Changing seasons

We went for a family walk near Bragg Creek yesterday.  Each time we go out, I walk with camera in hand watching and waiting for what Mother Nature has to offer in terms of special surprises.  What I see and what I am inspired to photograph changes every time, like the seasons.  Here are a few examples.

I was struck by the falling leaves that were suspended in the gnarly branches, a rest stop before they are lifted off by the wind and shuttled to the forest floor below where, over time, they will become nutrients for a new season of life.

This leaf had fallen onto the welcoming comfort of a downy white mushroom.  It appeared fused to the surface of the mushroom, as if resisting the inevitability of decomposition.

At first glance, this scene probably makes no sense: an uprooted and upended mushroom bedded down on a branch of pine nettles.  My guess is that a hiker propped it up there as marker of some kind.  Regardless of how and why it ended up suspended in the tree, it caught my attention immediately.

I find red to be such a powerful colour out in nature, especially juxtaposed against a sea of green and earth tones.  The shades of red, orange and yellow in this single leaf are incredible.