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 p.1 #11 · Fall Color: First Time photographing New England fall color | |
bobby350z wrote:
Beautiful set of images.
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dakel wrote:
Fantastic imaging Dan. They are all great but #1 is a particular beauty in my eyes.
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Al Trujillo wrote:
Beautiful series, Dan! I have been looking forward to your follow-up from the first thread you posted as you were planning this trip. Being there was quite unlike anything I have experienced before and I'd love to go back again.
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Starfire8 wrote:
One of the best series I have seen of this area, Dan! Congratulations, especially since it was your first visit to the area. The black and white composition is extra-ordinary, in my opinion! Very creative and original. I love No. 2, also. Great light and color. Voted.
Best regards, David
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Al Trujillo wrote:
Beautiful series, Dan! I have been looking forward to your follow-up from the first thread you posted as you were planning this trip. Being there was quite unlike anything I have experienced before and I'd love to go back again.
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Ed McGuirk wrote:
Dan
For a first time visitor to autumn in New England, you did very well for yourself, based on the images here and on on your blog. I have lived in New England my entire life, and still enjoy shooting autumn foliage every year. Therefore it was interesting to read about photographing New England autumn from the perspective of a first time visitor. To me, your observations on the experience of photographing autumn in New England are generally on the money. The only thing I would add is that the speed of foliage change was unusually accelerated this year. A summer drought (like we had this year) can cause an early and brief foliage season. But this was amplified even further this year by unusually cold temperatures in late September and early October. Once you get a few days around freezing, it just accelerates everything (I had 26 degrees at sunrise on 10/3 shooting in Pittsburg, NH which was much colder than normal).
In more normal years, peak foliage can last up to 10 days, barring serious wind/rain/frost events. Some years we have what are called "slow burn" foliage years that start a bit later, and run at peak for longer periods of time. In 2015, I shot peak foliage in Sugar Hill, NH on 10/18, and it was late enough that there was even snow on the White Mountains. In normal years, the sweet spot for northern NH and VT is usually somewhere in the range of 10/1 to 10/12, and the season often lasts longer than what you experienced this year.
Another piece of information that may be valuable to others is that the foliage season in New England runs longer if you move from north to south. You can go from peak foliage in northern NH/VT in the first week of October to peak in central NH/VT in the second week, to peak in Massachusetts and Connecticut in the third week. And this variation is all in the space of a 3 hour drive. Also, not all of the tree species turn at the same time. Maples peak in the first 2 weeks of October, but next week (October week 4) I am going to northeast Vermont to shoot Tamaracks, which turn after the maples and beeches are all gone. And in the first week of November, you can still find oak trees turning in southern New England.
I suggested that you shoot sunrise at the Kancamgus overlook, and you came away with a nice image from there, hopefully the tourist insanity level wasn't too high that morning
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Thanks everyone, and special thanks to Ed, who gave me some very solid advice while we were making final plans for the trip — notably regarding timing and locations. The dates advice saved us from what would otherwise have been a somewhat disappointing experience... and toward what turned out to be the perfect time to be there this year.
Ed, when I made my comments about quick development and sudden peak of the color, followed by a clear demarcation between that peak and the beginning of the decline, in the back of my mind I was thinking: "Maybe that's just this year." And that notion was reaffirmed for me this season when, after returning from the East Coast, I headed to "my" Eastern Sierra and noticed that this was a different sort of there, too. On the West Coast the issue was that the lack of any serious storms during the color transition had allowed color to develop a bit late and, more important, to remain on the trees longer. I normally advise people to target week 2 of October for pretty reliable Sierra color, but this year there was great color in week 3!
All of. this is by. way of acknowledging that while all years share common features of general timing and so forth, each color season seems to have its own personality, driven by factor set in motion months earlier... and during the transition period. (Yes, we also saw that the color peak had not yet happened as we drove south through Vermont.)
As a person intimately familiar with the seasonal patterns of my California landscape, it was useful and good to go someplace where I felt both out of my familiar element... and able to apply some of what I know to this new location.
We got lucky with that Overlook photograph. The crowds weren't too bad yet since it was early, and the fog in the valley was the chef's kiss. It was a tough shot since the sky was extremely bright (I was shooting almost directly into the sun) and the foreground colorful trees were obviously in shadow. It helped, too, that we were there entirely on weekdays. By Thursday evening and when we left on Friday morning (of a three-day weekend!) the crowds were already increasing significantly. Surprisingly, aside from an ill-advised visit to North Conway (what a zoo!) and the time on the Kancamagus Highway, there were quite a few other places where the crowds were not that bad. The unpaved road that took us to the location where I made the creek photo was almost deserted.
In any case, I think we'll be back!
My next post in this forum will likely be Sierra Nevada Fall color from my shorter-than-usual visit to the Eastern Sierra this past week. At some point, I need to write more about the comparisons between photographing the two places. (Hint: Anyone who thinks I'll declare one to be "The Best" will be disappointed. ;-) )
Again, thanks to all of you.
Dan
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