Fall Foliage Photography “Checklist”

Grand View Farm, Stowe, Vermont
Copyright 2010 Andy Richards

I did a Fall Foliage shooting checklist in September 2009 and that blog is worth revisiting. With Fall coming on quickly it is timely to think about what you might “carry” into the field as you shoot foliage this Fall. As I did in 2009, I want to make the point that being properly equipped for a successful and enjoyable outing means more than just a checklist of your photography gear. It also means consideration of essential items for comfort, convenience (and perhaps even survival).

I have been guilty of carrying a narrow notion of pre-conceived images into the field

Mental Preparation

But perhaps most importantly, it also means consideration of what you “carry” in your head. What mental preparation have you made for your outing? Are you prepared to see? I have often been guilty of carrying a narrow notion of pre-conceived images into the field. In 2010, after some conversation with a couple professional photographers and some serious thought about what I wanted to “bring home,” I believe I had one of my most successful outings, with some unique approaches to images that had already been shot, as well as some completely new images.

One thing about that outing surprised me. Mental preparation takes work just as the other preparation does. It is important to know your equipment, your theories, and your craft. Indeed, the best pros will tell you they know them so well, they never consciously think about it. It is internalized in their shooting and they are free to be creative. But the creativity (for many of us, at least) take work. It takes proverbially “thinking outside the box.” My friend and ultra-talented pro, Ray Laskowitz, has suggested a very useful approach to shooting.  Ask, “what is it like to be . . . . . . ?” If you were shooting travel photography, what would it be like to be the tourist, the local citizen, the captain of the boat, the fisherman, the shopkeeper, or the shopper? From a nature perspective, what would it look like from the point of view of the bird, or beetle; or, from the point of view of the hiker, hunter, or biker?

Focus on the elements that make a great image rather than the subject matter

I also found that when I started to focus on the elements that nature brings to us that make a great image, rather than the subject matter, things opened up differently to me. In that outing I concentrated on light, atmospherics, and form. Sure, when I go to a place I haven’t been before, I want to photograph those iconic scenes. I did it then, and I’ll do it in the future. But doing it with an eye toward these elements is bound to yield more pleasing and possibly unique results. Of course, it helps when Mother Nature cooperates, and she did, providing fog, mist, and cloud formations for much of the early part of the week.

In one of my earliest blogs, I talked about the intimate perspective. There is much to be gained by getting a different perspective, up closer or down lower. I know from experience, that it’s tough to pull off the “Grand Landscape” successfully. More often than not, I am underwhelmed and even disappointed with my result. It’s much easier to take a small slice of a visually interesting part of that grand landscape and work with it. This is particularly the case when the atmospheric conditions do not create the drama necessary to make the landscape image unique and interesting. Plain, cobalt blue skies and dull grey skies actually have a lot in common; they are both kind of plain, and therefore often boring. Clouds and color, in the right combination, provide drama and interest. If they don’t, consider a different perspective, either getting much closer to the image (or a part of it), or trying to find a way to have the light strike it in a more dramatic way, while excluding the sky.

The reason, in my view, that the “classic” barn scene in Stowe, Vermont “works” is because all the elements came together; a picturesque subject in the red barn, the perspective created by the road going into the center of the image, punctuated with the repeating utility poles, the magnificent mountain backdrop in fall foliage splendor, but most importantly, the cloud formations adding color and interest to the blue sky.

Clouds and color, in the right combination, provide drama and interest

Cool early morning temperatures following a heavy rainfall created magical atmospheric conditions for this image
Copyright 2010 Andy Richards

Likewise, the “atmospherics” for the Burton Road Farm shot came together perfectly. The clear, very cold morning, followed a weekend with 5 inches of rain in Vermont. Everything was saturated and the very cold temperatures created wonderful fog and cloud banks which created the layering effect seen in the sky. Without the cloud bank, I would probably not have included much of the sky in this image at all.

Lower Pleasant Valley Road, Cambridge, VT
Copyright 2010 Andy Richards

For the Barn on Pleasant Valley Road, the sky was mostly gray, but that small break of blue letting the sun through created just the drama I was looking for (sometimes you get lucky, but there is an old saying about “being there”).  The late afternoon lighting on the mountainside was nice. I got in as close as I could to the barn while still having some of the lighted mountainside showing. In all of these images, the subject was—of course—the barn. But my point is I used the compositional and natural elements around each subject to make it interesting.

Poplars in Fall Foliage; Santa Fe National Forest, NM
Copyright 2008 Andy Richards

The image made in the Santa Fe National Forest of the Western Fall Foliage in New Mexico was challenged by a mostly gray sky and a mix of sun; what I refer to as a “bright overcast.”  The light falling on the foliage was nice, but the sky, blah. So I composed without the sky, trying to emphasis the golden yellow and oranges of the Western foliage.

Essential Gear Update

I cannot really add much to the gear list on the 2009 Blog. There is one important item I can add to that list, though. If you are going to be anywhere in the woods or wilderness where there is even a chance of an encounter with a bear, do yourself a favor and get yourself some bear spray. After my trip to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, I am convinced of the utility of that move. As we sat in a restaurant on the last day of that trip, I struck up a conversation with a “local” who told me stories of his two bear encounters. One, a lone grizzly, he was able to avoid without confrontation. But it was a nervous experience and he did have his spray with him and ready for use. The second was with a Black Bear. We have Black Bear in Michigan (indeed they have become more prevalent in recent years). In this case, a mother who thought he was a threat to her cubs, charged him. He used the bear spray and it worked.

I would also recommend, to go along with the map(s) of the area, that you carry a good old fashioned compass (when the gps batteries run out, it might just be a lifesaver), and be familiar with how to use it.

Photographic Gear Update

Again, this list hasn’t changed much. In addition to your camera, I re-emphasize a tripod, polarizer (especially useful for foliage) and cable release. I have recently added to my own gear, a backup camera and a backup tripod.

I will be out of the so-called “blogosphere” the next couple weekends, shooting in Michigan’s UP.  I’ll try to follow some of my own advice here.  I hope you have great success this year in your Fall Foliage outing(s), whenever and wherever you go!  See you soon, and thanks for reading!

It’s That Time Again!

Porcupine Mountain State Park
Upper Peninsula, Michigan
Copyright Andy Richards 1997

Predictably, I do this every year. We are a month or less away from Fall foliage season, and I feel compelled to write about it in my blog. Sometime in about the middle of August, things start a natural progression that show that Summer is winding down and Fall approaching. It has always been in a sense a bittersweet time for me, as I have never been a Winter person. I love being able to get outside, get into the woods, onto the water, or even occasionally, the golf course.

Craftsbury Common, Craftsbury, Vermont
Copyright 2010 Andy Richards

Early Fall is, has always been, and probably always will be, my favorite time of the year. Ironically, it seems to be one of the most short-lived seasons, and is a time when things are dying, turning, or being harvested. There is something exciting about the sights and smells of that time of the year and I am always sad when, sometime in November, things turn grey and snow is in the air. But from now until then: exciting times.

Glade Creek Grist Mill
Babcock State Park, West Virginia
Copyright 2011 Andy Richards

Fall always has been, and always will be, my favorite time to photograph

In my view, Fall is the best time to be a photographer. Along with the sights and sounds, comes clear air, with puffy clouds, low-angled light, and shorter days. Why are shorter days good? It means that we don’t have to roll out of bed quite so early to beat the sun, nor wait quite so late for the evening light. And of course, there is the foliage. There is nothing wrong with green foliage (or even the pastel “colors” of early spring). Spring itself rivals Fall with everything coming into bloom. But the Fall foliage is still the “king” of photographic subjects. It makes everything come alive and give color and interest to scenes that might otherwise be “just nice” or even “ho-hum.”

Jordan Pond
Acadia National Park; Maine
Copyright 2009 Andy Richards

Fall foliage is the “king” of outdoor and nature photographic subjects

Foliage need not be just the traditional reds, oranges, rusts and yellows of large, deciduous trees. Sumac, grape vines, corn and beans nearing harvest-readiness also provide some wonderful, colorful photographic subjects and backdrops.

Harvesting Soybeans
Saginaw County, Michigan
Copyright 2002 Andy Richards

One of my favorite image subjects is the reflection. And nothing brings a reflection more interest than the vibrant colors of Fall foliage.

Kit Carson National Forest
Copyright 2008 Andy Richards

In years past, I have traveled to Vermont, Maine, Virginia, West Virginia, California and New Mexico. Each has their own “take” on foliage. We were too early for foliage in the San Francisco Bay area and wine country and I will undoubtedly return there in the late Fall in the near future, for the colorful vineyards. The “bucket list” also includes the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, The Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, Alaska and closer to home, Cuyahoga National Park in Ohio. I also hope to spend some time in Canada just to the Northeast of our Upper Peninsula and on the Bruce Peninsula, just East of where I live, and in an area surrounding the North Channel of Lake Huron known as “the Canadian Shield” one day.

Boley Lake
Babcock State Park, W. Virginia
copyright 2011 Andy Richards

As football season starts up, students go back to school, the vacationers close up the summer cottages, and things begin to gear up for Fall, excitement builds for my own photographic senses. I always have a week-long, dedicated trip planned for foliage photography. This year, I travel to the familiar, Michigan UP for a week-long workshop by my friend and mentor, James Moore, where I will have the great privilege of serving as the “local guide.” We have locations lined up, and I have watched the later summer rains and now-changing weather with great anticipation.

The Common Road
Waitsfield, Vermont
Copyright 2010 Andy Richards

I hope you have a plan to get out during the “season” and photograph some of the wonderful foliage on our continent!

Do Your Photographs Evoke Emotion?

The colorful rocks, colorful reflections and the water and the graphic elements in this image created a visceral or emotional reaction to me - enough to compose it and click the shutter! Copyright 2011 Andy Richards

“It’s just emotion that’s taking me over.” This short lyrical riff from the 70′s era Samantha Sang song, Emotion,” (written and performed by the Gibbs brothers – the Bee Gees) might just be a good photographic theme (just to assure those of you might be worried, no, I was not/am not a Disco fan – but you have to admit, some of the music had rhythm and melody that was just – well, catchy ).

A recent photo contest statement illustrates the sentiment. The art director for the sponsor noted that what he was looking for was images that would evoke an emotional response. That got me thinking about whether my images evoke any emotional response, and if so, could I articulate it? Looking through some of my images, I asked myself, do they evoke an emotion? And if I thought the answer was yes, how could I articulate the emotion? Did they make me sad, happy, angry, excited, euphoric or depressed? Almost universally, I could not label any of my images with those traditional emotional responses. So what, exactly does it mean to have an “emotional response” to an image?

That got me thinking about whether my images evoke any emotional response, and if so, could I articulate it?

My conclusions are equivocal. On a purely empirical level, I suppose it can be said that every photograph evokes some emotion. We often see and hear comments like, “nice,” “beautiful,” “awesome,” “great composition,” “well – seen,” and the like. Less often, it may be “ho-hum,” or “yuck, that’s awful,”(though I suspect these latter comments are more often thought than heard or seen ).

Photography is all about light. I have always been drawn to moving water and those slow-exposures that create a silky effect to it. But here, the "angel hair" texture to the water with the sunlight and shadow dappling it created an emotional reaction as I looked through the viewfinder: "I like it."
Copyright 2010 Andy Richards

Recently, I read a statement by a photographer who said we as photographers often put too much emphasis on our work being liked or accepted by other photographers. It was a statement that resonated with me. While I welcome constructive critique, it is not the “camera club” photo contests and observance of “rules of photography” that is a motivating factor for my images. I want my images have impact generally to viewers who aren’t looking at it as photographers and artists, but just looking at it as an observer.

An image with impact should create an emotional, even perhaps visceral reaction

As I stood on a roadside above, with the October wind buffeting me, all I could think of was the vastness of this rugged, wild countryside. While "vast" is not an emotion, my reaction to it was certainly visceral.
Copyright 2008 Andy Richards

“Emotion” is perhaps not the precisely correct word for this phenomenon. An image with impact should create an emotional, even perhaps visceral reaction in the viewer. It needs to strike a chord that makes them keep coming back to it and keep looking at it (and in the economic sense, it has to create a feeling with that viewer that they want to have it hanging on their wall, day after day).

And if not, is the image worth making?

This kaleidoscope of color, sky, reflection and fog/steam in the very cold October dawn in Vermont created a number of emotional and visceral feelings in me (not the least of which was cold!)
Copyright 2010 Andy Richards

As I thought about this, I wondered how reach that emotional “chord” in people? And as I thought more, a plausible answer came to me. Does the image cause a visceral or emotional response in me? If so, there is a pretty good chance it will create that response in the viewer. And if not, is the image worth making?

Thanks for reading

It’s Here!

Copyright 2005 Andy Richards

Every year at this time, I experience a photographic “high.” Why? Fall Color! With a heightened sensitivity for “seeing,” I notice color every place I go, in all shapes and forms. Here in Michigan, there are many cash crop farms and the soybeans turn a bright yellow at first and then drop their leaves to yield a toasty brown colored plant, ready for harvest. Formerly green cornstalks turn shades of yellow and gold. And the farm fields are spotted with the red, green and occasional yellow, orange and blue of farm implements. Elsewhere, in the Southwest, there are the bright colors of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, which is held the first week in October.

Every year at this time, I experience a photographic “high”

“Wait a minute,” you say. “That’s not ‘Fall color!’” It is to me, and is part of why I love this time of the year so much. O.k., I also see the changing foliage of Sumac, Maple, Ash, Beech and Oak trees. And there is a special quality of the light this time of year. As the days grow shorter, the angle of the sun is lower and the quality of light warmer. The atmospheric conditions often create high, puffy clouds, foggy conditions, and sometimes even more dramatic skies. And this quality of light phenomena generally extends the hours of shooting somewhat. So what’s not to love about Fall shooting?

Copyright 2009 Andy Richards

Fall, in my view, creates the best conditions for images all around the U.S. (maybe even in the world). My own experience is not a broad as I would like, but I have made nice Fall color images in the Southwest, the Midwest, the Northeast and parts of the Middle Atlantic. I still need to go to the Pacific Northwest and the Southeast.

What’s not to love about Fall shooting?

New England is the place my prejudice is most strongly demonstrated. My favorite place in the world to photograph Fall color is Vermont, and I probably have more images of Vermont than any other place, all taken in a total of less than 4 weeks! I have made many images there and hope to make many more in the years to come. While I haven’t photographed New Hampshire, I know it holds similar image potential to Vermont. Upstate New York (the Adirondacks) holds its own special charm. I have not yet photographed there, but would heartily recommend it and will certainly be there one day myself.

Fall in Vermont copyright 2010 Andy Richards

Maine has to be a close second. My sole trip there yielded some nice images of a “different” New England than I knew, and merely whetted my appetite for future trips for photographs (not to mention, Lobster).

Fall Color in Maine copyright 2009 Andy Richards

The Michigan (Upper Peninsula) deserves at least “honorable” mention (if not equal). It is perhaps the most geographically diverse of the colorful Fall foliage opportunities (rivaled perhaps by Maine), and its combination of soils and climate yields some pretty awesome fall foliage images. I blogged about Michigan last week and included some of my own images of the U.P.

My biggest regret about Fall is that is it so fleeting

Fall Color in the American West copyright 2008 Andy Richards

Our West has its own kind of “color” which, while very different from the brilliant reds, oranges and bronzes of the Northeastern United States, are spectacular in their own right. The bright yellows, accented by more limited and muted oranges and reds, contrast very nicely against the substantial evergreen population, often in mountain settings. And the “colors” of the Southwest, especially, which are less traditional “Fall foliage,” are also fun to photograph and add wonderful accent and contrast. And we cannot forget Alaska. My own trip to Alaska was in the Spring, but others I know, including my friends, and talented photographers, Al Utzig and Mark Graf, have captured the spectacular, special kind of Fall foliage Alaska blesses us with.

Chili Ristra, New Mexico copyright 2008 Andy Richards

My biggest regret about Fall is that is it so fleeting. I feel a sense of urgency and find myself stopping the car and yanking out the tripod more often during this time of the year.

Note:
For the next several weeks, I will be MIA. I travel to California the first week in October and West Virginia the second, meaning that I will be away, hopefully photographing, for the next 3 weekends. When I get back, I am even more hopeful to have new images and maybe even some new insights to share with you, as well as some of the images I have already made during the past couple weekends. Please enjoy the Fall photography season and for heaven’s sake get out there and shoot!