Mostly Photos

A Canvas of Fallen Leaves /  by Todd Henson

A canvas of fallen leaves

The ground below us can sometimes be a wonderful canvas on which nature creates its paintings. These four examples were all created the same day at Blandy Experimental Farm, the State Arboretum of Virginia. What we have here (clockwise from upper left) are photographs of what we found below a group of maple, fir, beech (?) and cypress trees on November 20th of 2021.

A canvas of fallen maple leaves

A canvas of fallen fir leaves

A canvas of fallen beech (?) leaves. Anyone know if these really are beech?

A canvas of fallen cypress leaves

I’m not certain whether what I’ve listed as beech leaves are, in fact, beech. Does anyone know?

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Maple Leaves in Autumn: Two Perspectives /  by Todd Henson

A maple canopy in orange

On a trip to Blandy Experimental Farm, the State Arboretum of Virginia, in the second half of November we found most leaves had already fallen from the trees. Not unexpected. However, we also found a few stragglers, maple trees hanging onto their leaves and showcasing some bright colors. Additionally, we got to see how beautiful the ground can be when most leaves have fallen, creating a carpet of colored leaves that create that distinctive crunch as you walk over them.

A carpet of colored maple leaves

I hope you enjoy this short look at two perspectives of the maple trees at Blandy.

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Autumnal Fungi on the Forest Floor /  by Todd Henson

Potato Chips in the Forest?

Hiking through the forest earlier this month (October 2021) I noticed mushrooms sprouting up all along some sections of trail. And, of course, being a nature photographer with a very general and flexible set of interests I just couldn’t pass them by without creating a few photographs. So in this post I share a small collection of the mushrooms I found, all with nearby leaves to show the season as autumn.

A Fungal Family Outting

A Mushroom Spotlit by the Sun

As tempting as it can be, I did not arrange any leaves (or mushrooms) in these photos. All are just as I found them, with the one exception being the removal of a single small leaf that had a nasty shiny splotch of slime atop it. Back home in the digital darkroom I performed my typical adjustments, such as exposure, color balance, white and black points, and some creative dodging and burning.

A Bendable Mushroom

Looking Down on a Bendable Mushroom

Autumnal Mushrooms

Quite often I’m inspired by other photographers, and in this case I want to acknowledge JWSmith Photography, who published a couple posts with his recent discoveries while mushroom hunting up in Maine. Check out his posts, Mushrooms and Mushrooms - Part II.

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