Southern Michigan in the Fall

Fall is probably my favorite season. As a kid, it was always winter - I loved the holidays and my December birthday and playing in the snow - but now that I'm an adult and have to actually drive in that awful snow, I much prefer fall.

What's not to love about fall? The seasonal scents and foods (apple cider! pumpkin cupcakes!), the start of the holiday season (Halloween, Thanksgiving), the cooler weather, bringing with it the cozy, comfortable fall fashions... And, even though the leaves are changing and the world is getting ready to hibernate for winter, years of the American school schedule have engrained in me an association with fall and the start of rebirth into something new - a new grade, a new semester, even a new wardrobe. The crisp autumn air smells like opportunity - like a fresh spiral notebook, waiting to be written in.

Northern Michigan is more known for its autumn color - and I'll share some photos I took in Traverse City in tomorrow's blog post - but down here in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit) we get some fantastic autumn coloring, too.

Here are some of my favorite pics I've taken over the years.

The park in the subdivision where I grew up in Canton, MI

A weedy berry tree near an apartment I lived in with my husband in Grand Blanc, MI when we were newlyweds.

Another photo from the weeds near my old Grand Blanc, MI apartment

Some amazing carved pumpkins displayed at the Rochester Hills Stonewall Pumpkin Festival in 2014

One of the several beautiful burning bushes in my backyard in Rochester Hills, MI

A shot of my neighbor's maple tree, mid-color change

Another photo of my neighbor's maple tree in Rochester Hills

The maple tree from a distance

As with all of my photos, I take these mainly because I want to have them to use as source photographs if I ever decided to make a painting or drawing of autumn plants. I take far-away shots and close-up shots so that I have a variety of types to work from in the future.