A Glorious Autumn
After the past two years of disappointing fall foliage, 2020 proved to be a beautiful and colorful season in the Northeast. Indeed, it was a rare positive development in a year where very little seemed to go right. I don’t know the weather conditions that yield such fantastic colors, but a combination of temperature, humidity, and precipitation combined to truly deliver. Living in Westchester county, I am surrounded by great landscapes in the Hudson Valley, Connecticut, and my own backyard and I had a chance to get out several times with my camera to try to capture this beauty. Vibrant colors on trees do not always make for a great photograph. Light, mist, wind, fog, and, of course, composition can all enhance or detract from a photo. Regarding composition, during several of my trips I tried to use water as a key feature in my pictures. Lakes and ponds usually are a great places to start, especially on calm mornings that produce a clear reflection in the water. Here are several images I created where conditions made for an interesting scene.
Moving water is always a favorite subject of mine and streams and waterfalls, when combined with golden, autumnal colors can be great subjects. The fact that water levels generally are lower in the fall can present a challenge when shooting waterfalls during this time of year. There were a number of good, soaking rains in October and I strategically shot at several locations after these dreary days. Of course, slippery leaves and rocks on steep terrain can make for hazardous hikes, but I avoided any serious injury to my body or pride. I ended up spending time in Litchfield County Connecticut on several occasions, an area blessed with natural beauty. Mornings are a great time to shoot waterfalls due to a lack of people and less ambient light which allows for a long enough exposure to make the water silky smooth.
Sometimes, just the name of a location attracts me, like Lovers Leap State Park, a spot that proved to be picturesque with a fantastic iron bridge that I shot from several angles.
For my birthday, my wife, Jane, surprised me with an overnight at Winvian Farm, a boutique hotel with an incredible restaurant in Connecticut. There are 18 separate cabins (great during Covid times) each designed by a different architect. We stayed at Beaver Lodge — here is a pic I snapped with my iPhone.
We had a whole day to explore the area and Jane was patient as I stopped frequently to take photos. I’m not sure my photos do justice to the beautiful landscape we drove through but there were a couple of images I was quite proud of.
During one of our stops, I noted that the light was just perfect for a portrait. I could not convince Jane to model for me, so I fixed the settings on the camera, handed it to her and spent rare time in front of the camera.
Check out my YouTube channel (JC Images: Behind the Shot) to see the “Behind the Shot” videos for a number of the photos in the blog!
