Stepstone Falls RI

Hello!!! Happy Sunday! Getting over the bad taste in my mouth from last nights Sox game. Lets hope the Pats game has a better ending this afternoon. Speaking of the Pats game....Miss J and Steve are attending the game today. They are off tailgating right now and Mr S and I get to spend the entire day with Ryleigh. What a wonderful way to spend a beautiful Sunday. Life is good!

Yesterday was a beautiful day that I spent with some camera club friends. We spent a wonderful late October afternoon at Stepstone Falls in West Greenwich RI. Here are a few of my favorite images from yesterday. The afternoon light was really beautiful.

What a beautiful day we had!!!!

Ryleigh is six weeks old today!

Spent a little time with Ryleigh today. :-)

She is growing so much and she is smiling these days as well. Today was not a smiley day, but I'm sure we'll get some pretty smiles next time. Love you Ryleigh!!!!! xoxoxoxoxo

Chandler Pond Farm

I recently made my second visit to Chandler Pond Farm in Lyndonville VT with my camera club friends. Our first visit was on a very rainy day last Fall. Here is the blog post I wrote about that visit:
http://www.carolsviewofnewengland.blogspot.com/2012/10/chandler-pond-farm.html

This year we visited late day in hopes to be there for the alpine glow at sunset. As the best laid plans sometimes turn out.......the sky clouded over and we never really got the color in the sky that we were hoping for. But it was all okay. We still had a wonderful time visiting and photographing. Our first stop was to the Farmstand. We needed to be sure to make our purchases before they closed!

The owners and staff at this farm were so welcoming to us and our cameras. They could not have been any nicer, and gave us free reign of the entire banyard!!

A view of the farm from high up on a hill

The cupola's view:

And here is the pond....""Chandler Pond"

A wonderful place to visit in any season!!!!

Flagg Pond, Stannard VT

Mr. S accompanied me on a scouting trip to Flagg Pond when we were up in VT this past August. It is a remote, fairly unknown pond up in the NEK of VT. I wanted to see a couple of things. First, I wanted to see about the lighting.....would it be a morning shot or an afternoon shot....(from best vantage point, would want to shoot the time of day where the sun would be behind me.) Also, wanted to check the access to this pond because I wanted to bring my camera club here. I don't like bringing them anyplace that I haven't scouted myself....want to make sure the roads going in and out are in good condition etc. I also wanted to check on the aesthetic beauty of the pond. Did it have what it takes to make a good Fall landscape photograph?
This was a very successful scouting trip and I got all of my questions answered. I learned the best time of day for shooting here would be afternoon, because during the morning scouting trip I was shooting directly into the morning sun. I also really liked the look of the hillsides behind the pond, and was hoping to get some nice Fall reflections on my return visit.
Here is a record shot taken during that August scouting trip:

As you can see, just a "ho-hum" image. Certainly not the best lighting etc. But, I knew this place had "good bones" and got excited with the thought of returning here in the Fall with my camera club.

So, on Saturday, Sept 27th, I arrived here with some camera club friends and the conditions were perfect for photography. The foliage was peak, the sky was a perfect deep blue with beautiful white puffy clouds to add interest and add to the reflections, and there was no wind......the water was still and the surrounding hillsides, trees, and sky reflected beautifully in the still water.

I just love it when Mother Nature cooperates!!!!! It was perfect and I have lots of happy memories of this time spent with friends.

Inspiration

Giving myself some much needed inspiration....

Senior Portrait Session, Whitman MA

I had the pleasure of photographing sweet Alyssa a few weeks ago at the Whitman Town Park. Alyssa's Mom, Lisa, who is Mr S's cousin's daughter, used to babysit my kids when they were little. I can't believe that Lisa is old enough now to have her own daughter be graduating from high school this year. It makes my brain a little crazy. How does time go by so fast I will never know!!!!
Here is adorable Alyssa. Her cuteness makes me smile....

Could she be any more adorable????

Thanks Alyssa, and Lisa. I had a ball!!!! :-)

And big congratulations go out to Alyssa for being honored with the Abigail Adams College Scholarship. Way to go girl!!!!

Crystal Lake, Barton VT

Well hello!!! This has been such an incredibly busy few weeks for me. I have been making trips back and forth to VT doing what I love to do best......photographing Fall in New England......and in between I have been spending time and photographing precious Ryleigh who I just can not get enough of!!!!!! I also did a Senior Portrait session of adorable Alyssa in between all of this. So, I have so much to share with you here on the blog, which makes me very happy.
Let's get back to my wonderful Camera Club weekend in the NEK from a few weekends ago. It was such an amazing trip. The weather, the foliage the friendships......ahhhhhh sweet Heaven!!!!

Here are a few of my favorite images taken at Crystal Lake. This first image was taken by the boat ramp along Rte 5, just as the sun was breaking through the morning fog.

And here is my favorite spot to shoot this lake from in the afternoon. The sun is behind your back and lights up this glorious maple tree!!!!

Here is another morning fog shot taken along Rte 5 in Barton.

I can feel the morning fog, and smell the wonderful musky pine scent of Fall in New England just by looking at these images. Sigh. 

May Pond, Barton VT

I'm back from a very successful three day weekend, where I led 20 plus members of my camera club on a Fall photography outing in NE VT. We laughed, we ate, we laughed, we ate, and we laughed some more. We also took some very pretty photos which I would love to share with you.

One of my favorite places on the planet is May Pond in Barton VT. I visit this pond every Fall.....but every image I have made here has been different. The time of day, the amount of fog, the conditions of the foliage, the sun, the clouds, the weather....all these things factor into what type of an image I am going to make.

Here are a few from this weekend that I am happy with. This first image was taken just before the sun rose.

Here is the sun rising with perfect reflections

Here are some of my camera club buddies

And here is just a pretty picture after the sun rose

I'm still on vacation, but have come home for a few days to spend with Ryleigh. I'm heading back up to VT in a couple of days. I get the best of both worlds! :-)