October's Scarlet Passage

About this piece

A dark paved road narrows toward the lower left beneath tall trees bearing brilliant red, orange, and gold foliage. Photographed on October 23, 2020, the scene pairs sunlit crowns and patches of blue sky with shaded undergrowth, while scattered leaves carry the canopy's color across the road. The broad foreground and distant car give scale to an expansive, quietly luminous woodland.

The story

Late October gathers in scarlet branches above the road. Fallen leaves lie separately across the dark pavement, then collect in bright drifts along its edges. Beneath the deciduous canopy, young evergreens hold their deeper color in the shade. A small car occupies the distant opening, almost absorbed by the trees. The road continues beyond it, leaving the eye somewhere between the brilliance overhead and the leaves already fallen.