It’s finally autumn, and the Leaves of Lanka are falling in the University Museum.

The exhibit, featuring 38 photographs taken in Sri Lanka, opened Sept. 15 and can be seen through the end of October. The photographer, Rashid Arshed, took the photos while on a six-month vacation to Sri Lanka with his wife, Tahira.

Because he was afraid the X-ray machine at the airport might damage the film, Arshed developed the pictures while still in Sri Lanka. All of the photographs are done in black and white, which gives them a unique perspective.

Arshed put on the exhibit to “introduce Sri Lanka to the local community, the faculty and the students to enjoy and maybe consider Sri Lanka as a possible destination for their future vacations.”

The curator of this exhibit is Daniel Petty, a senior geography major from Greenfield. He has previously worked on a Tent City exhibit.

The photographs featured in the Leaves of Lanka exhibit include Meditation, Right of Way, Rasiah, Puttalam Girl and First Puff.

The photograph that gives the most interesting insight into the Sri Lankan society is Right of Way.

This is a picture of a traffic jam caused by...an elephant of all things. The strange cause of this traffic jam helps you to realize how different their society, culture and experiences are from ours.

Meditation is a photograph of a man who is deep in thought or prayer. His head is angled up, and he has his hands placed in a steeple formation. The sun is coming in and highlights certain aspects of his head and body.

Another interesting photo is Roots. This is a picture of roots of a tree that look exactly like the front legs of an elephant. Arshed has several other photographs featuring interesting roots he found during his journey. These include Roots 2, Roots 3 and Roots 4.

Leaf 2 is a photograph of an extremely unique-looking leaf Arshed found in Sri Lanka. Leaf 1 is also featured in the exhibit. The photograph, West Window, shows a pair of glasses and a camera on top of the shadow of a window covering.

All of the photographs exhibited in the museum are interesting in their own way. Most of the photos display different aspects of the country’s landscape.

Leaves of Lanka is currently on display from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday in the University Museum located inside Paul Meek Library.

A selection of Arshed’s photographs from the exhibit can be seen at Petty’s Web site www.dpetty.net/sri_lanka.