Vine Maple Blaze

I found this lovely Vine Maple blaze scene along FS 66 just west of the intersection of FS 66 and FS 24; this area is know as Peterson Prairie, which is west of Trout Lake Washington. The difficult process of finding pattern and form out of the intense chaos that is fall color in this part of the forest was made simple by this lovely arrangement of Vine Maple set in front of the greens of fir trees with a nice large Douglas Fir with the gray-green of lichen growing on the deeply furrowed bark. The delicate ferns in front were starting to die out from the intense spring green color they display from late spring through most of summer, letting the hidden yellow pigments create a showy display. There is so much intensity to fall color in October at this elevation and location that the real challenge is to carefully frame your images.

Very nice, Phil. I visited this area on the edge Indian Heaven Wilderness last fall and it seems like the vine maple there are particularly vibrant.

Lovely, indeed, Philip; a great comp and the colors popping! Hopefully, we'll enjoy good color in the area for the Fall Color Shoot there this weekend.

Excellent isolation of the way these burst into flame, not always easy as you note!