Autumn's last hurrah

OK. I take back the rusty and crusty title of the last post. The past few days, not having given up on photography this autumn season, I've been determined to go out and find color, whatever is left of it, and have put on a great deal of miles in efforts to do so. What I found is some brilliant patches of maples and some very unique scenes occuring late in this 2009 autumn color season in Upper Michigan. Late autumn is really a favorite time for me, with the forest floor being covered with autumn leaves, and, what struck me yesterday was how vibrant and green ferns are in contrast with the freshly falling maple leaves.
Michigan trail hiking in autumn

Upper Peninsula backwoods find, an old cabin
In my ventures, I happened upon this cabin. Immediately the questions came to mind. Who lived here? Was it a hunting camp or did they live here permanently? When was it built? When was it abandoned? What was it like back then? How hard was it to build this cabin back in the day? Just look how nature is reclaming this structure.
For the most part trees are now bare, but suprisingly there still are a few patches of maple that look like they are at early peak closer to the lakeshore. Yesterday I was lucky to finally have a few minutes of cooperation from the weather with flat calm winds- a necessity in long exposure photography. Over the next few days, I'll post a few more from this year's autumn color season.

rusty and crusty

That's how I'd describe this year's autumn color season, for the most part.Definitely not the brilliant fruit loop type autumn as the trees have turned very sporadically due to the absolutely crazy weather conditions. I had such high hopes this summer, which was extremely cool and rainy. Then September happened. Driest on record. Then, October happened....! very cold with freezing temps. Tons of foliage are still on the trees,especially by the lake. Many leaves are still green,(oaks) and simply shriveling around the edges. Went for a drive yesterday, and for the most part, some aspen have a good amount of yellow,, the birch haven't fared so well, being one of the trees that turned earlier and freezing temps caused leaves to turn brown. Maples vary widely, with a majority of them a golden orange. Reds are very hard to come by this year. It's not a wash though, with the recent yellowing of the aspen and maples turning hillsides a mixture of burnt orange hinted by some brilliant golden stands of maple. Photography wise, photographers have their work cut out for them this year, with a large number of low pressure systems sweeping through the area creating many rainy,sometimes snowy, DARK, windy days, like... today!
It's funny when we do art shows, we have a small image displayed of a single tamarack surrounded by other pine species. The tamarack is a pine tree that turns golden yellow in autumn before loosing it's needles. Many people that visit our booth at the art shows have never seen these trees and think I intentionally altered the tree yellow. From what I understand, the tamarack is found as far south as West Virginia, but it's a handful of northern states. Right now, these are the trees that stand out the most, their contrast is spectacular against the black spruce. If you are lucky to find them in a bog with blueberry bushes, all the better, as those blueberry leaves are turning red. Snow cover forecast today should create some interesting scenes in these parts, as long as we don't get totally dumped on, a nice dusting would be plenty!

tamarack trees, upper peninsula of michigan

2010 will be here before you know it!

And we've got a great calendar to help you keep track of next year!
northern lights aurora borealis calendar 2010 front

northern lights aurora borealis calendar 2010 back

Avery Color Studios contacted us to use our images to produce the Northern Lights Calendar 2010, the northern lights aurora borealis photography of Shawn and Brian Malone.
Check your local gift/bookstore for availability or- you can order them online here.
The photography in this calendar is from the brilliant off the charts northern lights displays from several years ago when we were at the solar maximum, the top of the 11 year cycle. Inside is a scientific description next to every image explaining how northern lights happen and what determines their color. So, not only do you get the images, the information included is very educational! Get 'em before they are gone! The quality of this calendar is top notch in every facet of reproduction as Avery did a great job, and is a chance for you to pick up our best northern lights images for an unbeatable price!