
Since the last fall foliage post I did I’ve been chasing color, and that isn’t always easy for a colorblind person. I’ve also been chasing light. The past three weekends I think, have been cloudy, and since the only real large blocks of time I have fall on weekends you’ll see what our fall colors look like when it’s sunny and cloudy. But sunshine or clouds these colors are always beautiful, as one of my favorite scenes shows in this photo of birches and maples growing on ledges up in Surry. I built an extensive model H.O. train layout when I was a boy with tunneled mountains I crafted out of plaster. They had small lichen “trees” growing on them and that’s what this scene always reminds me of. Though these are full size trees they look like toys.

And the big difference is, these views are much more beautiful than any you’ll ever find in a model train layout.

Also in Surry is this scene, which always makes me wish I could somehow transport all of you here so you could smell as well as see autumn in New England. The fragrance of all those leaves drying in the sun is sugary sweet and earthy at the same time. Kind of like apple pie, molasses, compost and woodsmoke all rolled into one scent. That scent immediately takes me back to boyhood, when I scuffed my way through the fallen leaves on my way to school each day. Going off to second grade is the strongest memory that comes to mind for some reason, and it is all held there in that wonderful smell.

Staghorn Sumac leaves give us bright reds, purples and oranges and they will often hang onto their color even into death. These leaves were totally limp and the way they hung on the branch made me think of laundry drying on the line.

But you’ll find that most of the color in this post comes from maples. Red maples mostly, because they have the greatest color range. As this shot shows, they are glorious when at their peak of color.

All of the tree color seen in this view of Halfmoon Pond in Hancock is on maples, and by the time you read this all of those leaves will have fallen. My blogging friend Susan likes reflections and this photo is probably the best one for those. October is a windy month but if you get up early enough you can often find water just as smooth as glass.

This was also taken at Halfmoon Pond, with reflections that are a little fuzzier. The wind starts to kick up at about mid-morning.

I stopped at a local post office one morning just after dawn and saw this scene, which I took with my phone. It was still cool enough for mist to be in the field behind the garden shed.

Along the Branch River is always a good place to find fall colors and, since I drive by it twice each day, I can usually get a photo of it in full sunshine.

But it was hard to get good sunshine shots this year and most of them looked more like this one. I’m putting this in to see what you like best. I’ve always thought that fall colors had more “pop” on overcast days but I know a lot of people who would rather go leaf looking on a sunny day.

The Ashuelot River North of Keene is another favorite spot of mine to see fall color. The soft, pale yellows of the silver maples give the eyes and mind a bit of a rest after the loud reds and oranges of their cousins the red maples. The silver maples don’t shout, they whisper in hushed tones.

Red maples certainly do shout, and here are a few more now. This has to be one of the most photographed spots in the entire county. I often see a line of cars here on my way home from work, and sometimes I join them.

I took this shot of what is essentially the same scene with my phone, which has HDR and RAW and all of that if you turn it on. I turned it on and found that it was too “something” that I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe harsh is the word. The color reproduction is good I think, but everything seems to have an edge to it. I’d be interested in hearing what you think. Should I turn it off again? I’m not sure there is a way to tone it down. It seems on or off is the only option.

Here is a closer look at the hillside with my regular camera. Notice all the bare trees. Already.

Here is another look, just for colors. It’s no wonder this is such a popular spot. Millions of people come here from all over the world each year to see scenes like this. Many just can’t believe such colors can be true until they see it for themselves. They stand and they gawk, lost in the beauty, and we stand and gawk right alongside them because no matter how many times you’ve seen it, it always seems like this is the most beautiful fall color ever.

Here is a beautiful example of a red maple that grows near my house.

Here’s a close look at a small red maple, the star of this post.

But red maples aren’t always colored red in the fall. They can be orange and yellow as well. I think this is actually a sugar maple, which are also yellow.

This is a cluster of colorful trees where I work. I’m going to spend a while cleaning up fallen leaves, I think.

Howe Reservoir in Marlborogh is usually a great place to get reflection shots but every single time I stopped there the wind was blowing, so I had no luck with that. I even went there before sunup one day and sat there waiting but the wind blew then too. Oh well, the trees were certainly beautiful.

That’s Mount Monadnock in the background. Or its flank anyway.

That is the mountain’s summit, taken on a very cloudy and dismal day. But it is this spot in clouds that makes me say that the colors often pop more on cloudy days.

These are all maples and they’re all bare now, so I’m glad I got there when I did. Sometimes an incredible amount of leaf drop can happen overnight so if you wait until “just the right time” you might find that you’ve waited too long. I’ve made that mistake more than once.

The blueberries, both high and low bush, are beautiful this year as they almost always are. They can vary from purple to orange but I usually see mostly red. For a plant that produces blue fruit blueberry shrubs have a lot of red in them.

An ash tree where I work was just beautiful in the early morning sunshine. Ash trees also have quite a color range, from lemon yellow to plum purple.

I’ve been either too early or too late to catch Virginia creeper in all its scarlet glory this year but this one had some color.

On the left is an oak and on the right a beech, and seeing these trees changing together reminds me that it’s time to get to Willard Pond in Hancock to see one of the most beautiful displays of an atumnal hardwood forest that I know of. It’s all oaks and beeches so I hope it will be this scene multiplied and amplified.
Nature is so powerful, so strong. Capturing its essence is not easy – your work becomes a dance with light and the weather. It takes you to a place within yourself. ~Annie Leibovitz
Thanks for coming by.
I am slowly catching up again, and I did enjoy this trip back to mid autumn. i do remember the smell of fallen leaves in New England. It seems a bit different here, probably because our autumn is a lot wetter.
THANKYOU SO VERY MUCH and for a colour-lind person you have managed to capture the beauty and essence of Mother Nature’sdisplay.
You’re welcome Krys. I can see the colors but sometimes I can’t tell what they are. I’ve photographed green leaves that looked orange!
Lovely photos!! I did not get out to travel to ‘leaf peep’ this year.. The photo you were asking about -with the cows- the trees appear almost too sharp, and the grasses don’t look quite right. LOL Sorry I cant be more technical! I love your posts & have followed along for years but don’t comment much. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome Erika, and thank you for being such a long time reader. I’ve found controls on the phone that should help with all of that in the future. Thanks for your input. I agree!
I enjoy and learn a lot form all your extraordinary posts, but this one was even better. I love fall. My question is, what kind of rock are those trees growing out of? Granite? Isn’t it amazing, really? This is a clear example of the phrase “the living rock.” Oregon has really fine fall color too, by the way, and I wouldn’t actively be looking to live anywhere else (although Alaska is pretty fine…)!
Thanks Lynn. I know Alaska is beautiful but I don’t know what the fall colors are like. I’m glad to hear Oregon’s are good. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any fall photos of it. I wish I could see them all in person!
I think the rock at that particular spot is more schist than granite. Granite doesn’t have the varying colors and “waviness” that this rock has. By the way, that is the rock at the spillway for a dam called Surry dam, built years ago by the Army Corps of Engineers.
You are very fortunate to live so close to such scenes and we are very fortunate that you take so much trouble to get really good pictures of the scenes to share with us. Thank you.
I think that the trouble with the HDR is that the sharpening involved makes every scene look a bit the same and it also makes them look rather static. The problem is that once you have used it, other shots may look rather dull even though they would have been perfectly satisfactory before the comparison.
Thank you. I agree and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
I also agree with you about the phone photo and I almost didn’t put it into this post for that very reason. But then I thought that hearing what others thought might be a help and it has been a great help. I thank you for the input. Everyone else agrees with you.
A pleasure to be of assistance, however small.
Glorious autumn color! You live in the right place. 🙂
Thanks Eliza, I agree! I wouldn’t live anywhere else!
Like you, I have often felt that colors seem to appear more saturated on cloudy — and even misty — days, perhaps because they are not reflecting as much light. But of course backlighting on a sunny day can also be spectacular. I tend to like late fall when any color really stands out against a naked background. Today, many of the leaves have fallen, so now the beeches turning yellow really stand out against a dark background of deep woods or hemlocks.
Thank you Pat. Yes, the same thing is happening here now. From here on out it’s all beeches and oaks but the leaves are dropping quickly. I think I’ve got a busy weekend ahead.
Nice reflection shots and I like the garden shed photo. I agree that the HDR photo does seem a bit harsh, almost too sharp or something.
Thanks for the input Dave. So far everyone agrees with you, including me. I need to play around with the settings a bit, I think.
I hope all is well there and hope you haven’t lost power or seen any mudslides.
I can’t speak for all of California, but for us the storms were just what we hoped for… Lot’s of much needed rain, no floods, no mudslides and no power outages. Yeah!
Glad to hear that!
Thank you for the beautiful collection of fall images. New England in October is incredibly beautiful, and you captured that so well. Thank you again from a transplanted New Englander who misses it.
You’re welcome, and thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it and I hope it brought back some happy memories. I lived in Florida for a while and I missed the hills and the tree colors terribly, so I can empathize. I just had to come back.
For a colour-blind person, you sure take beautiful photos, my friend.
Thanks for these gorgeous photos. Stay well and keep blogging. I am not always able to comment, but I’m reading every chance I get.
Thank you Cynthia. With my kind of colorblindness I can see all the same colors you can, but I can’t tell you what they are. Sometimes blue looks purple, red looks orange (or green) and when it comes to subtle shades and hues forget it.
I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying these posts. I’d bet that you had some fantastic color up in Canada!
My immediate surroundings are golden right now – which is always lovely. Just a short drive/good walk and all the colours are showing. Love it.
Glad to hear that!
Breathtaking color, Allen! Splendid fall shots, every one. The lead shot is delightful. We’re experiencing some color here in Maryland. I come home from my walks with a handful of lovely leaves. It’s fun to try to replicate them in watercolor paints.
Thanks Ginny! I’m glad to hear that you have colorful foliage there. I didn’t know you painted though. I used to do a lot of watercolors with pen and ink. More like illustrations I guess you’d say.
I hope you finally found your ironweed too!
Nope! Never found any ironweed this year. I like doing pen and ink with my watercolors too! I’m not very good but, more importantly, I have fun with it.
That’s too bad.
I had a lot of fun too, but I could never have been called an artist.
Nice dancing with the light! lovely photos. Thanks so much.
You’re welcome Robin. I’ve done a lot of dancing this fall!
I loved the pond reflection pictures.
Of the 2 pictures, I preferred the one with your phone settings off. It had a gauzy look and the colors were better.
Thank you for a beautiful post!
You’re welcome Jill, and thanks for the input on the phone photo. Another reader said I might find more setting that will make them look less harsh, but I haven’t had a chance to look yet.
Loved the photo of Mount Monadnock with the foreground giving the photo depth. Beautiful! The color in your photos was mesmerizing. Thank you!
You’re welcome, and thank you very much. The colors were beautiful this year but hard to catch. It really did seem like I was always chasing them!
Beautiful photos, and I just love the idea that silver maples whisper their colors. I agree that the full HDR setting is a little too “something”, and harsh is the same word that comes to my mind whenever I use it. My phone’s camera has a slider for HDR that allows you to adjust it, though – after taking the photo – and I’ve found that way I can get a little bit of that definition it provides without the harshness. Might be worth poking around a bit to see if your phone has the same! Thanks for sharing your musings and wanderings, I always enjoy them.
Thanks very much for the input on the phone photos Karen. I’ll look through mine and see if it has other settings I haven’t found yet.
I’m happy to hear that you’re enjoying these posts. Without people like you letting me know, I’d never know if I’m on the right or wrong track.
What a beautiful display of autumn colour, thank you so much for taking the time to share your photographs. I enjoyed this post very much.
You’re welcome, I’m glad you liked did!