I love every season. Summer, with its inviting warmth, begs us to come outside and explore. Spring brings forth life, both beautiful and refreshing. Winter, with its quietness and solitude. But autumn is the perfect season; at least it is for me…

It is late August, and I can already see the tint of autumn in the trees. I reach for my laptop and search the Fall Foliage Map in my area. As a hobby photographer, it’s the perfect tool for planning great outings for this shutterbug.

Of course, September doesn’t go willingly into full-blown color, nor do the days bring those high temperatures down as much as folks outside the Pacific Northwest might imagine. Just so you all know, it gets hot here, and it stays pretty warm through September.

However, the rains come. The mornings slowly require us to wear those famous PNW-specific hoodies with all their unique designs and/or regional logos, and some mornings, you’ll need to throw on the inevitable beanie! Okay, maybe not all of us dress the part, but I do most days.

Autumn is also the perfect season for photography and a bit of videography, whether as a hobby or professionally. Many of the professional landscape photographers I enjoy learning from say the same. So, this fall, I am going to dive even further into the proverbial pile of fallen leaves known to me as my love of picture-taking.

Fall is always a favorite time of the year for me. When I was growing up, life at home was not all that good (no worries, it turned out great eventually), so heading out to school on a crisp autumn morning was an escape as much as it was to kick leaves or dive into raked piles of them with my sister as we walked to school together.

I loved the anticipation of it all, the build-up to Thanksgiving and sharing it with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins growing up. All of these days blended into a myriad of fall colors and colder and colder days that led and still lead to Christmas.

The build-up, that’s it- that is what I love about autumn: a period of beautiful days that bring everyone out of the cold and back home, where conversations flow like hot cocoa, and the food is hearty and especially delicious!

Creation. In all His glory, in all His wisdom, in all his grace and love, what He created when He created the seasons- this one in particular is amazing. This is the harvesting season that brings about a slower lifestyle, a cozy and contemplative one that brings us all closer together; at least it feels that way to me.

I am fifty-five years old, and there are many autumns I recall to this day of playing with my friends like Holly, Chuck, and Jingo, as well as my sister and one of the closest people to me in all my life, next to Jesus and my wife, my cousin Ronnie. Those days, those moments will live with me all the days of my life.

Once again, here it comes, a time for more memories to be made with my own children, my wife, and even a few new friends.

And then, there was autumn…

Feature image by David.