©Meandering Passage - Earl Moore Photography
Crunchy fall leaves soon to be a rich mulch on the forest floor.

Crunching about in the woods this last week with a crisp carpet of fallen leaves beneath my feet I was remembering how much I use to enjoy playing in the leaves on fall days as a child — wonderful play.   I’ve noticed I wasn’t the only one enjoying the fall woods and it’s fallen leaves, as attested by the beautiful  photos of Mark Graf.

When you think about the sheer volume of leaves a hardwood forest can produce it’s rather amazing how quickly they disintegrate into a rich mulch on the forest floor.  Mother earth is indeed an expert recycler if we let her be.

©Meandering Passage - Earl Moore Photography
Fall leaves caught at the top of a small waterfall in a stream

However, not all leaves lay where they fall.  I’ve caught some in these last two photos hitching rides upon streams no doubt ending up far from where they began.

©Meandering Passage - Earl Moore Photography
Fall leaves collecting on, in and below the water of a crystal clear stream.

Mankind often thinks itself outside of nature, somehow in control.  But I believe that thinking is narrow minded and not viewing the bigger picture.  I’m not sure our brains can comprehend just how much bigger that picture may be.

12 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Monte Stevens
11 years ago

Love that first image with the soft tones. My memories of leaves are of an aching back from raking them and very little play time with them. I also wonder at times about the decaying process nature provides, a death and rebirth of the system. Hope you enjoy the weekend.

Mark
11 years ago

Well, the cold has arrived here Earl and I won’t find myself just wandering about the woods as much. :-) Thanks much for the linkback and nice words. It is quite extraordinary to think about all the processes that go on in just a small piece of woodland, then multiply that the world over, add in the oceans, and you get lost pretty quickly. Throw in the universe, and wow, it is something one could spend their whole life thinking about and never even peel back one layer.

I wish I had more moving streams closely, mostly they are stagnant ponds from flooding. There is a larger river, but it is much too wide to give intimate scenes like you captured here.

ken bello
11 years ago

I don’t think most people would consider the idea that they are insignificant, especially Americans. We ARE the center of the universe, after all.
Beautiful photos, Earl.

John
11 years ago

Nice images, Earl! I remember fondly playing in leaves when I was young – making big piles of them and burying myself. What a wonderful smell and sound they made! I still love walking through them and listening to the crunching. Life’s simple pleasures are often the best.

Cedric Canard
11 years ago

These three photos are beautiful and are certainly a perfect expression of fall. Makes me wish I was there, scrunching leaves under-foot, helping the decomposition process along.

Ove
Ove
11 years ago

Oh, I love the second photo, the leaves in the spring. It didn’t appear to me what it was, I was drawn to it by it’s form and colours. Beautiful!