By Scott Shephard

Part of my annual fall trip to the Black Hills is to make the short journey over to Lakota Lake, which is only a few miles from our cabin. My primary mission is to check out the oak trees and their fascinating leaves. I have photographed oak leaves many times and I suppose you could say I'm in a rut. But I can't resist.

It is September, as you no doubt know, and fall colors have hit the Black Hills, though oak trees are a littler slow to turn color than the aspen and birch. In the case of this leaf, you can see that the green is dominant but fading. And I like that look for what it represents both visually and metaphorically.

Canon 5DIII 1/250s f/4.5 ISO200 100mm