By Scott Shephard

I’m wondering if part of the fascination some of us have with fall colors is that the color we see is a harbinger of what is about to arrive - months of very cold and very short days? We also know that the landscape fades to brown.

This maple tree, in all its glory, generally stands unobtrusively all summer long at the edge of our back yard. And then it shows off - for about a week. And this year it seems more showy than normal. For the last three days a fierce northwest wind has tried to shake the color from its branches. But the leaves have held. But I’m guessing that they will soon let go. And I’ll have to wait another year to see what happens to one of my favorite trees.

Photo Note: For those who might be wondering, this photo results from both natural and digital processes. Nature created the color and Photoshop used what it calls a “Neural Filter” to do the rest. I think that Photoshop uses artificial intelligence (AI) to do this stuff. I’m a bit worried about AI as it applies to photography because there might be a time when the human part of photography is unnecessary.

Canon R5 f/2.8 1/13 sec ISO 400