Autumn in full swing. Central Park, New York City.

After nearly 6 weeks of dealing with a fairly intense leg injury, I was finally able to go out for the first time yesterday and walk around the way I normally do. I think I walked something like three miles in total! It felt incredible to not be limited in the way I was limited previously while dealing with the slow healing process. I ended up going to Central Park to soak in the remaining bits of autumn since autumn is so fleeting here in New York City.
I met up with a few other photographers from Google Plus later in the afternoon. Prior to meeting up with them I got to the park several hours earlier to go to my favorite sections of the park. I was still a little timid and apprehensive about doing a lot of walking even though I got the go-ahead from my doctor this past week to engage in my normal level of activity. Thankfully, I realized an hour into climbing around in piles of leaves (sometimes it’s fun to abandon the paved paths in Central Park especially when leaves are involved) that I was going to be just fine! The foliage was a bit past peak foliage but there were some genuinely magical landscapes.
It’s no secret that autumn is my favorite time of year. A while back I mentioned to people on Google Plus that I am saddened that autumn’s finest foliage only seems to grace us with its presence for a few weeks out of the year. Someone commented back to me that the short-lived nature of autumn is what makes it so special. Perhaps there is some truth to that notion. The fleeting transient nature of autumn does make it memorable.
There is a bittersweet quality to the action of capturing it in full splendor; giddy delight at experiencing something so magical mixed with sorrowful anxiety knowing that in a short time all of it will be only a preserved memory.

by nythroughthelens