Toronto welcomed its first snowfall all the way back in November 2021. What a shock it was, waking up and seeing the world covered in a thick blanket of white. I automatically grabbed my camera and headed off to the park in hopes I would catch some pretty, wintery photos.
We decided to go to a local park for some fresh air and on the off chance that we would be able to spot some autumn foliage. I brought my camera just in case even though I honestly thought I wasn’t going to see anything noteworthy. Wow, was I ever wrong. Many of the trees had already shed their leaves but that meant that the ground was covered in beautiful shades of reds and oranges while the remaining leaves and branches were bathed in warm, golden hour light.
Getting closer to the trees was a bit of a challenge as the ground was very slippery. The mud and wet leaves made walking a bit of a difficulty and my running shoes were not made for terrain like that. This is also a bike path so when trekking out here, it’s best to keep an eye out for bikers approaching as they can be going quite fast and the hill is quite steep.
All in all, I didn’t take a tumble like I thought I would, and I got some beautiful photographs. I also took some videos on my phone that I’ll be posting to my Instagram Reels.
I really loved the contrast between the tree and the sky. I thought the shape of the tree and its branches were interesting so I paired them with the clear backdrop of the sky to accentuate them more.
We visited Jack Darling Memorial Park for the first time back in the summer and I remember thinking to myself at that time that we needed to come back in the fall. I just knew that all those green trees but in shades of reds and oranges would be the most beautiful sight and boy, was I right! Sometimes, you really need to be at the right place at the right time and that couldn’t be more true with these photos. We were here closer to golden hour and the way the trees were lit up with that golden light was just absolutely stunning. At times, it looked as if the trees were on fire because they were so gold. I’ve never seen anything like it and I couldn’t help but be thankful that my love of photography has brought me to so many wonderful scenes.
Evergreen Brickworks is hands down one of my favourite places to visit during autumn. Our first visit of the autumn season was on Halloween day. We were here on Halloween of last year as well. While I was able to capture some gorgeous scenes both times, it was interesting to see the difference. The leaves were a lot farther along in their transformations last year, for sure. We only visited on Halloween this year since any time before then, the leaves were still green. Last year, Halloween was our second visit of the season and many of the trees were looking a little bare by that point.
We climbed up the steep hill here for the first time and the view from up top was so beautiful. I’ve never gotten photos like that before and I’m so happy I was able to see that view with my own eyes. As much as I love the other seasons, autumn is my favourite to photograph. Which is ironic as I despise the shorter days and the sunsets that occur earlier and earlier during this time.
I’ve never seen a rainbow over the lake quite like this before. Sometimes, you really just have to be at the right place at the right time. We drove down to the lake for some fresh air and ended up finding a rainbow instead! Looks like there’s a pot of gold right across the lake, too!
I was wishing for a vibrant sunset to photograph over the lake and got this moody and gloomy waterscape instead. I was a little disappointed until I got to editing and realized I loved how melancholic this photo ended up looking.
It’s been a month since this photo was taken and I still wish I could have seen it at one of my usual sunset viewing locations. Even more so since I had a hunch that that evening’s sunset would be on the more intense side. That afternoon, the clouds had that hazy quality to them that I’ve begun to assciciate with vibrant and intense sunsets. In the evening, I looked out the kitchen window just before sunset and was simultaneously elated and disappointed with what I saw. So I grabbed my camera and rushed outside to the backyard to photograph whatever I could. I’m thankful I was able to capture something, at least. It always becomes a little bit more difficult for me to go sunset chasing when the days get shorter and shorter. Winter hasn’t even begun yet and here I am missing those long, warm, summer nights.