Autumn Pastels

Text and Photographs by Willis Peterson Autumn on the West Fork of Oak Creek! The brook's bordering hardwoods-maples, oaks, alders, ashes, walnuts, box elders, sycamoresform a delightful fall mosaic. Branches arch overhead in hues so extravagant they beguile the senses. Below, the creek murmurs forward, struggles around outcroppings, wells over rocks, and gathers in its enfolding arms a chromatic harvest of fallen leaves.

As the season advances, high overcast often filters the slanting afternoon sunlight, forming a delicate, muted balance between highlight and shadow. This is when the composition of certain scenes can be likened to the Impressionist painter Claude Monet's practice of brushing small patches of color to form his image. Actually, the Impressionists of Monet's day were greatly influenced by the emerging science of optics and by photography itself. They saw and interpreted nature in patterns of light and juxtaposition of colors, rather than in heavy outline and dark form. The effect of light upon color became their passion. Here, captured with patience and affection, are a few images of the kind the Impressionists sought.

The scenes on this and the following three pages were photographed along the West Fork of Oak Creek near Sedona.