This weekend should have been peak autumn color in southeast Iowa. Unfortunately, earlier this week overnight temperatures plummeted into the 20’s and zapped the brilliant colors. It’s always frustrating when mother nature doesn’t cooperate, especially when you have a day set aside for traditional landscape photography. And the wind, I don’t know which was worse, last weekend or this weekend. The muted colors reminded me of the dark golds, avocado greens, burnt oranges and rusts of the 70’s. So much for peak autumn color.

I haven’t been out shooting since before the pandemic. Last weekend I worked with the wind and created images using the ICM technique. There were several trees that were still green and I was looking forward to seeing the autumn colors at their peak. Geode State Park is known for its brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red. And at the right time of day, the lake is a beautiful blue.

As I was wandering around and getting ideas for the golden hour, I saw my brother and sister-in-law driving through the park on this gorgeous Indian summer day. We chatted for a while and they continued on their drive and I continued looking for brilliant color. It was a great day to be walking the trails and being outside or driving your convertible.

Mother nature sure made me work hard this year to make images of autumn color. Although I took all my camera gear, which weighs about 25 pounds, I only used one lens. No macro photography this year, quite unusual for me.

These are the images I made today. You may click on any of the images to view a larger image.

And that’s a wrap for peak autumn color in Southeast Iowa..