Summer's Gone

Summer's gone come chill October days
We will stroll through russet trees
Through the fallen leaves of oak and sycamore
That carpet earth through harsh December freeze.

- from October To May, by Dave Cousins

The weather here in Vancouver this September and so far for October has been very pleasant—the skies are blue, the nights clear but cool, the days warm, and it's been drier than normal.

Yesterday was no exception. I went out to the local park late in the morning, Monday being Canadian Thanksgiving, about an hour ahead of Betty, Shaula and Matthew. I wanted to take in the sun and to photograph the leaf fall before the Vancouver rains come, and everything gets soggy and turns brown.

For me, the challenge and joy of photography is finding beauty in the commonplace, be it a dilapidated building, a window display, an old door. While the two images below are of intrinsically "beautiful" subjects, foliage, the context in which they were taken borders on the unsightly.

[Click on each image for a larger version.]

The following is a shot of one of two maples at the southeast corner of the park. The roar of traffic on Kingsway is just ten feet away, across a wire fence. On the opposite side of the street is a used-car dealer, a Fountain Tire shop, and a burger joint. A thin, strung out woman in a hooded jacket, hood up, face hidden, walks past me and exits the park. A guy and his girlfriend on the sidewalk are talking to strangers in a car that has just pulled up to the curb. Both women look like the prostitutes who frequent the area.



In hindsight, I'm lucky I didn't get jabbed by a used hypodermic needle while positioning the leaves for the picture below. And boy, do I feel stupid now for letting the kids form a huge pile of leaves to jump on.



If, for a moment I have fooled you into a forest, my job as a photographer is done.