Light through the leaves

We can feel autumn changing to winter around here today. There isn't any snow on the ground, but there is a definite winter chill in the air! Not all of the leaves have fallen off the trees, but a number have. I took photos of the changing leaves throughout the fall, from the beginning of October until last week. I have been planning during that time to share a collection of my favorite photos with you guys. Now seems like the perfect time to do so, as we're transitioning from fall into winter.

I ran into some relaxing autumn music on YouTube recently, and I think it's a good fit for these photos. So if you'd like to have a little mood music while you scan through these, here you go!

A link to the music: Autumn | Ambient, Minimalism, Piano Music

I've been listening to this music for over an hour and a half now. It actually plays for two hours!

This would be a good series of photos to watch as a slideshow if you're able to. At least for me, after clicking on one photo here, I'm able to scan through all of them in a larger size.

A little closer:

I thought this was an interestingly shaped tree.

I picked a few favorite leaves and set them out ~ Small, medium, and large:

Ginkgo leaves:

This is a sight I've seen many times. There have been leaf prints on this piece of sidewalk for years. Pretty cool, hey?

These next two photos aren't of leaves, but they are of pieces of nature I saw during the last week. These will probably be the last dandelion seeds I see until Spring.

And these grasses, looking so golden in the late afternoon sun, say "autumn" to me:

This last photo is a preview for my next blog post, the one about our annual trip to Cedarburg. This was taken on an upper floor of an old mill that is now split into shops. I loved the way the light was coming through these leaves on its way into the window. They look almost lit up! This photo happens to be my computer's wallpaper right now.

Hopefully, I will get that Cedarburg post up soon! As you can imagine, I took tons of photos there. It might take a while to go through them. But I know you guys will still be up for some extra Halloween stuff, even if you see it in December! 

Tonight's Super Bright Super Moon

Did you all get out and see the Super Moon? Tonight, the moon is the closest it has been to earth since 1948!

It was so bright, I actually had to look away from the camera as I took some of these pictures.

I was zooming way in. Something I've noticed about photographing Super Moons is that they give off a pink and purple glow on my camera's screen as I'm taking my pictures. That doesn't happen when I take photos of the regular moon. Unfortunately, the pink and purple doesn't show up in the pictures.

You can see a bit of the ring around the moon that I saw, though.

I like the way the tree branch appears to be holding up the moon in this one.

 

I took a photo using the flash and got this neat, orange glow. There's a bit of green there too for some reason.

It had been a bit cloud covered at first.

 

Last night, the moon was looking more gold and not just with the flash. It was that Harvest moon color.

Isn't that pretty?

The moon had started out as a sort of brightness behind the clouds. I stood out there watching it, camera in hand. In what felt like a thoughtful move from the moon, it rose up out of the clouds as I stood there.

Rising...

Interestingly, the branches in front of the moon look a little transparent. And if you magnify this photo, you might see this light greenish line curving over the top of the moon.

The moon won't be this close to us again until 2034!

If any of you took some pictures of tonight's Super Moon, I'd like to see them! It's possible that the moon looked a little different where you are.

Day of the Dead celebrations 2014

This past weekend my mom and I went to the Day of the Dead celebrations in Milwaukee. You might remember my previous blog posts about these events. There's a parade, gallery show, and dance performance. People show a lot of creativity in their appearance and tributes to loved ones.

We saw something cool the minute we parked! It didn't have anything to do with the Day of the Dead, but it still needed to be photographed. This big witchy cat was on a circus cats van.

She's a little bit scary from this angle.

Before the parade, people waited in a decorated park. Paper mache skeletons, altars, and signs surrounded the group.

These skulls were 3D and double sided.

A half skull look:

This woman added some magic and mystery to the parade. She's carrying incense and the smoke was trailing behind her. This incense was pretty strong, because the scent of it was in my (washed) hair for days.

I love the way her blue eyes match the painted flowers on her face. Her eyes became such a part of her makeup that I had to do a double take to see if her eyes were open or if they were closed. I didn't notice until now that her eyes are the center of the flowers. I was taking these photos so fast and there are so many details, that I didn't catch some things until I got home and looked closer.

Part of one of the altars that was in the park:

The parade started and wrapped around what I think was 15 or so blocks.

I had a major zoom going on my camera because I was photographing the parade from far away. So accidentally, I ended up with some close-up portraits of people. These ended up being some of my favorite photos of the day:

Since the parade wrapped around many blocks, we had a choice of following behind it or cutting around to where it would end up. We decided to go to the finish because then we could see the parade head-on. While waiting for the parade to come back around, we looked in a few shop windows. There was this little skeleton/pumpkin man. The Spanish moss looked like a beard to me.

There was also a dressed up skeleton couple in the window.

I like how the buildings are reflected in these photos. It's like the skeleton is floating in a street scene.

The female skeleton had some snazzy shoes.

I'm not sure what this business was. A cake shop or wedding photographer? They also had a spider covered cake with a voodoo doll topper in the window.

The parade came back around the corner...

There were drummers:

Watch that tall skeleton in the back.

Take a peek under that skull. I thought he seemed extra tall! I'm still smiling looking at this picture.

A bird or a fish skeleton?

I love this photo! She was wearing a hat covered in felt flowers and one of those face masks like you'd wear on a motorcycle or to protect yourself from the wind. That sly look in her eye is the finishing touch.

A cute, warm little skeleton and a nice, happy skeleton:

I like how far away this woman is in my picture. There's all this stark, white space around her so she really stands out. There's something direct about it.

This was part of a moving skeleton sculpture on top of a car. It could spin and move around.

After watching the parade, we went inside the Walker's Point Center for the Arts. On the windows were paintings of skulls and monarch butterflies.

Papel Picado was hanging from the ceiling.

The gallery was full of ofrendas and Day of the Dead art.

I loved this! There are so many details to look at. Be sure to click on these photos to see them larger.

There are birds in the halo around the cat's head. What do you think that means?

A more traditional display:

A colorful, artistic tribute:

A miniature skeleton band:

After looking in the gallery we went back to the park to see the Aztec dance performance.

I like those skulls sewn onto their clothing.

Waiting to perform:

Cuteness:

I ended up catching this guy's face between the feathers on a headdress.

 

 

This lady was on stilts.

I hope you enjoyed looking at this year's photos. Every year is different, but we can always count on seeing bright colors, beautiful clothing, and meaningful tributes. I feel so fortunate to be able to witness these celebrations.