The bright colors of fall have come to an end. The oaks have turned to their deeper rust color and the ground is now littered with faded colors. As I was out raking leaves, a light rain started. On the still lake it provided its punctuation in the water surface. The reflection was beautiful and a reminder to me that even though the bright colors of fall are gone and many of the trees are without their vibrant leaves, there is still an amazing beauty in the world around us.
raindrops
Raindrop ripples
Whenever I’m out on a lake I’m always looking around at the sky, the clouds, the shoreline and the reflections — anything for a delightful image and photograph. Last week I wrote about musical patterns that I saw in the surface of a lake with the reflection of cattails and lily pads. This week I found raindrops dancing on a lake surface. It was early evening when we put our canoe into the water, with a sun sinking into the west and a bank of clouds passing by. The sun was still out and when I looked around I could see small circles on the surface of the lake, and not of the fish-kind. Although we couldn’t feel it ourselves it was starting to rain. The single drops spaced themselves on the surface of lake, making beautifully concentric circles and ripples spreading outward. With the sunlight and the blue sky reflected in the surface, I was presented with a wonderful photographic opportunity. As quickly as the rain had started, it then stopped. After awhile the sun slid below the horizon, painting the sky a shade of pink and orange; the full moon rose over the trees, the stars filled the sky above, and we were treated to another beautiful summer’s evening on a Minnesota lake.
Looking out through the rain
Our summer has been one of rain, heat, and humidity. This past week I was on my way to the YMCA for yoga class. As luck would have it, it started to rain, or more correctly, it started to pour. The rain came down in buckets. I arrived at the Y, parked my car, and it was still pouring so I decided to sit it out for a while and wait. I sat in my car looking out through the windshield, across the street, to the tree on the other side. Granted, the tree wasn’t anything spectacular, but as I changed my focus from the tree to the windshield I saw something beautiful and fluid. As the rain was pouring down the glass, there was a gorgeous effect on the subjects across the street. They too became fluid and took on a “watercolor” effect. I pulled out my camera and spent the next three minutes photographing this watery scene until the rain stopped, the sun came out, and I walked into my yoga class without getting wet.
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