There's no three-four week stretch I look forward to more than autumn coming to the eastern deciduous forest. Summer's monopoly of green gives way to a cascade of scarlet, orange and gold across the landscape. The most perfectly crisp shade of sapphire blue fills the cloudless skies above the last gasp of late-season wildflowers. Mornings start dewy and chilled with your breath faintly hanging in the air. Simply put: I absolutely love this time of the year. It's as beautiful as it is fleeting.
To celebrate the season's return to Ohio, I've decided to share a number of my personal favorite photographs that I think do well to capture the atmosphere and texture of autumn in our incredible state. Nature's beauty can speak for itself and there's little hope I could do much to give it the credit it deserves, so I will let the rest of this post go more or less wordless and hope you enjoy the sampling of scenes. I hope it inspires you to lace up your hiking boots and get out and soak in the colors and beauty for yourselves this autumn season!
*Don't forget you can click each photo to see it larger and in higher resolution.*
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| Waterloo Wildlife Area, Athens County. October 2013. |
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| Foggy sunrise behind a mighty white oak. Adams County. October 2009. |
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| Ripened pawpaws (Asimina triloba). Hamilton County. September 2012. |
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| Narrator and the rolling forests of the Hocking Hills landscape (Conkles Hollow). Hocking County. October 2012 |
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| Fire orange sugar maple (Acer saccharum). Hocking County. October 2009. |
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| American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens). Union County. September 2013. |
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| Reflections on Dow Lake, Strouds Run State Park, Athens County. October 2009. |
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| Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus). Jackson County. September 2014. |
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| Celebrated Ohio nature photographer, Ian Adams in Irwin Prairie SNP. Lucas County. September 2013. |
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| Common persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) fruits. Athens County. September 2014. |
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| Reflections on Lake Ramona, Clear Creek Metro Park, Fairfield County. October 2014. |
Thanks for taking a look and feel free to comment on your favorite photo(s)! Always fun to see what others find most appealing compared to my tastes.
Hi, Andrew. I enjoyed the photo of Lake Ramona. I spent a spring quarter there when it was part of OSU’s Barnebey Center. While there, Dr. Eugene Good enlisted our help in planting a prairie in a 1.5 acre site he had plowed south of the barracks. This area is now surrounded by the Good Prairie Trail. A few years before that, Dr. Good planted prairie seed near the cabin west of the Lake Ramona dam and a few of us helped him scatter additional seed on that site. It seems that both prairies have flourished.
ReplyDeleteI was struck by that spectacular growth of American Bittersweet. Gorgeous! I find a few paltry clusters of these fruits from time to time, and I'm amazed how they've managed to escape the onslaught of the Asiatic species. Late in autumn, after frost and all tender greenery has disappeared, I will see these fruits shiny and brilliant red, their orange husks peeled back or fallen away.
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