Ok, I know it”s spring . . . but I want to write about fall colors. I”ve always felt rather gypped during the fall because I”m colorblind. People make such a big deal about fall colors, and I look at them and wonder what the big deal is. They look brown. And then people tell me it”s just because I haven”t been to New England, New England fall colors are so much better than Cincinnati fall colors. And I look at postcards of New England and don”t understand what the big deal is. They look orange-ish brown.

So for anyone out there who is wondering what fall foliage in New England looks like to a colorblind person, and to keep people from telling me I just haven”t seen the right fall colors to appreciate them, I took a backpacking trip in the Adirondacks last fall and took some photos. The first photo is what my camera captured, no adjustments. Beautiful I”m sure, but to me I can just tell that there are some red and orange trees, nothing special. In fact, I recall the scene looking more like the second photo. I actually had to stop and think “gee, there”s a tree with red leaves over there. I bet color-sighted people would think that”s pretty”. The third photo is my approximation of what the scene would have to look like in order for me to think “wow, that”s a bright red tree”. But even after the adjustments, I don”t think I”d call the color “amazing”. I”d like to assert that the third image represents the color adjustment required to make the world look to me like what the rest of you see naturally . . . but if I”m being honest I can only guess at what that looks like.

So you can see why fall colors just don”t impress me much. And this probably explains why I really crank up the saturation on some of my photos . . . I”m just trying to make it look like I think it should. I suppose you”ll just have to believe me that my photos capture the way the world really looks. But even if you don”t believe me, that”s my prerogative and task as a photographer – to show you the world the way I see it.