Halloween

This started as an image that I took of a spider web hanging off the side of a tree. The rest of this picture is just black magic............:-)

I hope you enjoy your day and evening. I have to go out and buy the candy for our trick or treaters. Have to wait to the last minute because for some reason whenever I buy it in advance it seems to disappear in this house. Hmmmm....

Community Church, Montgomery Center VT

The pumpkins on the stairway, and the Fall wreath on the doorway caught my eye at the Community Church in Montgomery Center VT. I also really liked the antique lights and the old worn look of the building.

Another view that I found of this old building surrounded by Fall colors.

Sabbaday Falls NH

Another waterfall along the Kancamagus Highway in NH that I recently visited is Sabbaday Falls. This is a beautiful waterfall that is easily accessible on a short trail off the main highway. The trail itself is beautiful, as it follows along the river. Again, I was there past peak, so there was a lot of leaf drop on the trail which I personally love to see and hear the "swishing" of the footsteps through the leaves along the path. Also, the musky earthy smell of walking through the woods in the Fall is one of my favorite scents in the world.

As previously mentioned on another blog post, the water level was really low. Here is a shot I took of the river as I was walking along the trail.

Here is the falls....

There is an upper falls which you can see in this image which is a closer view ....

As I sit in my living room typing this blog post, I can smell the earthy pine scent of the woods, and I can hear the roar of the Falls. Such nice memories.

Jobs Pond, Westmore VT

I always thought that Jobs Pond was located in Newark VT, but I recently discovered it is actually located in Westmore. Oops.........which means previous blog posts that I have written about Jobs Pond have been incorrect.

Anyway.....I visited Jobs Pond on 2 different days during this year's peak foliage season. The first visit was on Oct. 4th. It was mostly overcast when I arrived, but just before I left, the sky began to clear.

This first image was taken along the North side of the pond.

This image was taken from the access along the Eastern side of the pond just before I departed, as the sky was clearing.

This image was taken 2 days later than the previous two images, on Oct. 6th.

Such a beautiful and tranquil place to visit.

Kancamagus Highway Scenic Overlooks

The Kancamagus Highway is a 34 mile scenic highway that travels through the White Mountains from Lincoln NH to Conway NH. I photographed this area on October 15th with a few friends. We knew the area would be past peak.....especially at the higher elevations.....but no matter what the conditions, beauty always abounds here.

There are a few scenic overlooks along this road, offering some of the most beautiful views in New England.

The Hancock Overlook:

The Pemigewaasset Overlook:

My friend David....

The CL Graham Wangan Overlook:

The Sugar Hill Overlook:

A six image panorama:

Water Ripples

A fun thing that photographer's often do, is throw a rock into a pond and photograph the circular ripples. I often times do this when there is calm water with colorful Fall reflections. This little pond in NH had a layer of fog above the water. Here is the result of a rock being thrown into the water to make ripples. This is one of those images that can make the viewer pause and wonder what they are actually viewing.

Rocky Gorge Kancamagus Highway NH

The water levels in Northern New England are lower than normal, although they are not in a severe drought situation, as we are here in SE MA. This lower water level was very noticeable on my recent trip to The Kancamagus Highway in NH. One of the places we stopped to photograph was The Rocky Gorge. This low water level allowed very easy access to walk out across the granite slabs, without having to maneuver around running water. However, it also limited the photo ops.

This is the main fall at Rocky Gorge:

Kettle Pond, Groton State Forest, VT

I visited Kettle Pond on an overcast evening in VT. We were hoping that the sun might possibly poke through to brighten up and color the sky, but that didn't happen.

Stillwater Brook flows from the East end of the pond. This brook eventually flows into Lake Groton.

Frost and Fall Foliage

A couple of images taken the morning I took a day trip to NH last weekend. There was a deep frost the night before our arrival, and we arrived early in the morning, so there was still a good deal of frost on the grass and open surfaces.

There are many more grand as well as intimate landscape Fall images to share here on the blog, but figured I would change things up on this blog post to show single images of frosted leaves. I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Island Pond VT

The Fall colors in Island Pond VT were spectacular this year (as were the colors in the entire NEK) I visited this area on two different days during my photography trip a few weeks ago.

This is the village of Island Pond with it's three church steeples proudly pointing upward. This was taken during mid to late afternoon on a sunny day.

Some road side colors that were taken on a rainy day.

Long Pond, Westmore VT

Continuing on with the pond and lake images from this Fall in VT.......here are a few images taken at Long Pond in Westmore VT. Again, the colors were peak and beautiful.

This is a panorama made from a series of images that were stitched together in Lightroom.

One more image of the beautiful Fall colors and reflections at the pond.

Autumn At Crystal Lake in Barton VT

I recently posted a panorama image that I made at Crystal Lake on a perfect Autumn evening, just before sunset. Today's blog post will feature more images taken at Crystal Lake at various times this Fall.
These first two images were taken on Monday Oct third, on an overcast late morning, from the boat ramp at the South end of the lake along Rte 5.

The next few images were taken on Wed. Oct 5th, just before sunset. These were taken along Rte 5 at the North end of the lake on a perfectly calm evening.

Due to the calm wind and still water, the reflections were perfect that evening.

The railroad tracks which run along the lake make a nice forefront interest to these images.

On Saturday Oct 8th, I headed out before sunrise without a destination in mind. I figured I would follow my "gut feeling" as to where to stop to photograph either a sunrise, or the early morning light. As I was driving along Rte 5 at Crystal Lake, I could see a cloud cover to the NorthEast over the lake with a hint of a pink hue forming. My "gut" told me to pull over and set up the tripod at this spot. As I waited, the clouds were getting more dramatic, and were changing colors from the initial light pink, to a deep pink, purple, and orange. It was the most dramatic sky that I saw all week, and was happy to have been able to witness it and capture it with my camera.

This blog post is an example of why it's always a good idea to go back at different times of the day, and different seasons of the year, to photograph a specific location. No two days are ever the same, and it's always exciting to see what Mother Nature brings to you to photograph.

Lake Willoughby, Westmore VT

If you are a faithful follower here on the blog, then I'm sure you have seen photos taken at Lake Willoughby posted here in the past. If you are a newcomer to the blog.......Welcome!

Lake Willoughby is a beautiful glacial formed lake, and it is also the deepest lake in Vermont. It's a favorite of mine and I have shot it in every season. Last week I made a few visits to this lake. The first visit was on a dreary, on and off drizzly day. This was taken at the South end of the lake.

A few days later I went back for another visit. This time it was a beautiful blue sky day. This is a bit of a different perspective of the lake, taken from one of the side roads off Rte 5A which follows the lake shore from North to South (Or South to North depending on which direction you are traveling.)

Marshfield Pond, Vermont

I went to photograph Marshfield Pond in Marshfield VT one early morning last week. This is a beautiful spot for early morning photography....especially on a foggy morning. I've never visited this spot before, and I knew that all of the elements were going to come together on this particular morning to make some special images. I left my house in Barton around 5:15 AM to arrive by sunrise. I typically have a very good sense of direction and very rarely get lost, but on this very foggy morning, I got a little disoriented and a little lost. Just a little......and I realized my error in little time, however this error delayed my arrival at the pond. I wanted to be there and set up before the sun rose, but ended up arriving about five minutes after sunrise.

As the sun and clouds were quickly moving, the lighting was changing just as quickly and dramatically.

This was probably my favorite spot that I photographed in VT this Fall. There are several other ponds which I visited, and they will be featured on upcoming blog posts. 

On another note, I took a day trip to the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire yesterday. It was a glorious day. Those images will also be appearing here on the blog. I'm happy to have so much material to share with you, as my opportunity to shoot the Fall foliage is coming to an abrupt end this week. More on that in a few days. Stay tuned and thank you for your visits to the blog. It means a lot to me.

Fall Foliage Along Railroad Tracks

I've been looking to make an image along railroad tracks lined with Fall foliage for the past several years. Each time I made an image, I wasn't happy enough with it to include in my portfolio. Either the colors of the foliage weren't right, or the lighting was creating harsh shadows and contrasts. This year I found pretty close to what I have been envisioning along the railroad tracks in Bloomfield VT.

Crystal Lake Barton VT

I've taken many photos along Crystal Lake in every season.....Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. In all of these times photographing, I have never seen such still water and perfect reflections. This was a perfect evening in every way!

This is a panorama made up of six images stitched together.

Fall Colors Northeast Kingdom of Vermont

I've been photographing the peak Fall Foliage colors in the NEK of VT for fifteen years. This years colors were exceptionally vibrant. I'd say it was one of the top three foliage seasons that I have seen.

This blog post is all about the colors. These images were not saturated and I didn't adjust the colors in processing. It actually was difficult to not blow out the red channels when photographing this year. THAT'S how vibrant the reds were.

Sheffield VT

Newark VT 

Newark VT

Many more blog posts from this years foliage season in VT to come.