maples

Maple Leaves in Full Fall Foliage Colors

Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) leaves showing fall foliage colours on a white background.

red orange and yellow maple leaves on a white background

Sugar Maple Leaves in Full Fall Colors (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

   Fall is one of my favourite times of the year, and certainly my favourite to photograph. I know I’ve previously expressed dismay at having a year where the fall foliage was dull or almost nonexistent. I’d say that 1/5 years is a good fall foliage year here, at least for native species. Mostly that is Bigleaf Maples (Acer macrophyllum) and Vine Maples (Acer circinatum) in the Vancouver area and Fraser valley. There can be some good foliage color from the Cottonwoods on occasion. The leaves above are from a backyard Sugar Maple – a tree that can be counted on for decent leaf color almost every year (even in the rain). In mid-October I started to think about the fall foliage – a point in the season where one doesn’t know if it will be good color at all. Even if it is, often rain will fall constantly until the leaves are on the ground. As I’ve had experience with this before – I photographed these leaves on a white background one rainy day just so that I could say for sure that I’d photographed some decent color.

red maple leaf on a white background

Red Maple Leaf Fall Foliage (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

   Luckily for me and everyone else around here who enjoys such things, this was a rather good year for fall foliage. I was able to photograph much of it without any interference from the rain (see a number of my recent posts) which was an added bonus.

For more photos of fall foliage visit my Fall Gallery.

Bigleaf Maple in Macmillan Provincial Park

Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) along the riverbed of the Cameron River at Macmillan Provincial Park in Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada

bigleaf maple near cameron river in macmillan provincial park

Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) along the Cameron River (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

    The Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) in this photograph (left) is a good example of an ecological “edge effect”. In ecology the edge effect refers to the phenomenon that species (and diversity) you would normally see within an area change along the boundary with a different area. This can be the edge of a trail or road, a clear cut, grassland/forest transitions and in this case, the edge of the Cameron River in Macmillan Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. In this particular type of forest, you’ll get Bigleaf Maples, Vine Maples, Red Alder (successional species) and a number of other tree species growing on a newly formed or existing edge. Just inside the edge the majority of the trees are conifers such as Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir. This was one of the better specimens of mature Bigleaf Maple in Macmillan Provincial Park that I found. The tree on the right hand side of the image is a Red Alder (Alnus rubra) and is also a frequent edge resident.

You can see more of my photos of this area in my Vancouver Island Gallery.

Queen Elizabeth Park Waterfall

Fall Maple and Ginkgo foliage and the waterfall at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

waterfall in queen elizabeth park in vancouver british columbia

Waterfall at Queen Elizabeth Park (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

   Another one of the photographs I made in October at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I liked the look of this waterfall (enough water, but not too much) along with the fallen leaves and some fall foliage in the Japanese Maple and Ginkgo trees hanging over the pathway.

   More of my photography from Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Park can be found in my Garden Photos Gallery.

Fall in Queen Elizabeth Park

Bloedel Conservatory at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

fall maple foliage in queen elizabeth park in vancouver british columbia

Fall Maple foliage and the Bloedel Conservatory at Queen Elizabeth Park (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

   In October I made another trip into Vancouver to photograph Queen Elizabeth Park displaying some Fall foliage. Most of the colour was provided by various Japanese Maples (Acer Japonica) in the gardens there. I will probably return this Spring to photograph the Magnolia trees in bloom, as well as the tulips and other Spring bulbs.

 

Fall Print Sale! 20% off Prints and Canvas Wraps

From now through January 15th, 2013 all of my Fine Art Prints and Giclée Canvas Wraps are 20% off! Just use the code FALL20 at checkout.

red japanese maple fall colours fraser valley british columbia canada

Japanese Maple

-click to enlarge-

   Most of my images can be purchased directly from my Gallery. Details on this can be found on the Purchase page in the menu above or if you have any questions just send me an email.

   If you are interested in a photo that is not yet in my gallery but instead found here on my photoblog or on a social media site, please send me an email indicating which photograph you are interested in and what size/product you wish to order – the discount will still apply!

   My 2013 Calendar is now also available: 2013 Nature Calendar

   The photo above is a Japanese Maple (Acer japonica) I found last week while looking for Fall colour. I had been looking for some native Maples, but I really liked the red in this against the green Cedars and the dark trunk.

Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park Fall Colour

Little Qualicum Falls at Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park near Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Canada.

little qualicum falls at little qualicum falls provincial park near qualicum beach parksville british columbia

Little Qualicum Falls (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

   A few weeks ago I made a weekend trip to Vancouver Island in British Columbia Canada. One of the parks on my list to visit was Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park – and it did not disappoint. The main falls (top photo) – officially named Little Qualicum Falls is certainly much more spectacular than the Lower Falls (bottom) but both are nice.

fall colours and the little qualicum river below the lower falls in little qualicum falls provincial near qualicum beach parksville

Little Qualicum River below Lower Little Qualicum Falls (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

    I had initially thought that the best Fall colours might have already faded on Vancouver Island – at least judging from what I’d been seeing around Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. The colours turned out to be perfect. There wasn’t much in the way of Vine Maple colour, but the Bigleaf Maples (Acer macrophyllum) had great colour – yellow and even some orange. It didn’t look like any of them had turned slightly then gone straight to brown which was common this year in some places.

   I was also extremely fortunate with the weather. The entire weekend was forecast for rain, at times heavy. In the three Provincial Parks that I visited there was absolutely no rain. All the plastic bags and camera/lens coverings I had prepared were not necessary. While I’d intended on photographing mostly rivers and waterfalls – great subjects in the rain, I was still happy to not have to deal with the possibility of wet equipment and clothing.

fall colours little qualicum falls at little qualicum falls provincial park near qualicum beach parksville british columbia

Lower Little Qualicum Falls (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

More photos from this area can be found in my Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park Gallery

Campbell Valley Regional Park Photos

A Vine Maple (Acer circinatum) with a bed of Pacific Bleeding Heart flowers (Dicentra formosa) – at Campbell Valley Park in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.

vine maple and pacific bleeding hearts in campbell valley park, langley, british columbia

Vine Maple and Pacific Bleeding Heart in Campbell Valley Park (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

   Today I have two photos from Campbell Valley Regional Park in Langley, British Columbia. One of the things I have been working on with my photography is to improve the photos I make of scenes inside the forest. There can often be so many competing elements all heading in different directions that a pleasing, non cluttered composition can be difficult. So I decided to work on that, and am getting results that I think are an improvement and more compelling than previous efforts. This photo (left) of a Vine Maple (Acer circinatum) with a bed of Pacific Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa) growing below it is one example.

walking path in campbell valley park in langley - british columbia

Walking path in Campbell Valley Regional Park (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

   I’ve recently been editing and key wording all the photos I’ve made in this park over the last few years. Many were already processed, but there was still a lot of work to be done. I’ll place them all in their own gallery on my website soon – right now they are scattered over a few different categories. Campbell Valley Park is only about a 15 minute drive for me, so I will likely be spending even more time there as a lot of the park I have yet to explore.

For all my photographs of this park visit my Campbell Valley Regional Park Gallery.