When I hear the phrase “the colors of autumn”, I think of the vibrant yellows, oranges, and reds that leaves can sometimes turn into in the fall. But once the leaves have started to fall from the trees, there’s another muted set of colors that also uniquely says “autumn” to me.

I was struck by a scene with just these colors while passing by the Neckar River this morning. The balance of the trees, the pedestrian bridge where the man and dog are standing, the soft colors, the not-quite-distinct reflections of both the bridge and the man: all of these things appeared before my eyes in a tableau that I thought well worth a photograph. So, I quickly reached into my purse for my little camera.

Interestingly, the man, who initially had his back to me, turned around just after I snapped the photo. While his black jacket had made a nice dark silhouette in the original composition,  his white and tan shirt that was visible underneath the coat when he turned around did not. So, I only managed to take one photo that matched what I’d originally seen in the scene. As it were.

But note that there are two versions of that one photo included below. The first one shows the entire scene; the second is cropped to emphasize just the elements that first caught my eye. Not a spectacular splash of bright autumn color, but rather just a quiet view of the Neckar river on a cloudy November morning in Tübingen.

Enjoy.

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P.S. After I put this post up on the blog, Chris commented that he had a different idea for the cropping. I liked his idea, so I have added a 3rd version with the new cropping. Thanks, Chris!