October on the Charles

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One of my favorite times to be on the Charles River is in October, ideally when the fall foliage is at its peak. This has been a strange year — very very wet, and rainstorms most of the last several weekends. And the foliage has been pretty meh up til now — a lot of the trees just kind of shriveled their leaves and dropped them, rather turning pretty colors.

This past Saturday was the exception. It was warm and sunny, and while the foliage was slightly past peak, it was still pretty, and still a great day to be on the river. So I put the kayak on the car, visited Mum early, and headed over to the river.

Orange trees along the riverGreen, orange and red trees by the golf course.Orange tree and yellow treeTrees heading upstreamLayers of fall foliage branchesMulticolored leavesPark Road bridge, looking from upstreamTurtle basking on a rockA line of treesClouds and deep blue skyTrees along the river banksRed leaves juxtaposed against yellow leavesOverhanging treesTrees along the bend of the riverOrange treeLooking downstreamLeaves and skyClouds and treesRed tree and skyYellow leavesUnder the arch of the railroad bridgePony truss foot bridgeLeavesHeaded back downstreamBlue sky and brown treesClouds and skyFan of cloudsClouds and sunlit trees, near sunsetClouds and sunlit trees, near sunset, heading downstreamSunset-lit treesTrees and reflections

This was the first time I’ve really been able to do any real shooting with my new iPhone 15 Pro; up until now, it’s been raining every time I’ve had the free time to shoot. I’d been bumming a bit about it — despite three years worth of difference between it and its predecessor, in day to day use, it’s felt mostly the same. But, I’ve been really impressed with the quality of the pictures coming out of it. Pictures taken with the iPhone 12 Pro looked fine on the phone, but when transferred to the Mac, they always looked a little over-sharpened, with some visible artifacts. These pictures still look sharp, and still have the high dynamic range, but they don’t look over-baked. For the first time, I kinda prefer them to the ones shot on the Nikon. (Aside – given that I’m shooting RAW, why can’t Photos use the wide gamut of values captured to render Nikon images with the same high-brghtness effect iPhone pictures have?)

It was a great day, and the first day in a while that I was able to just enjoy the day. And of course, the next day, the rain returned.