Fall, with its coloring leaves, mushrooms and fog, is a wonderful season to be outdoors as a photographer. The days are getting shorter, the sun is lower and the colors are getting warmer. It’s time to put on a coat again, but with a little sunshine, it’s often wonderfully pleasant. And when you get outside … You smell autumn.
Bloomers
Then, when you are outside, you may just find a field like this, full of sunflowers. The Sunflower (Heliantus) is a late bloomer that does not look out of place in the fall landscape with its large yellow flowers. The seeds are a delicious snack that birds also love.
In this field, among the yellow of the sunflowers, you can also see the blue-purple of the flowering Phacelia which is also called bee food or bee friend. They are liked by beekeepers because they produce plenty of nectar and pollen when sufficiently moist.
An interesting fact, which you certainly wouldn’t expect for the sunflower, is that both the sunflower and the Phacelia are in fact exotics, both originally from North America. Sunflowers are known to have been brought to Europe by the Spanish around 1530.
Autumn Leaf
For typical fall colors, we often look to the coloring foliage of oaks, birches and other deciduous trees along forest edges and in parks. But also look at a single leaf, and marvel at the beautiful grain structure. Especially beautiful to look at with backlighting.
Mushrooms
We can’t get around them, they’re just part of autumn, mushrooms. Especially in autumn, mushrooms grow quickly because they love moisture and warmth. Especially in autumn, the weather often becomes more humid while temperatures are still fairly high. They are fungi, or in fact just a small part of and fungus, because underground you have the fungus gland. The mushroom could be thought of as the “fruit,” as it contains the spores that are important for reproduction.
Mushrooms are important for decomposing fallen leaves, branches and needles, among other things. This decomposition makes the nutrients available again in the soil for new life in the forest.
