Acadia

We haven’t had a particularly pretty foliage season in Central Massachusetts.  Not to my eyes at least.  Luckily, we had an opportunity to spend a few days further north in Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine.  They were not so unfortunate!  I don’t know that I’ve ever seen such intense color, so of course I spent a good deal of time working in black and white.  We were with Tony Sweet and Susan Milestone and a bunch of very nice and quite talented workshop participants.  I always learn a lot from them, probably because of their depth of preparation, their knowledge and their positive attitude.  Tony has an ability to articulate the creative process and rationale that I always find inspiring.  He has a wonderful way of validating the imagination, something I need a dose of every so often.  I recommend them highly if you’re looking for a workshop experience.  You won’t be disappointed.

But, no thousand words today though, on with the pictures.  (And I swear, I did not touch the saturation slider on these.  You get up early in the morning and shoot late into the evening with Tony.  Mother nature is the one manipulating the colors at those hours, but that’s sort of her job so…)

From Eagle Lake at sunrise

Along Duck Creek Road

Boulder Beach at Sunrise, in the rain

From Thunder Hole (It really does sound like Thunder)

From Cadillac Mountain

Acadia National Park is about six hours north from our home.  I can’t believe it took us this long to get there.  It is a big Park, and I would recommend either going with a guide, or doing some serious research before hand, during the day time!

Tech Note:  I hate writing about gear because it’s basically irrelevant at this point.  But a number of these images were taken with the Nikon Z7, Nikon’s new entry into the mirrorless market place.  For whatever reason, none good, it seems to draw a fair amount of criticism on the good old internet, particularly from those who have never used it.  It seems to be a tribal thing, or a way for “influencers” to generate click bait.  It’s sad that all you have to do these days is make something up and it becomes fact.

I thought the camera performed exceptionally well.  I’ll be using it a lot for video as I have grown very tired of taking along a second system.  The still image quality, video quality, still and video autofocus, all worked beyond my expectations.  And we really did land on the moon in 1969.

Dying Grass

All images from Broadmore, Audubon Society, South Natick, Massachusetts, Fall 2017.

Fall Rambles

Fall is rightfully thought of as photography season in many respects, and that’s for one reason, which can be summed up in one word:  color.  Since so much of my work is now in black and white, it can be a bit challenging to get into the spirit of the season.  But it is infectious and one might say, came to me.  Here are a few favorites from this year, for your enjoyment.  I truly hope that everyone notices, and appreciated the changing seasons. Those beautiful colors, like so much of our climate related experience are indeed vulnerable as we move ahead.  But for now…

Cold evening air over the warmer land and lakes kicks things off for us.  Early fall, Patch Reservoir, Worcester.

It’s been another of those rolling foliage experiences.  No real crescendo, some trees just seem to turn earlier than others.  Above and below at Babson College, just last week.

That can make for it’s own interesting interplay of colors.  Increasingly, I seem to note that it’s not only the trees that get into the act.  Some weeds can be pretty spectacular themselves.

This was from June Street, in Worcester, site of a construction project.  Hopefully the old stone wall will survive.  These weeds, probably not.  We also get help though from late season flowers.  These tough guys have to survive some pretty chilly nights.  Again, from Babson…

One of the great things about fall is that it isn’t winter!  At least not yet.  Opportunities for fishing are still to be found.  (From Elm Park, in Worcester, an old friend…)

But at some point, it’s time to go.