“An Indian said you search in vain for what you cannot find.An Indian said there’s a thousand ways of running down your time.
An Indian didn’t scream it, he said in a song.
And that Indian was never known to be wrong.”
- From the movie “Jeremiah Johnson”
Indian summer is generally regarded as the time period after the first freeze in the fall when sunny days and warm temperatures paint the landscape. Gentle breezes rattle the leaves on the trees coaxing them to take flight and fall to the ground. Color abounds and it is as if summer is back in a different form.
Brilliant stands of yellowish gold trees seem to set the hillsides on fire. Each year is different with some seasons lingering on and on and some cut short by cold fronts from the north. I return each season to a particular spot in Rocky Mountain National Park called West Horseshoe Park to check on a stand of aspens that are easily accessible just off the road.
This year, on a picture perfect day, I returned to the aspen stand to find it exploding with color. Evidently, I am not the only one who covets this place because I also found three other photographers there all with their cameras at the ready and their tripods pointed straight up.
I joined them and jokingly asked them what they were looking at. They told me that they were waiting for a good stiff breeze to blow so that they could capture the leaves falling off the trees. I thought this was interesting and strange at the same time. I wanted to get pictures of the aspens on the trees and they wanted to capture the essence of autumn by freezing time as the leaves would be recorded in mid air.
In Colorado, we seem to have pockets of color which draw people like magnets. In Rocky, these pockets are to photographers what “elk jams” are to drivers. Most people are amicable and friendly just as long as you don’t get in their shot. On this day, the other photographers grew weary of waiting for the wind to blow and moved on to higher ground.
I lingered at this place wondering what scene I wanted to create that would capture the moment. I stood there looking straight up at the color until my neck ached. I got a little dizzy on the hillside trying to see all the different perspectives. After awhile, I accepted the fact that the beautiful day was reward enough. Seasons past had sometimes not been so kind. Strong cold winds with grey skies and snow flurries had sometimes been the order of the day ushering the leaves off the trees.
Eventually, I too moved on in search of more stands of aspens in full display. I drove around the park with polarized sunglasses that enhanced the experience that I was not able to capture with my camera. This disconnect was especially frustrating when there was no place to pull off on the shoulder less ribbon of highway to get a picture. But I kept looking and thought of these closing lines also from the movie “Jeremiah Johnson”:
“The way that you wander, is the way that you choose.
Indian summer is generally regarded as the time period after the first freeze in the fall when sunny days and warm temperatures paint the landscape. Gentle breezes rattle the leaves on the trees coaxing them to take flight and fall to the ground. Color abounds and it is as if summer is back in a different form.
Brilliant stands of yellowish gold trees seem to set the hillsides on fire. Each year is different with some seasons lingering on and on and some cut short by cold fronts from the north. I return each season to a particular spot in Rocky Mountain National Park called West Horseshoe Park to check on a stand of aspens that are easily accessible just off the road.
This year, on a picture perfect day, I returned to the aspen stand to find it exploding with color. Evidently, I am not the only one who covets this place because I also found three other photographers there all with their cameras at the ready and their tripods pointed straight up.
I joined them and jokingly asked them what they were looking at. They told me that they were waiting for a good stiff breeze to blow so that they could capture the leaves falling off the trees. I thought this was interesting and strange at the same time. I wanted to get pictures of the aspens on the trees and they wanted to capture the essence of autumn by freezing time as the leaves would be recorded in mid air.
In Colorado, we seem to have pockets of color which draw people like magnets. In Rocky, these pockets are to photographers what “elk jams” are to drivers. Most people are amicable and friendly just as long as you don’t get in their shot. On this day, the other photographers grew weary of waiting for the wind to blow and moved on to higher ground.
I lingered at this place wondering what scene I wanted to create that would capture the moment. I stood there looking straight up at the color until my neck ached. I got a little dizzy on the hillside trying to see all the different perspectives. After awhile, I accepted the fact that the beautiful day was reward enough. Seasons past had sometimes not been so kind. Strong cold winds with grey skies and snow flurries had sometimes been the order of the day ushering the leaves off the trees.
Eventually, I too moved on in search of more stands of aspens in full display. I drove around the park with polarized sunglasses that enhanced the experience that I was not able to capture with my camera. This disconnect was especially frustrating when there was no place to pull off on the shoulder less ribbon of highway to get a picture. But I kept looking and thought of these closing lines also from the movie “Jeremiah Johnson”:
“The way that you wander, is the way that you choose.
The day that you terry, is the day that you lose.
Sunshine or thunder,
A man will always wonder, where, the fair wind blows.
…where, the fair wind blows.”
