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My Favorite Season
by Kenton Krueger
Anyone else turning their sights toward autumn? I for one find myself spending a fair amount of time these days looking forward to my favorite season.
Here in Flagstaff, Arizona, where I make my home, this time of year is typically a fun one for photographers mostly due to the weather. Typically, it is warm and quite wet, with the summer monsoon in full force bringing with it each day thunderstorms featuring sheets of rain, spectacular lightning, and claps of thunder. The sunsets during this time of year are typically epic on a nearly nightly basis. Typically. This year we’ve been dry, and we’ve been really really hot. I guess it might be the less-than typical monsoon here that has led me to daydream about autumn earlier than usual.
Here in Flagstaff, Arizona, where I make my home, this time of year is typically a fun one for photographers mostly due to the weather. Typically, it is warm and quite wet, with the summer monsoon in full force bringing with it each day thunderstorms featuring sheets of rain, spectacular lightning, and claps of thunder. The sunsets during this time of year are typically epic on a nearly nightly basis. Typically. This year we’ve been dry, and we’ve been really really hot. I guess it might be the less-than typical monsoon here that has led me to daydream about autumn earlier than usual.
It’s fair to say that most people enjoy the autumn season. With autumn comes relief from heat and humidity for many folks. In turn, the leaves begin to change colors creating a beautiful tapestry across the landscape. Autumn tends to feel warm and cozy, even as temperatures decline and those same leaves begin to fall.
For nature photographers, like us, autumn brings with it so many things to be excited for, namely those rich colors! I envision hiking in the mountains, surrounded by color-filled trees whose reds, oranges, and yellows create a palate unrivaled by any other season. I see the busy squirrel collecting acorns to store away for winter, and the anxious mule deer jumping through the brush. I see detail in the fallen leaves, and in the frost of the very early morning as the sun begins to kiss the ground.
When one thinks of fall foliage a couple of places come immediately to mind, and for good reason. Places like the Great Smoky Mountains and the New England area are at the top of everyone’s list for deciduous trees that grow increasingly colorful each autumn until they shed their leaves as winter arrives.
For nature photographers, like us, autumn brings with it so many things to be excited for, namely those rich colors! I envision hiking in the mountains, surrounded by color-filled trees whose reds, oranges, and yellows create a palate unrivaled by any other season. I see the busy squirrel collecting acorns to store away for winter, and the anxious mule deer jumping through the brush. I see detail in the fallen leaves, and in the frost of the very early morning as the sun begins to kiss the ground.
When one thinks of fall foliage a couple of places come immediately to mind, and for good reason. Places like the Great Smoky Mountains and the New England area are at the top of everyone’s list for deciduous trees that grow increasingly colorful each autumn until they shed their leaves as winter arrives.
In northern Arizona, residents, and visitors alike look forward each year to the changing colors of the Quaking Aspen, which inhabits huge chunks of real estate high up on the San Francisco Peaks, just north of town. Flagstaff resides in the middle of the largest Ponderosa pine forest in the world, so there is plenty of green to go around. In autumn, when the thick stands of aspen turn from green to gold (and some to red and even orange), the contrasts become incredible. Paired with a typically clear blue sky, things are ripe for the taking for landscape photographers.
You know these trees. Whether prevalent where you live or not, the aspen is quite recognizable. And it is likely that you can find them not far from you. In fact, the aspen tree is the most widespread tree in North America. They range from the Midwest, across Canada, north into Alaska and across the West. As a pioneering species, these trees are the first to grow back following forest fires as they prefer sunshine and open spaces.
The quaking aspen is a member of the willow family of trees and a relative of the cottonwood. Their thin bark turns a greenish chalky white color, beautifully smooth with multiple black bumpy patches that almost resemble black eyes. In summer they have green leaves, which each year turn yellow, gold, and even orange and red before dropping to the forest canopy.
A “stand,” or group of aspen trees, is actually a singular organism with the main life force underground in the extensive root system. In a single stand, each tree is a genetic replica of the other and is often referred to as ‘clones.” A particular aspen stand in southern Utah’s Fishlake National Forest is thought to be the heaviest organism on earth weighing in at an estimated 6,600 tons! It even has a name, ‘Pando., which means “I spread,” in Latin.
Photographers, hikers, and lookie-loos alike travel each autumn to see the magnificent fall morph of the aspen. These trees make for beautiful photographs and are a delight to just be around. If you’ve never walked amongst a tall, mature stand of aspen, do yourself a favor as soon as possible. And take your camera and tripod, you’ll want them! And it’s not only their aesthetic beauty that makes these things so wonderful. There are few experiences like laying under a giant stand of aspen listening, perhaps with your eyes closed, to the wind rustling through the leaves. Their heart-shaped leaves, combined with flattened petioles (the stalk that joins a leaf to a stem), create a ‘quaking’ sound as they flutter with the breeze. It nearly sounds as if it were raining.
Photographers, hikers, and lookie-loos alike travel each autumn to see the magnificent fall morph of the aspen. These trees make for beautiful photographs and are a delight to just be around. If you’ve never walked amongst a tall, mature stand of aspen, do yourself a favor as soon as possible. And take your camera and tripod, you’ll want them! And it’s not only their aesthetic beauty that makes these things so wonderful. There are few experiences like laying under a giant stand of aspen listening, perhaps with your eyes closed, to the wind rustling through the leaves. Their heart-shaped leaves, combined with flattened petioles (the stalk that joins a leaf to a stem), create a ‘quaking’ sound as they flutter with the breeze. It nearly sounds as if it were raining.
Backcountry Journeys’ Autumn in Grand Canyon Country photography tour is scheduled each year at just the right time to take advantage of all this loveliness, combined with breathtaking scenes from some of the region’s more iconic locations. The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is the true prize on this itinerary, as it is in this location where delicate spruce-fir forests dot the landscape, characterized by spruce, fir, aspen, and canyon maple among other trees.
The aspen trees are the major draw here, as the gold and red leaves contrast well with their glowing white trunks, the greens of the neighboring fir and spruce, as well as the blue of the sky, is remarkable. A classic autumn landscape on its own, yet combined with the grandeur of the Grand Canyon this is a spectacle to behold.
We might even lay down under a giant stand of aspen, just to sit with our eyes closed as the wind rustles between the leaves.
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"Backcountry Journeys offers guests the unique opportunity to explore our natural world from behind their own lens. We run a selection of hand-crafted Photo Tours, Workshops & Safaris connecting passionate people to exceptional experiences. Locations include Yosemite, Alaska, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, Hawaii, Utah as well as Botswana & Costa Rica."
All Images & Content are property of Backcountry Journeys Photography Tours, Workshops & Safaris LLC - Copyright 2024
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Download our Trip Catalog for detailed information on our many destinations for photography tours, workshops, and safaris.