This was probably the last of my photographic expeditions in which I get into Taughannock Creek with a pair of sandals on my feet; the water is getting too cold to stay in it shin-deep for more than even a couple of hours. However, that was enough time to find an awful lot of interesting things to photograph. Fall with its power to inflict colossal death always invites me to come face to face with the most fundamental source of life.
As usual, the creek was most generous to my inquisitive eyes. It was late afternoon, and a golden light was hitting the water at that peculiar angle that brings out the volume of things and the glory of water without extreme contrasts. Everything seemed especially sharp and well-defined.
Also, and as usual, I was immediately drawn to fallen leaves in different states of decomposition. They remain beautiful in their sorry state, and they remind one of the many generations of human beings that have equally fallen and been washed away into the sea of non-being. By some reputable account, some 108 billion people have preceded us in death, which is just a normal, healthy part of life. We are here to witness this fact, not with fear and sadness, but rather in silent awe of the unbroken and, therefore, unfathomable stream of life and death. We have all received in equal measure the honor to witness this vital flow, and it is only proper that we be willing to lose ourselves in the exercise of this honor.