Pic of the Week 11/18/22

“Lone Leaf”

Location: Turner Falls Park Davis, OK

Date taken: 11/10/13

Lone Leaf

© Ben Jacobi

Autumn is among us, and Ashlee and I just returned from a wonderful camping trip to McGee Creek State Park in eastern Oklahoma to photograph the changing fall colors. Those photos will have to wait for now, so instead I’ll be sharing one my all-time favorite fall/autumn images I’ve captured. For this, we must go back to a windy overcast morning back in 2013. My mother and I had just arrived in time to catch the nonexistent sunrise over the Turner Falls Overlook. This would be my first time visiting Turner Falls, but it certainly would not be my last.

Since the skies were overcast, our chances of capturing dramatic light on the waterfall for nil and therefore, we decided to head down into the park to seek out the peak fall foliage. We were fortunate to actually get into the park, as a film crew had set up and was filming a video for the Chickasha nation at this time. Their floodlights were still scattered around various parts of the park as well as thick power cable zigzagging across the parking lot. One of my friends tried to visit Turner Falls just the day before and it was closed due to the filming.

When we made it into the park and up close to the waterfall, we started to notice most of the fall color had already fallen. The leaves beneath our feet crunched as we walked along the path taking in the scenic waterfall. After an hour or so, we decided to look for more interesting scenes along one of the trails. We took the Beaver Pond nature trail following the natural springs that feed Honey Creek.

Along the hike, I spotted a composition that caught my attention. A lone maple leaf had fallen and landed at the confluence of two streams. The bright vibrant orange contrasted nicely against the dark blues of the creek. Interjections of green moss and yellow lichen added more color to the triadic color harmony. I positioned my camera down to capture the scene.

At the time, I didn’t think much of the shot. I knew the composition was decent and it was relatively interesting, but this is still one of my favorite autumn themed photographs I’ve made. Something about the simplicity of the photo holds my attention stronger than the more complex or widespread compositions I record during the fall. To this day, anytime I’m out hiking around creeks with fallen leaves I seek out another “Lone Leaf” image, but nothing I’ve captured has matched up to this photo.