting it regularly in the next 91 days.

 

Japanese maple
       she sits paused in morning’s light
                       a breathless… haiku

                                  – Malabu

Today I took a camera walk in Lithia Park. It tried to rain on me but I persisted. I actually found more color than I expected though I think we are a few weeks away from the raging glory that can be seen in the Park toward mid to late October. This Japanese Maple in the Japanese garden had more color than most of the trees.

September

The golden-rod is yellow; 
The corn is turning brown; 
The trees in apple orchards 
With fruit are bending down. 
The gentian’s bluest fringes 
Are curling in the sun; 
In dusty pods the milkweed 
Its hidden silk has spun. 
The sedges flaunt their harvest, 
In every meadow nook; 
And asters by the brook-side 
Make asters in the brook. 
From dewy lanes at morning 
the grapes’ sweet odors rise; 
At noon the roads all flutter 
With yellow butterflies. 
By all these lovely tokens 
September days are here, 
With summer’s best of weather, 
And autumn’s best of cheer. 
But none of all this beauty 
Which floods the earth and air 
Is unto me the secret 
Which makes September fair. 
‘T is a thing which I remember; 
To name it thrills me yet: 
One day of one September 
I never can forget.

– Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

I have been neglecting my morning walks because I have been so excited about getting out to photograph in the morning light and before the wind picks up. So today I decided to just make it a camera walk. I found many interesting things to photograph but I especially liked these milkweed seeds. I had photographed milkweed bursting forth from pods at North Mountain Park the other day but the Morning Glories won the day so I was happy to have a chance to bring some milkweed seeds into the mix.

Autumn is coming!

Apples, pumpkins, falling leaves…

It will soon be here!

                   – Jeanne Hoadley

 Periodically, in order to stretch myself as a photographer, I assign myself a 100 days project. It occurred to me sometime last June that it would be fun to do 100 days of Autumn. Unfortunately, after doing the math, I discovered that there are only 91 days from the Autumnal Equinox until the Winter Solstice. I thought of dividing the extra nine days between September and December but somehow September seems more autumnal than December and the lead up to Autumn much more interesting to photograph. So, I decided to just start the project nine days before the Equinox.

This is my fourth 100 days project. I started with the first 100 days of retirement, next was my first 100 days back in Oregon and most recently I did 100 days of winter from December 2015 into March of 2016. The rules of the game are that I have to try very hard to get out and photograph something every day and post it to my blog. If for some reason I cannot get out to photograph, I have to create a digital art piece from something I photographed within the 100 day period. Since I’ve front loaded the project with a trip to New England I am not too worried about running out of material. But just so I don’t get too lazy, and so that I can really live into the fullness of autumn, I will also try to include a poem, a quote or a Haiku with each day’s photograph.

For my first day, today, I chose to visit one of my favorite places to photograph in Ashland; North Mountain Park. I ended up with over 100 images so the hard part was deciding what to post: the milkweed seeds, the fading coneflowers, the sunflowers, the leaves turning on the Oregon Grapes… I opted for a Morning Glory because these lovely flowers speak to me of September and the transition from summer to autumn.