Fire at the Dome

Autumn in Olympia: the curious mix of gray skies and brilliant colors.

Autumn from the Inside Out

Walking along a nature trail recently, I found myself looking out over a river through multicolored maple leaves. It's been a great year for fall color, with surprisingly little rain and no hard freezes yet, both of which tend to mute colors or strip the leaves from the trees. And that means good shooting for photographers! I love the layered look of this photo, as the eye follows the branch out toward the light and the multicolored leaves.

Red Waves, Blue Waves

I've been seeing light recently, even as the sun wanes in the sky with the autumnal cycle. On separate occasions in the past week, I've found light reflecting off water in interesting ways, and only after posting these did I realize the similarity. Sunlight - water - bold colored wall. Colorful balm as the gray clouds set in for the start of our rainy season here in the Pacific Northwest.

Magic Watercolors

One of my favorite spots to catch great water reflections is at the very southern tip of Puget Sound -- the place where Budd Inlet meets the Deschutes River (well, the outflow from Capitol Lake). Depending on the weather, the time, the seasons, a whole variety watery effects can emerge. This is an afternoon reflection I caught while lots of other people were milling around the same area watching the migrating salmon take their last breaths of saltwater before heading upstream to spawn.