Walking around Downtown Oberlin
November 15, 2020
Schoepfle Garden? My neighborhood? Downtown? I had a hard time deciding where to go last Sunday. I’ve enjoyed photographing objects so much lately, which I could find downtown, but on a gloriously sunny day, how could I pass up fall color? Turned out that I had my cake and ate it, too. It was all in downtown Oberlin.
1 Red for the maple now, but winter’s black is not far behind.
2 And red for this oak tree, too! I have never seen an oak tree with leaves this red.
3
4 And I’ve never noticed a bald cypress in this brilliant an orange.
5 The utility lines make me think of a musical staff; the sweet gum leaves are the notes.
6 How many colors can Boston ivy display?
7 Sometimes it’s just red.
8 Or just red and orange.
9 Sometimes shadows are more interesting than the things themselves.
10 And sometimes reflections are more interesting than things themselves.
11 I’m not sure these colors and shapes are good for the window, but they’re good for the photographer.
12 What would a trip into town be without at least one good dumpster sighting?
13 This is my favorite dumpster in Oberlin. (The previous and following photographs are also of this dumpster.)
14
15 This electrical cabinet has a dumpster look to it.
16
17 I hope no one ever cleans up behind this window.
18 Fall light comes in low; how nice.
19 This photograph is nearly identical to one I took in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1970.
Romancing Reality 
Fine set. Linda! Dumpster shots are favorite! 🙂
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November 15, 2020 at 3:25 AM
Thanks, Harrie. It’s always fun to check on dumpsters I’ve photographed before and see how they’ve changed.
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November 15, 2020 at 4:23 PM
Once again you’ve done it. Really loved the Boston Ivy and the dumpsters!
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November 15, 2020 at 7:01 AM
Thanks, Clare. I may never have seen Boston ivy before. First I thought it was English ivy, then Virginia creeper, then I had to ask David. Glad you’re still with me on the dumpsters.
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November 15, 2020 at 4:25 PM
Happy fall foliage to you; that’s an advantage of living in a place that has real winter.
That’s a nice geometrical abstraction in the final image. From what you say, you’re like me, drawn to making some of the same kinds of images we made decades ago. I guess all people have their predilections, which don’t change much through their lives. Genetics appears to play a big role.
Regarding the bald cypress, I’ve occasionally seen that rich a color in some of the ones we have in Texas. It’s imaginative of you to think of notes on a staff in #5.
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November 15, 2020 at 8:51 AM
Yes, real winters, real falls, real springs—always fun to photograph, not always fun to live through. Thank you for all your comments, Steve.
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November 15, 2020 at 5:42 PM
Beautiful pictures, my friend, beautiful colours. My favourites are 6 and – especially – 7! 🙂
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November 15, 2020 at 10:27 AM
Thanks, Adrian. My personal botanist says Boston ivy is related to Virginia creeper. Do you have that plant in England?
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November 15, 2020 at 5:46 PM
I’m not sure, I mean I know some plants well, like potatoes, peas, carrots, ready mash and so on, but find others obscure … but I do think it wonderfully grand to have a personal botanist!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
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November 16, 2020 at 4:10 AM
That’s OK. . . . Yes, it’s pretty nice, especially when we go on walks together.
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November 16, 2020 at 8:18 AM
What a delightful plethora of beautiful fall trees resplendent in their autumnal colors. I can feel the exuberance and pleasure at finding all these treasures which seem magnified by the contrast of what, for many of us, has been a restricted life. I am gifted by your sharing and uplifted by the constancy of what nature continues to provide. Now that I am in Florida I do miss the magnificence of the seasonal changes. Thank you for the eyes to see it and record it.
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November 15, 2020 at 11:36 AM
You’re right about the pleasure I had photographing last Sunday, Patricia. Most people, it seems, do not walk around on Sunday mornings, so I felt like I had the town to myself; social distancing was no challenge. Though it would be nice to spend maskless time with people in addition to those in my bubble, just being out was a treat. How wonderful it is that the pandemic doesn’t hurt the trees, at least not directly. Thank you for writing, Patricia.
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November 15, 2020 at 5:57 PM
Those photos are so colorful and beautiful. Ohio is the better of your two worlds. Eh?? I’m reading The Trees by Conrad Richter. 1st of a trilogy. This isn’t a happy, feel good book. I don’t recommend it. But I must read the whole thing. Have a good weekend. Gerty
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November 15, 2020 at 6:01 PM
Thank you, Gerty. Since I didn’t go to Florida last winter and won’t go this winter either, Ohio is my only world. I did enjoy photographing around and in Sarasota, and I did enjoy the weather, but I’m OK up here. Sarasota did have some awfully good dumpsters, though. 😉 I guess I don’t need a downer novel right now, so will avoid The Trees. Hope you had a good weekend yourselves.
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November 15, 2020 at 8:35 PM
Reality is romantic through your eyes that see patterns and meaning and your heart that adds wonderful laughter. “My favorite dumpster in Oberlin”! “I hope nobody ever cleans that window”! Great!
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November 16, 2020 at 11:57 AM
Thank you, Anonymous, for your kind words.
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November 16, 2020 at 12:15 PM
I’m so happy to see these emerging…the first image – what a striking juxtaposition – I see your brain working there. In #6 (Boston ivy) there’s something very Linda about the composition. It’s wonderful. Same as #7 and #8. I like the curving wall in the shadow photo. The reflection – that background has a metallic look and the reflection is strangely unclear and they work together beautifully, merging into each other (wall & reflection I mean). Then comes the treat of a delicious group of dumpster images, nicely flowing, one after the other. The last two are an interesting pair – one is so complex and the other is so spare. The whole series taken together instructs us to keep looking because we feel the joy in what can be seen if and when we do really look.
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November 16, 2020 at 9:59 PM
I didn’t think about the leafless trees in back of the red-leafed tree until I looked through the viewfinder. My first impulse was to avoid getting the leafless trees into the frame, but then, luckily, I could see that they added something to the composition. At the time I was thinking only graphically. In putting the post together, I realized that my other brain could kick in for that image, too. Hmm. I wonder what’s Linda about #6. I do use the one-third one-third rule an awful lot; maybe that’s it. (And maybe I should try to find other ways to compose as well.) I love that zone where I am just a being who is looking for images; I’m sure you do, too.
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November 22, 2020 at 11:12 AM
More goodness. I am especially drawn to the final image. And your comment as well. I have made several images unconsciously duplicating something I have done before.
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November 21, 2020 at 1:54 PM
Thanks, Steve. I guess our tastes just don’t change that much. It’s fun to notice.
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November 22, 2020 at 11:04 AM