Fall Photography Wanderings

Fun With Cameras XLIV

A different crop of one of the pictures below: fall colors at a cemetery. Mülheim a. d. Ruhr, Germany, October 31, 2023.

Fall is my favorite season. The world cools and dials up its colors along the way. Autumnal winds make the leaves sing. And one’s fascinated eyes enjoy soft, warm light at much more accessible hours on both ends of the day.

With Christmas just behind us, we’re deep into winter already. Let’s take a visual stroll back to the weeks when the world displayed a more vibrant color spectrum. Below, I’ve collected some images and corresponding observations that I connect with the fall season. Enjoy.

Top left Fall leaves at an industrial park. Oberhausen, Germany, October 10, 2023. Top right and bottom left Fall colors at a cemetery. Mülheim a. d. Ruhr, Germany, October 31, 2023. Bottom right Fall colors and light at the lakes. Duisburg, Germany, October 19, 2023.

The earliest images bring us back to late September. I had different plans for that day. But train complications caused me to switch plans. Instead of riding out to Landschaftspark, I stayed local.

I left the train station and took the extended way home, which brought me to a bit of greenery at the edge of an industrial estate (a place I’ve visited before).

I didn’t feel too well before I started the day. The problems getting to the location I had planned didn’t help my mood. Working with a camera for the few minutes I had at that substitute place lifted my spirits.

A backlit leaf (top left), a man walks into the distant on a footpath decorated with fall leaves (top center), a close-up of a leaf with rain drops (top right), and a leaf rests on a mossy guardrail (bottom). Mülheim a. d. Ruhr, Germany, October 21, 2023.

Since my first photography visit three years ago, I wanted to return to the nature reserve 6-Seen-Platte. I had to display patience to make it happen.

The weather was mediocre that day. The train stop I had picked brought me through a wooded area, which was pleasing to the eye but void of any images.

The naked tree was the first scene I responded to. And although it would also match a winter theme (planned for the next installment, by the way), I decided to include it today.

I love the golden scene by the lake, but despite trying various compositions, I couldn’t find the image I had hoped for. Sometimes, what you see just doesn’t translate into an image. And that’s okay.

Two days later, I found my way to a stretch of trail called Fossilienweg (fossil path). I had grander plans for the day but got lost in discovering the fall details along that path, pushing the remaining locations to another day.

An autumnal scene at the wooded area south of the Ruhr-University campus (left and right) and top-down look at mushrooms on a tree log (center). Bochum, Germany, October 29, 2023..

Backlit fall leafs near the lake Kemnader See (left and center) and on the Ruhr-University campus (right). Bochum, Germany, October 29, 2023.

A couple walks along an autumnal path. Bochum, Germany, October 29, 2023.

Building GA with an autumnal tree in the foreground (left), a different interpretation of fall: progress of the dismantling of building GC (center), and a look back at the new building GD reveals fall colors on campus (right). Bochum, Germany, October 29, 2023.

Fall color look up near the lake Kemnader See (left) and a stormy fall campus (right). Bochum, Germany, October 29, 2023.

A weekend after finding the fossil path, I reunited with an old friend for the second time this year.

Let me tell you, taking a train instead of a bicycle opens up new photographic avenues. I wandered the campus at first. It was a dull Sunday morning, and I wasn’t inspired (but fascinated by the construction progress).

I earmarked a few spots for my return from more natural habitats. I am shocked I went to that campus for four years without ever setting foot in the botanical garden or the wooded area behind it. It’s a stone’s throw away from the parts of campus I almost lived at.

I needed to pick one train later because I found many spots worth exploring between the southern tip of campus and the lake Kemnader See. I have to return soon.

The hydropower plant Horster Mühle (left), an autumnal chimney near the river Ruhr (center), and a fall vista from an elevated street near the river Ruhr (right). Essen, Germany, November 1, 2023.

All Saints’ Day was the day I picked for trying a new location by the river Ruhr. Exiting the train station, I followed my bicycle head unit’s navigational instructions to the first spot I had chosen after consulting a map. It was still north of the river. But the instructions brought me through a wooded area — complete with muddy single track and fallen leaves wherever the eye traveled. Had I not been concerned with directions and covering the distance I knew was ahead, I could have spent my time right there.

But I knew I wasn’t coming back this way, either. The footing was too treacherous for the shoes I had on my feet.

The riverside was peaceful but not calm; too many cyclists on a decently narrow path meant I had to watch my step. And while some of the stops I had planned didn’t pan out (a case of the map not meeting reality), I found a few decent autumnal scenes.

Yellow tree on the way to the valley Reinersbachtal (left), yellow tree through a fence on the way to the valley Reinersbachtal (center), and a church tower with autumnal foreground gardens (right). Oberhausen, Germany, November 17, 2023.

Fall trees on the way to the valley Reinersbachtal (left and center), and an autumnal motorway (right). Oberhausen, Germany, November 17, 2023.

Left and right Fall leafs. Oberhausen, Germany, November 17, 2023.

I hoped to squeeze in more photo walks aimed at enjoying and capturing fall colors. Life, weather, and public transportation chaos cut them down.

I still found some late fall scenes on a stroll through a small valley in Oberhausen’s north, another place I’ve visited before.

The day felt more winterly than autumnal, and the light was a bit harsh and vanished abruptly. Some pictures that looked promising in my mind didn’t work. I wished I had brought gloves. And I was caught between two aggressively barking off-leash dogs on my out of the valley. I was still relaxed and pleased when I waited for the tram home a short walk later — delayed by 15 minutes.

I hope you found some interesting images in today’s fall photography wanderings. I’ll be back with the latest running observations on Saturday.