Fall’s Beauty: A Short Sweet Alaska Season

Fall’s Beauty: A Short Sweet Alaska Season

All images by Marc Donadieu / Glacier City Gazette

With the exception of the first image, the photos were taken around my Girdwood home. The challenge was to find the small scenes of fall for colors, contrast, patterns, shadows and textures. Everything changes so quickly.

From upper left corner clockwise
1. A decayed leaf is snagged on a bit of spruce and backlit by a beam of sunlight penetrating the trees by Glacier Creek.
2. A small stream’s fl ow bends and distorts the yellowing leaves underneath.
3. A golden leaf of Devil’s club is cast in spiky shadow.
4. An elm sawfly larva (Cimbex americana/female wasp) crawls past a leaf.
5. This leaf is hanging on the wrong tree.
6. A rare hail storm blew through Girdwood, featuring thunder, lightning and a burst of heavy rainfall on Sept. 24, 2018 as the Gazette was in layout.
7. Fireweed and buttercups