Last Leaf Of The Season

Well, I'm raking and bagging the last of the leaves. It's an "in-between" season right now. Gray-brown and leafless.

Some would say it is ugly, but I don't see it that way at all. Far from it! The lighting continues to change. Fields take on a different texture. The countryside is quiet. The roads are quiet, too. Photo ops abound.

Sunset arrives at 4:30pm in northern New England now (thanks to the shift back to standard time on Nov. 1st) so I can be out shooting at "magic hour" a bit earlier than usual. I like that. And while I do look forward to the snow, I really like this transitional period between fall and winter.

I hope everyone has as much fun not reading this blog as I do writing it. But if you are one of the handful of readers who haunts this blog from time to time, I congratulate you on your uncommonly good taste.

See you in 2010.

Leafpile #6: October 21st, 2009

Taking in the last colors of the season at Fields Pond in Maine (10/21/09)

Maine - Only southern Maine is said to be in peak form at the moment. For the rest of the state, the show's over. But only if you think of autumn in terms of glorious fall colors! There are many other things begging to be photographed at this time of the year; foliage is merely one of them.
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New Hampshire - "Most lawns are covered in a deep blanket of leaves, and many roadside trees are nearly bare. The leftover colors are mainly burnt yellows and faded oranges."
Read more

Vermont - Most of the state is well past peak, although there are pockets of color remaining here and there. Sounds familiar!
Read more

Raking it all in: The colors seem to leave almost as quickly as they arrive. I mentioned last week that I planned to stick around coastal Maine. I'm still doing that for the most part, and I'll visit southern Maine over the next few days.

The blueberry barrens were a total bust for me this year. Normally they are a vibrant crimson; this year they seemed more like a pale rust. I may have missed some areas, I don't know. But my usual blueberry barren "haunts" were a disappointment this season.

On top of that, many farmers have already cleared whatever bushes were there in preparation for winter, so things look...well...barren. I'll just have to try again next year.

Abandoned

Leafpile #5 - Oct. 16, 2009

The fourth round of weekly foliage reports (for northern New England) are in. The last update will be next week.

Raking it all in: At this point, northern New England is pretty much past peak in terms of foliage. Coastal areas are an exception, and the day before yesterday I still found some nice autumn colors in the mountains of western Maine. The dusting of snow really did add something extra to the autumn colors this past week.

I'm going stick around coastal Maine next week (for the most part). I haven't visited any of the blueberry barrens yet, many of which are crimson, and the barrens almost always make for interesting landscape images.

After that I have to put down the camera and pick up a rake! : (

Maine - Baxter State Park is well past prime with lots of leaf drop. Downeast Maine, central Maine and southern Maine are the places to be right now for autumn colors in the Pine Tree State, and by next week most of these areas will be past prime, too.
Read more

New Hampshire - Northern and western parts of the state are also past peak, but as with Maine, the southern and coastal areas are still very nice. And also as with Maine, "...mountain summits are dusted with snow, and look spectacular over the colorful fall foliage."
Note: By coincidence, autumnal water reflections are going to be my next photo tip.
Read more

Vermont - "Vibrant foliage can be found in the valleys and lower western slopes of the Green Mountains, particularly near Lake Champlain and in southern Vermont."
Read more

Photo Tip #2: Reflections

The tip is pretty simple: Have fun with reflections.

That's about it! But if I had to add anything, I suppose I would mention that it's good to play around with manual focus. Slight changes in focus on the surface of water will yield many different variations of images.

Dodging Snowflakes, Bullets And Pegamoose

It's dark and rainy here today. The weather forecast calls for our first snowfall of the season. Bad weather doesn't deter a photographer; in fact it has been said many times before that the lousier the weather, the better the pictures. I tend to agree. And snowfall with autumn colors? That sounds beautiful to me. I should be so lucky!

I'm ready to head back out to moose country (western Maine/northern New Hampshire) for the next couple of days. As I mentioned in the previous post, moose hunting season is underway here in Maine. Not everywhere at once, however. The hunting opens in one section or "zone" of the state while closing in another. So the season is staggered across the state over a period of a few weeks. Moose hunters who won their permits through the state moose hunting lottery can only hunt for moose within their designated zone which in turn has a designated window of opportunity.

Many of the places I wish to drive to (and hike) for fall colors are currently in the "line of fire", so to speak. I'm packing a reversible down vest for this trip. The outside of the vest is navy blue and the inside is blaze orange. I'll reverse the vest depending on where I am and what I am doing. I top off my ensemble with an orange ball cap.

I always hold out hope that the majority of hunters out there are alert and cautious before they open fire on their chosen target. But it must also be noted that this can be a naïve (and therefore dangerous) outlook. I can't assume anything.

I once saw a farmer use blaze orange paint to write the letters C-O-W on the sides of his grazing livestock to prevent them from being shot during hunting season. And I've heard many stories over the years - scary stories - which do not instill a sense of confidence as I head out into the fields and forests with my tripod during hunting season.

Although I choose to "hunt" with my camera, I'm not writing about these things to belittle or criticize hunters. It's about taking precautions when heading out into the field. Odds are I'll have a better chance of seeing ol' Pegamoose (illustration above based on eyewitness accounts) than a real moose anyway. The amorous bull moose are in rut, chasing after their cows, and as such they are often far away from many roads and trails. Love and bullets are in the air!

When hunting season rolls around, the moose seem to...um, vamoose. Ugh. Sorry about that! But it's true, and I'm not the only person who comments on the scarcity of moose sightings during this particular time of the year. No doubt it is as frustrating for the hunters as it is for me.

I'm getting sidetracked here with all of this moose madness. The fleeting colors of autumn are my primary focus. These storms wreak havoc on the foliage, and a season that is too short to begin with is clipped shorter with each passing day. I have to chase whatever colors remain before they vanish for another year.

Moosehead Lake Country

D'Oh! Peaks-Kenny State Park was
closed today, and I can't pick locks.

The plan for today was pretty simple: drive up to Greenville (Moosehead Lake) and then Rockwood (Mt. Kineo) before heading over to Jackman and returning to Bangor/Brewer via Rt. 201. It's one of my favorite autumn loop drives in Maine.

Well, I got a little sidetracked. Before arriving in Greenville I approached a road sign which read "Borestone Mountain - 8 miles". I have admired Borestone Mountain many times over the years while driving through this neck of the woods, but it occurred to me that I had never hiked anywhere in the area. Since impromptu detours are a way of life for me, I made the right-hand turn and headed for Borestone almost without thinking about it.

The Audubon Society maintains a nature center on Borestone Mountain along with a trail system which leads all the way to the summit. It's an easy hike. I walked through wonderful autumn colors and a hailstorm on the way up. There were fleeting rainbows and passing clouds on the way back down. It was wonderful.

The only thing missing? Wildlife! I didn't see many birds. I did see a skunk, but the poor thing had been flattened out on the highway, so that doesn't count. The bull moose are in rut, so I imagine the moose are generally preoccupied. But since moose hunting season opens tomorrow for that section of the state, I like to think that the moose are just keeping a low profile.

The foliage is more or less hanging in there despite all of the windy weather conditions of late. I would say the colors are most definitely at their peak in this part of the state but it is also true that many areas are already well past peak.

Speaking of peak....one of my favorite state parks in all of Maine, Peaks-Kenny, was closed today and I have no idea why. Lily Bay State Park, on the other hand, was open. Strange. Just a heads up if you've made any plans to visit Peaks-Kenny this week; I would call first.

Borestone Mountain (Audubon Society of Maine)

Missing Map Syndrome

"One of these days, Mike...you're gonna have to get orga-na-zized."

I don't tend to refer to myself in the third person, nor do I often throw out quotes from Taxi Driver, but I had to think of ol' Travis Bickle the other day while rummaging through my Toyota, searching for my lost copy of the Maine Gazetteer.

While out on a day trip recently, I couldn't find any of my maps and I wasn't sure which road to take. Yes, I have a nice Garmin handheld GPS unit and yes, I know how to use it. But one of the charming things about maps is that they do not rely upon batteries in order to work. Without juice, the Garmin is a pricey paperweight.

Now, I'm not a neatnik by any stretch, and one look at my desk confirms this. The inside of my 4Runner is even worse; it's a pile of camping gear tangled with paddling gear mixed with photographic equipment for seasoning. I really needed a way to organize my maps for easier reference while out on the road. It's the one thing I wanted to be tidy about.













My old map organizing "system"

A friend of mine pulled out her Maine Gazetteer the other day (after I couldn't find mine....again) and I noticed that her atlas was nicely encased in a smart-looking map organizer. It took me all of ten seconds to want one.

They're made by Igas Island in Waldoboro, and no, I'm not a shill for this small company. In fact, I don't even know the owner(s). But I really like useful, well-made products and I feel compelled to mention this for the benefit of my fellow road warriors who likely suffer from Missing Map Syndrome. These $27 organizers hold several large Gazetteers along with several smaller maps which can be tucked into three interior pockets.

Gotta love this line from the product description in their brochure: No need to ask directions...makes a great gift for some guys.














One side of the organizer is a thick, "optically clear 20 gauge vinyl" so you can always see the contents, spill coffee on top of everything, etc. and the other side is "1000 denier Cordura nylon", according to the Igas leaflet. I won't even pretend to know what that means. But "1000 denier" sounds pretty impressive, and indeed everything about the organizer has a feeling of quality about it - right down to the zipper.

So...alright. Maybe this is kind of a random thing to blog about. But you know what? It's nice to buy a handcrafted product from a Maine-based business. It just feels good. Also, the business runs exclusively on solar power.

Igas Island makes other travel related bags, accessories and luggage too. You can tell the folks in Waldoboro that I sent you, but I doubt it will mean anything to them. "Mike sent you? That's wonderful! Who the hell is Mike?"

IGAS ISLAND
www.igasisland.com
Box 240
Waldoboro, ME
04572

Leafpile #4 - Oct. 8th, 2009

The fourth round of weekly foliage reports (for northern New England) are in. Expect more updates within five days.

Leaves are dropping and gusty winds aren't helping matters, but it's all good. I'm heading out to western Maine, NH and VT all this week, followed by some day trips to Baxter State Park.

Maine - colors in the northernmost counties (zones 6 & 7 on the Maine Foliage color map) are now said to be past peak. This doesn't mean that there are no longer any leaves on the trees; far from it. But it's going to be all downhill from here. In other zones, colors are at their peak (or near peak). Nice!
Read more

New Hampshire - For the northern half of NH: "...some wind has hit the area, which has created colorful carpets of leaves on the ground, but most trees are holding on firmly to the vivid autumn foliage. All lakes are reported to look stunning as the colors reflect onto the water’s surface."
Note: By coincidence, autumnal water reflections are going to be my next photo tip.
Read more

Vermont - "Route 100 in the Mad River Valley between Warren and Moretown is showing incredibly bright shades of red and orange this week, and state Forester Russ Barrett says foliage in this area is the best he has seen in years.”
Read more

Raking it all in: Route 100, which more or less traverses the "spine" of Vermont, is my pick of the week. It's a great road trip at any time of the year, but in autumn? Incredible! Especially if you allow yourself to meander along side roads along the way. Hook back up to Rt. 100, cruise a bit, find other back roads, rinse and repeat. That's the plan.

It Begins...

Due to prior commitments, I have not been able to get out with the camera as often as I might have liked this past week. On the other hand it's dark and rainy outside, so everything worked out for the best.

This week however, all of that will change! I'm going to be logging some rather serious miles around northern New England and I'm also taking my canoe and/or kayak along for the ride.

So many photo ops right now - both on and off the water - and so little time before the leaves drop. The colors are bursting in northern and western Maine. Journal notes and photos from the road are forthcoming.

Leafpile #3 - Sept. 30th, 2009

The third round of weekly foliage reports (for northern New England) are in and I can't believe it's the last day of September already! Expect more updates within five days.

Before we get to that, however - here's an update from photographer/leaf peeper B. Lombardi of Rhode Island:

I just got off the phone with my sister. She just returned from a 3 day trip up through Errol NH and over to Rangely Me. She said that whole area is ablaze with color. This is the same area we were in about 3 weeks ago. According to her, Lake Umbagog is brilliant, The Balsams, Dixville Notch are also showing a lot of color. She said it's near peak so most likely this weekend. If anyone is wondering where this is it's up on RT. 16 in NE New Hampshire and NW Maine, not far from the Canadian Border. You can consider this report to be very reliable. She's an accomplished photographer and fall foliage is one of her main subjects. She also said that mid VT. is progressing slowly so it sounds like Columbus Day Weekend might be around the high point for color in the middle section of VT.

Maine - colors in the northernmost counties (zones 6 & 7 on the Maine Foliage color map) are at peak or are near peak. This weekend (through next week) will be the time to take a drive up in northern Maine, NH and VT. Storms and strong winds can wreak havoc on the foliage so you might want to enjoy it over the next 10 days or so while it lasts.
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New Hampshire - For the northern half of NH: "...the colors are changing at all elevations now, and it will just be a matter of days before this area reaches peak fall foliage." About 75% there. (see postscript below).
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Vermont - "Foliage is reaching peak color this week in sections of the Northeast Kingdom and Lamoille County...good color will be found on pretty much any road from Stowe to Quebec.”
Read more

Raking it all in: This is a good time to head north.

PS - Jeff "Foliage" Folger of Yankee Magazine was interviewed on the Weather Channel last night. He's heading up to northern Maine too; perhaps I'll see him up there. Jeff spent some time in northern NH (in the Sugar Hill area - one of my personal favorites) and he mentioned that the colors were getting close to peak in NH but were "not quite there".

Jeff also mentioned that some of the colors seemed "a little on the dull side" to him. Having said that, I thought the colors in the shots Jeff posted looked very nice, and the Weather Channel reporter conducting the interview commented on this as well. "I dunno Jeff....that looks pretty good to me!"

Here's the deal: good photographers like Jeff have to view things with a critical eye. I'm the same way. And as I watched the brief interview I think I understood what Jeff meant to say. That some of the colors might not be as vibrant as a some people might prefer, but that doesn't mean that the colors aren't there. It's all relative.

But the way I see it, there's no need to worry about "dull colors". Don't let that scare you away from a day or weekend trip if you have the time. Get out there and enjoy the season while it lasts, because the colors I'm seeing where I live are gorgeous!

Starting today, the next three weeks should be "all she wrote" for northern New England. And a good nor'easter could shorten that time span considerably.

Photo Tip #1: Dream A Little Dream

This is the first in a series of simple photo tips which I've posted here in the hopes that it will get you away from your computer and out into the field with your camera and tripod. (Drop me an email if I have succeeded!)

NOTE: What I've outlined here is a quickie technique I often use while shooting out in the field. No filters or Photoshop skills are needed if your camera is capable of generating multiple exposures. If your camera doesn't have a multi-exposure feature, some basic image editing skills will be required.

Creating Dreamlike Pictures
For some reason I find myself using this technique often in springtime and in autumn, although variations of it can be applied to your photography at any time of the year.

1. Begin with a straightforward photo of whatever scene you have chosen. Use of a tripod is highly recommended. Focus and exposure should be normal:













2. Take another photo of the exact same scene, but this time defocus the lens. The amount of defocus is up to you. I usually defocus the lens until the scene looks as blurry to me as it would if I took off my eyeglasses. : )













3. As I mentioned earlier, my Nikon allows me to combine multiple exposures in-camera. So I don't even manipulate the image in Photoshop (other than basic color correction and sizing). If your camera lacks this feature, you'll have to combine the two images in Photoshop or any image editing program which allows you to "sandwich" images. You may need to adjust some opacity settings, and perhaps play around with some "blend modes".

Sigh. I did say that I wanted you to be out in the field and away from the computer, didn't I? So much for that idea!

Anyway, whether your camera generates the two shots or you combine them in Photoshop, you should end up with something like this:













The image should be soft and hazy and yet detailed at the same time. It's not the same thing has having a blurry, out-of-focus shot, and this technique can lend a nice "dreamlike" quality to leaves, trees, landscapes...you name it.

Another option would be to use a soft focus filter for this little exercise, and some of those filters work really well. But do you really want to carry around another filter if you don't really have to? (While I'm nagging - do you really want to spend money on a specialized soft focus filter that you may not use very often in the first place?)

Also, the effect of a filter is "fixed", yet with this approach you can adjust the sharpness and defocus to your liking, so it's much more flexible than a filter. Experiment with different focus/defocus settings to get the effect you're after.

Here's another example:













While we're at it, if you ARE using Photoshop, you can apply this technique to just about any photo you have taken in the past. Some subjects work better than others. Simply copy your image and paste it into a new layer, and use the Gaussian Blur filter to your liking in order to create the defocused image, then sandwich the two image layers into one photo, again adjusting the opacity and/or blend modes if necessary.

This is just a beginning. You can experiment with all sorts of different multiple exposures. And why stop at two images? I've combined several shots into a single frame with interesting results. Have fun!

PS - for the ultimate in low-tech soft focus, you can try breathing on the front of your lens just before shooting a scene. In certain conditions, the lens will fog up nicely and it will take a few seconds for the fog to evaporate. I used this old trick once in a pinch while on assignment and it worked out rather well!

Frost Advisory

More than a few leaf peepers (mostly photographers and a few anxious tourists) have sent me private emails, worrying over the state of the "greenery" up north and the "slow moving color season".

I dunno. Everything seems to be on track as far as I'm concerned. But I guess I'll leave it up to the National Weather Service to cheer these people up with the forecast of a weekend cold snap. Cover up those tomatoes!

It's supposed to drop down to as low as 28 degrees tonight in some locations in Maine; around 32 degrees where I live. That should give the colors a little goosing. The northern counties of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are all on the verge of a fall color explosion. This weekend might be the tipping point.

I'm looking at the northernmost maps of the Maine Gazetteer with a mental highlighting pen, mapping out my planned trip to Aroostook County. I'll probably head out on Monday.

Leafpile #2 - Sept. 23rd, 2009

The second round of weekly foliage reports (for northern New England) are in and things are beginning to happen. Expect more updates within five days.

Maine - colors in the northernmost counties (zones 6 & 7 on the Maine Foliage color map) have shifted from "low" to "high" within five days. It almost always happens quickly!
Read more

New Hampshire - Colors are changing in the northernmost counties of the state but are not at their peak just yet. Frosts contributed to some fairly rapid changes, however. Color is estimated to be at about 30% over a larger area, up from the "small pockets of color" of last week.
Read more

Vermont - See my other post about being in a holding pattern, but: "...foliage is moving into mid-stage color in the higher elevations with varying shades of orange, russet, yellow and red. Red maples located in moist low-lying areas are close to peak color, and ash trees are beginning to turn purple-yellow."
Read more

Raking it all in: I'm planning to head up to Aroostook County in a few days to do the St. John River Valley loop drive, something I've always wanted to do. I'll drive north on Route 1 (out of Houlton) to Caribou, Van Buren, Madawaska and Fort Kent before pointing my Toyota south on Rt. 11 to head back to Brewer. And I'll stop at Baxter State Park on the way back, naturally! The colors in Baxter aren't at their prime yet but I can't pass Millinocket and not turn west for a detour. Moose watching is something I like to do whether the leaves have turned or not.

PS - Speaking of moose, The Cozy Moose has posted some fall color tips for the Moosehead Lake region, which is nice at any time of the year. Also, some of these Aroostook-based webcams give you at least a small preview of what's happening up there.

Holding Pattern

Heard from some people who drove through northern VT this past weekend:

"Just got back... NEK is getting reading to pop (24-25th) I think. NW VT is still mostly green but the Green mountains are showing signs. South into NH and MA not much of anything... just hints."

(NEK is the Northeast Kingdom, in case anyone is wondering.) Things will fall into place quickly, but we're not quite there yet. I'm still working along the Maine coast for the next couple of days and nights. Nice to have these foliage updates so that I know how to plan and prioritize my trips.

The Trees Are Alright

After reading this article in the Bangor Daily News about fungi attacking maple trees in Maine (especially Norway maples), I had to wonder what kind of a foliage season we would have this year.

And like many others, I noticed several pockets of mangy-looking trees in our area. Some of these trees actually appeared to be dead by midsummer. On top of that, some of the leaves on certain trees began to change color a good two months earlier than expected.

Autumn colors on the 4th of July: oddly patriotic...

A couple of weeks ago a casual acquaintance from Vermont (also a photographer) mentioned the "stressed-out trees back home", and at one point in our conversation she became visibly agitated while discussing "that damned maple blight." And then she seemed sad and withdrawn. "Without the maples...." her voice quivered a little before trailing off. I began to get a little nervous.

I'm happy to report that my initial reaction to all of this has been tempered somewhat through a little bit of research and a goodly amount of non-scientific observation. I'm not a forest ranger, by the way. If I had to write down my forestry credentials on a resumé, for example, it would read: "This one time in grade school? I actually met Smokey the Bear!"

According to the aforementioned article, a one-two fungal punch of "tar leaf spot" and "anthracnose" is what is responsible for knocking the teeth out of many trees, tussling and spotting up their leaves, ruining their good looks and generally taking them down for the count. At least temporarily; the fungal attacks are not thought to cause lasting damage.

Spotty leaves...yuck.

Apparently, the wetter-than-usual summer we've had here in New England hasn't helped matters.

Or has it?

I like to take passing glances of the trees as I'm walking my dog in a park or taking a short hike somewhere, and one thing seems to have remained constant in this late summer and early autumn season despite the presence of a few disease-ridden specimens: the healthy looking trees look really healthy.

More often than not, many of the leaves I've seen are full and green. They appear to be quite strong, and not at all like the dry, brittle, rusty-brown leaves I've observed after prolonged dry spells in some of the previous seasons.

Clean and green...yay!

And here's another telltale sign that a majority of the trees in Maine are alright; there is very little leaf drop just ahead of the color season. At least it seems that way when I compare this preseason to many preseasons of the past.

I mentioned earlier that I am not a scientist. So is all of this just my fevered imagination? The wishful thinking of a desperate photographer who loves autumn colors and doesn't want to hear the word 'blight'? Perhaps I've gone nutty after spending a little too much time with the squirrels...

Nah. To quote from the first foliage report of the season (compiled by forest rangers in Maine):

The rain that soaked Maine during the first half of the summer was good for something. Leaf-bearing trees throughout the state benefited from the wet weather...(snip)...."Good foliage development is a prerequisite for good fall color," said Bill Ostrofsky, a forest pathologist with the Maine Forest Service. "The plentiful summer rain allowed the foliage to develop vigorously, and most crowns now appear full, dense, and very lush. All regions appear to be on track for another spectacular season."

So there you have it! Go forth and enjoy. While there's no way of knowing what kind of autumn foliage we'll really have this year, I'm going to go out on a limb...hee hee...with the following unscientific prognostication: Forget about the stupid fungi. I'm worried about a hurricane brewing up somewhere, gracefully curving its way north along the Atlantic seaboard, crashing into us like a demonic bowling ball and knocking off all of our precious leaves overnight!

Barring that, I think we should be in for a pretty good show this year.

PS - According to Forest Trees of Maine, published by the Maine Forestry Service, Norway Maples are native to continental Europe and not to New England. They were planted in large numbers here "as a street and shade tree" because of their "aesthetic appeal" and "ease of propagation". The book goes on to explain that because of its aggressive propagation, the Norway maple "is considered to be a serious potential threat to our native flora and further planting of it is to be discouraged."

Leafpile #1 - Sept. 17, 2009

The first round of weekly foliage reports (for northern New England) are in! Expect updates within five days.

Maine - 20% or less color change in the northernmost counties (zones 6 & 7 on the Maine Foliage color map). Other areas are showing 10% or less color change. Cooler temperatures and shorter days mean that we'll see changes soon, however.
Read more

New Hampshire - Still pretty green overall, even in the higher elevations, with some small pockets in the north showing a 25% or less color change, "...but with a frost forecast for this weekend, that could change as early as next week."
Read more

Vermont - Pretty much the same story as NH, with some areas of change evident in the northernmost parts of the state, also in pockets along streams and ridges in the higher elevations. However, it is described as "early color".
Read more

Raking it all in: With little to no color change (except for a few nooks and crannies), my day trips won't be centered around fall color photography just yet. But I really like what I'm hearing. It's heartening to note that several forest rangers in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont all seem to agree that we could be in for a really nice show this year. Woo-hoo!