🍂 Awesome Autumn🍁

More Thoughts and Images from Fall Journeys

Thanks for returning for another installment of new work from the fall.

We left off looking at the Chittenden Reservoir in Vermont, and now we’re going to turn back around like I did that morning and re-visit Lefferts Pond with some light on the hillsides and shoreline of the pond. It greatly improved the scene, and since the sky was no longer the most interesting part of the scene or even necessary, I excluded it from the image.

One of my favorite parts of being here was running into Joe Rossbach! Joe and Kurt go way back, and it was great catching up with him and his son Phoenix. Joe is one of my absolute favorite photographers, and has been from the very beginning of my photography journey. His work is amazing and he’s a pretty dang nice guy, too!

The afternoon saw some rain finally come in, so we headed up to Smuggler’s Notch in Stowe, Vermont with our group to take advantage of the wet conditions. This is one of our favorite places to visit, but the challenge of putting together interesting compositions in the wild scramble of rocks and trees in here can be pretty intense.

To make it easy for myself, I used the road and returned to a place that I love standing every time I’m in the notch. I think this spot really encapsulates the feeling of driving through the notch. It’s a wondrous ride!

The wet weather helped recharge the streams and we took further advantage by visiting a nearby cascade with the group the next morning. I found a perch with some more moss, ferns, and fallen leaves that reached out over one of the falls.

As we were leaving, the sun came out and seemingly ‘ruined’ the soft light. Normally, I would stop photographing and head back to the car, but while waiting on students to wrap things up, I noticed the stream looked great with the glittering light on the surface, with backlit leaves in the trees and rim-lighting on the rocks in the background. It proved that there is no such thing as bad light, you just have to work with what you’ve got!

With strong winds in the forecast and the possibility of some nice sunset light, our next shoot brought us up to this popular spot, the AM Foster Covered Bridge near Cabot. Michael Blanchette first showed me this way back in 2015.

Kurt and I like to joke that it’s a ‘bridge to nowhere’, but it’s undeniably interesting. To me, it’s a museum piece/sculpture/diorama in a beautiful Vermont setting. I walked down the hill to look straight through the bridge, and used a circular polarizing filter to cut through the glare in the sky and on the foliage, which enhanced the color in both.

From here we moseyed on over to New Hampshire for yet another workshop. We kicked things off at Crystal Cascade, on the way up the Tuckerman’s Ravine trail in Pinkham Notch. These cool blues of the waterfall in the shade were really striking. My daughters asked me to print this image for their room when we were looking through photos when I got home. That’s a ringing endorsement in my world!

The cascades below the more famous Crystal Cascade brought me my personal favorite image from here, as I explored the winding course of the Ellis River and found this neat composition of water spilling between several rocks. The color was actually pretty good here in the understory.

The next morning, we visited the famous Crystal Lake in Eaton, New Hampshire, and I resisted photographing the little white church, which I’ve seen looking a lot better in other photos, in favor of this nice simple scene of colorful trees among the evergreens through the mist at the edge of the lake.

I enjoy both photographing iconic scenes, and more personal takes such as this one. In my mind, there’s nothing wrong with doing both. That said, the joy and excitement of finding something new, something special that you feel like you are the first to really ‘see’, is pretty special. I’ll take that feeling any day.

The waterfall love resumed that afternoon as we walked around Upper Falls on the Ammonusuc River on the other side of Mount Washington. The sculpted rocks in this gorge are fantastic! Thanks go to Tony Sweet for telling me about this spot.

Focusing on a smaller part of the cascade, I noticed these three fans of water spraying down from the rocks and made this composition around the triangular rock in the foreground. This scene was much more intimate and required some looking around, unlike of the obvious shot from the bridge above.

The mountain scenery, one of the things that makes New Hampshire so spectacular, was sadly pretty dull during our time in the state because of the drought. I thought we could get a better chance at seeing more color down to the south, so one morning we headed down to the little hill overlooking Chocorua and the famous bridge at “The Grove” along the southern shore of the Lake Chocorua.

This spot was famously on New Hampshire’s first state quarter and I’ve always loved standing here. I envisioned the mist from the lake on a cold morning clearing the summit of Chocorua, really the most interesting part of the mountain, and that’s exactly what it did.

When I posted this photo on social media right after making it, most people were disappointed that most of the mountain was hiding in the mist. I thought this made it much more interesting. To each their own, so they say.

Are you tired of cascade images yet? I hope not. Because now we’re on to yet another falling water feature, this time in Acadia National Park, the final leg of my autumn adventures. This is Duck Brook, a great spot to see fall colors on Mount Desert Island. I set up this little composition while helping another student with his camera, and liked it so much that I came back myself to photograph it later.

The next morning we set our sights on Ocean Drive, where large waves from a nor’easter and a stunning sunrise awaited us. I actually have never seen a photo from this particular cove, a rarity in this extremely popular area!

On a visit to another brook just below the Tarn, I managed to avoid coming away with yet another image of tumbling water. This time I captured a view looking up into the tree canopy above me while walking down the path. I loved the yellow aspen trees against the blue sky and the darker trees framing them.

Those yellow aspen leaves were the feature of another image, this one a rare (for me) macro image of fallen leaves with water droplets.

Our favorite morning shoot of the workshop was probably on Eagle Lake, with fairly calm waters, mist rising over the distant hills and some nice color and light. This composition was inspired by a student on the workshop, the very creative and talented Sam Gray. It’s no joke that we sometimes learn just as much from the students as they do from us.

I kept returning to this maple tree in between helping students, and loved framing the Bubbles and Pemetic with its branches.

The show of light continued that evening. This time of year in New England can be great for dynamic weather and we can usually count on some interesting skies, but we were really spoiled on this trip.

We took the group down to Hunter’s Beach, a short hike through a beautiful spruce forest down to this rocky beach. While most everyone kept their distance, I was able to convince a couple of other students to come down to the ‘splash zone’ with me and photograph the waves as they came in. We got soaking wet, but came away with some really fun photos of the waves leading up to this beautiful sky, the lines and shapes of the waves, rocks, and clouds mirroring each other somewhat.

Another favorite spot in Acadia is Sieur De Monts, which we’ve seen become much more popular over the years of visiting. The birch path on Hemlock Road, always beautiful, has seen recent improvements with a boardwalk installed over the old dirt path. While I think it’s going to look better with some wear and patina, the curving path looks pretty awesome already.

Even though it’s a billed as a fall foliage workshop, we can never resist going over and poking around the lobster harbor in Bernard. The culture and scenery here is beautiful and fascinating. You know I’m fond of buoys, and surprisingly have passed up photographing this wall before. Perhaps because it’s so obvious. Well, here it is.

On another visit to Ocean Drive, we found our way down on the rocks to the south of Monument Cove for what looked like was going to be another wild sunrise. The light never really materialized, but this soft glow actually might have worked better for this composition showcasing some interesting rocks and the sweep of the shoreline here. The promontories of Gorham Mountain and the Beehive can be seen poking up above the horizon here. I loved the curves!

Finally, our last stop was the Tarn, an absolutely iconic autumn location on Mount Desert Island, and one that either totally stumps photographers, or they love it.

I have to admit I was in the former camp when I first starting photographing here, but over the years I’ve come to understand how to ‘see’ and process these type of images much better. This year, because the water levels were so low, there was a striking red tint at the base of the reeds that made the scene really special.

I think this is my favorite image from here ever, even though there aren’t really the golden foliage reflections that are usually found.

---

That’s it! Whew! I think we started a little more subtle and quiet with the first few images and then really got rolling with covered bridge onwards. I considered going back and taking everything before that out, but I realize that subtle and quiet can be good, too.

I was recently listening to the Lenswork podcast, and the host mentioned how when we look at a collection of images, it’s natural that we make comparisons, judging each image to be ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than the other images.

Hopefully, instead of doing this, we can see each image as its own impression, not to be compared or judged, but simply appreciated and taken in, along with the other images in the collection, as a whole.

What do you think?

---

If you liked what you see here, considering supporting my work by becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter, joining us on a workshop, or purchasing a print.

I’ve gotten through fall, but wait, I totally skipped images from our Best of Maine workshop and Cape Cod in September! Dang. Well, I guess we’ll just have to return to those at some point in the future. ;-)

We also have another installment of the Guide to Photographing the Coast of Maine coming soon, finally arriving at my new home’s ‘backyard’, the Bristol Peninsula and Friendship areas! Yahoo! I’ve gotten lots of great feedback from photographers who are using the guide to help with their explorations. I’m very grateful it’s being put to good use!