Angry Autumn Sky

Posted by Russ Devan (New Hanover, United States) on 28 February 2008 in Landscape & Rural and Portfolio.

This is an overgrown field about a half mile from my home in New Hanover. It probably once belonged to one of the original farms in the area that were sold long ago and subdivided for housing developments. Soon, it will be full of "McMansions" just like many other areas around here. Sigh.

I pass this field several times each week and was keeping my eye on the trees as they slowly turned a vibrant orange very late in the fall last year. It was one of those scenes that had so much potential, but needed the right light or the right something to come along and make it look special. So, I watched it and watched it for some time waiting for the right moment to come along; hoping that would happen before the leaves fell from the trees. Fortunately, these trees were the last to change color this year and hung around an extraordinarily long time.

That moment finally came on Thanksgiving Day last year. I spotted nasty storm clouds rolling in above the field as I was coming back from the store for my wife (we ran out of whipping cream for one of her signature dishes she was making to go with the turkey). I drove home, dropped off the whipping cream, grabbed the camera and headed out again, much to her amazement. I figured a couple of quick snaps of the shutter and I'll be back right away. Ha ha, yeah right. Set up the tripod, try a few filters, add a polarizer, adjust the exposure, wait for more clouds to roll in, add a couple ND grads and the next thing I know, the sky opens up and starts dumping on me and the equipment. I took off my rain coat and drape it over the camera while I pack the equpment into my backpack and then slog back to the car a drowned rat, only to pass by our dinner guests as they drove past me on their way to my house for Thanksgiving dinner. I got a good-natured ribbing when I finally got home...soaked... a short time after they arrived. At least they waited until I changed into dry clothes before eating. It was worth it for a photograph.

Thanks for stopping by.

"The Master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both."
- Zen Buddhist Text

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