Franconia, NH
I was packing up to leave when some fog appeared and the rising sun strafed along the top of the hillside.
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Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Olympus EM5 MK@, 100mm, 1/10 sec @ f/6.7, ISO 200
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So glad you stayed. This is stunning. The one dead tree on the left kinda catches my eye, but it’s not that big of a deal. This would make an incredible large print, Michael.
Michael,
I like that you chose to include the band of blue sky in this scene. If this is recent the foliage has changed a lot since my visit 3 weeks ago. I actually prefer the late season look a little better.
One nit, that dead tree on the left edge is grabbing my eye a bit.
Mike, you caught this fog at the decisive moment, it adds a wonderful dreamy look to the image. Warm/cool, sharp/soft, this image has it all. These moments in nature can be very fleeting, which is part of what makes photographing them so much fun.
As Alan said, we were there on 10/07/21 and the foliage was nowhere near as advanced or nice looking as this. You hit the timing just right.
My only nitpick is that I wish for slightly more room at the bottom, to avoid clipping that spruce on the left.
A shot from the last week of October reveals that the spruce is actually a tamarack tree whose needles turn gold after stick season sets in. My comp is from the left half of your image. I much prefer the full peak color of your image, but the stark difference in seeing this scene 2 or 3 weeks later makes for an interesting comparison.
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Thanks @David_Bostock , @Alan_Kreyger and @Ed_McGuirk . Ed and Alan, this was taken on the 14th. I decided to make a short 2 day trip. Would have liked to stayed longer , but the hotels Ed and I usually stay at for under 100 bucks were $180 this year. I would have stayed at Walmart, but I forgot my sleeping bag.
I would have liked for Ed to go with me, cause we really enjoy shooting with each other, but I broached the subject with him a few days earlier and he seemed leery about staying in a hotel so I didn’t push it.
Ed, the crop was a compromise. If I went any lower , there was a patch of distracting sky in the LLC.
My goal this morning was to head to Rocky Gorge before the crowds got there. I decided to head to the pond first and by the time I got to RG, there were 5 buses in the parking lot, so turned around and left. The color on the Kancamagus was spotty. Along the ride was good, but the hillsides at most of the overlooks were pretty devoid of color.
Looks great, Ed. I really like the muted colors of your pic.
Sweet looking capture, Mike. The light on the autumn hued hillside is simply fantastic as is the bit of fog skimming along the crest. If this was mine I would add a bit of canvas to the bottom so the top of the one tree on the left was not clipped off. My only other suggestion would be to clone out the one dead tree on the left. I am really enjoying this beauty!
@Alan_Kreyger and I were at Rocky Gorge at about 8:00am on Monday 10/04/21, a full week before Columbus Day. Despite it being rainy, there was already a tour bus there, and multiple cars. So Alan never got to see Rocky Gorge, it was just too crowded. It must be Covid Cabin Fever syndrome, but this year I have never seen so many people in the White Mountains for autumn. On Wednesday 10/06 we went to Kancamagus Pass overlook for sunrise. I’m used to seeing a handful of tripod photographers there for sunrise, but that morning there must have been 30 people there, nearly all tourists. And that was on the Wednesday before Columbus Day !!!
Luckily we were able to go primarily to off the beaten track locations to avoid people, once I saw how crowded it was going to be.