Color Overload

Fall will be here before you know it. I was sorting my way through some pictures and came across these from a recent Autumn. This group of buildings right on the edge of the water is always so picturesque, but never so much as in the fall of the year. That maple tree can be like a great big pumpkin some years. I never see much activity around there, but it sure looks like there was some kind of business associated with the life of a waterman at one time.

The boat over on the left of this image is the same one as in the last picture. Light spray from a boat wake in the shadows can be a very dramatic motif. They are advancing up river through a bend and the main channel is off to the right out of sight.

I tried my best to tone down the fall colors in this and the next few images, but I didn't have much luck. It was either wash them out so that they were completely unremarkable or let them attain the contrast that allowed them to have the snap they were suppose to have.

The atmosphere in the fall can be so clear and have so little humidity that even without bright sunlight there are stark differences in tone between highlights and shadows. Add the reflections off the water and you have an eye-popping overload of color. I'm not sure what these guys were doing.

Maybe they were looking for a spot from which they could do a little waterfowl hunting. They certainly look to be dressed for that activity. At any rate, as fast as they came up river, they returned down river.

It wasn't too long before another smaller boat with a load of hunters appeared and eased their way into the marsh across from where I was standing. Those little black dots in the grass ahead of their boat are actually a flock of blackbirds that were spooked by their appearance.

I think maybe fall is my favorite time of the year to take photographs. I tried to tone the color intensity down between this image and the last. You can see how it gives this image a whole different mood. It reminds me of the movie "Into the Woods" — a very disappointing movie, by the way.