A closer view of Virginia creeper turning colors

In a comment this morning, Steve Gingold said he hoped to see some of the other pictures I took of Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) along Morado Circle on November 7th. Always eager to oblige, I’m posting this closer view of a vine that had attached itself to a vertical rock surface. The colors of the leaflets appealed to me, of course, but so did the interplay of the shadows those leaflets cast.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman

Reliable Virginia creeper

Austin has hardly any large-scale fall foliage like that of the Northeast where I grew up, but I’ve come to rely on a few native species here for smaller blazes of color toward the end of the year. One of those color-providers is the vine that botanists call Parthenocissus quinquefolia and that most ordinary folks call Virginia creeper or five-leaf creeper. On the afternoon of November 7th I made like a creeper and scampered up a small embankment along Morado Circle in my neighborhood; once there, I aimed my camera mostly vertically and photographed this vine that had crept up a tree and thanks to a vivid change of colors stood out more conspicuously than it had at any time earlier in the year.

If you’re interested in photography as a craft, you’ll find that point 12 in About My Techniques is especially relevant to this photograph.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman