A Taste of Fall

I know we aren’t fully done with the fall yet, but I’m really excited to share a bunch of new work.

It’s no secret that this was not a normal year for foliage. We are in the midst of a serious drought that had very real consequences for colorful leaves. That said, the season is always beautiful and interesting, drought or not, and expectations of vivid colors can obscure the opportunity to appreciate many of the beautiful scenes, and experiences, that this region has to offer.

I kicked off my adventures at the Height of Land near Rangeley, Maine, capturing this familiar scene looking out over Mooselookmeguntic Lake. The clouds were fantastic and the late day light on the foreground made this my favorite capture at this iconic spot thus far. The muted wash of color was actually perfect for the mood here. I also ran into my friend Keelyn Wu, a total surprise!

My travels then brought me over to the Adirondacks, an entirely new area for me, and one that I was very excited to see for the first time. My first afternoon there I made the 10 mile hike out and back to Indian Head for this iconic view over Lower Ausible Lake. I knew that there was going to be a good sunset, but the color and intensity of this burn was still astonishing. Who needs colorful leaves when you have a sky like this? You can probably see that the foliage was just starting to turn on the hillsides here.

I made a couple of other hikes, taking in other well-known views in the region. The above image is looking out over the Giant Washbowl from Giant’s Nubble. Here I ran into Brad Couture, an online acquaintance who it was great to finally meet in person. After taking this in, I felt so good that I summited Giant Mountain itself, a pretty intense 3,350 ft of elevation gain and over 7 miles.

Another iconic Adirondack view, perhaps the most iconic, is the view of Heart Lake and the core of the High Peaks Wilderness from Mount Jo, just above the Adirondacks Loj and Information Center. The light wasn’t great for this particular view, but it was good to check out, anyways. I made a panorama of the scene and enjoyed talking to Bob Ruggio. I’ll be back!

The next morning I visited a slightly more obscure location, a small pond looking at Whiteface Mountain, a recommendation from Manuel Palacios, one of my favorite photographers and someone who knows the area well.

My favorite image from here was a more zoomed in frame of the peak of Whiteface, with the tower and summit facilities visible beneath a curling plume of mist catching the first rays of morning sunlight.

I then drove over to Vermont to see my buddy Kurt and do some shooting and scouting for our upcoming workshop. We visited a favorite location, Ricker Pond, and found the frequently encountered fog and perfect reflections of trees on this funky causeway left over from a former mill site.

From there it was over to New Hampshire, stopping at Jefferson Meadows, a new location to me, during the hay harvest! I felt very lucky to catch the tractor doing its work on the meadow, even though it was fairly harsh midday light. My friend Chris Whiton is super lucky to call this area his backyard. I always think of him when I’m over here.

The reason I was rushing from Vermont through New Hampshire so quickly, was to get over to Maine in time to catch the only clouds in New England for what I hoped was to be another interesting sunset. My target was Tumbledown Mountain, near the little village of Weld, Maine. I rushed up the Loop Trail, working up quite a sweat, to get here in time. The following hour was a stunning display of light, texture, and color.

The pond the sits nestled in a saddle near the peak looks resplendent surrounded by colorful trees among the evergreens. The reflection of Little Jackson Mountain above with the last light of day hitting it wasn’t too shabby, either.

To take it all in, I resorted to a ridiculous, nearly 300 degree panorama that showed the wild sky, terrain, and colors all around me. It was a moment I’ll never forget.

This vertical frame, highlighting the alpine ‘garden’ in the foreground above the pond, with sweeping clouds in the sky mirroring the sweeping diagonal of the ledge, might be the strongest.

After a very brief return home, I was back on the road to Vermont, this time to co-lead an annual fall foliage photography workshop with Kurt. Our first afternoon we took in this beautiful view from Peacham, and I incorporated a tree framing the scene I had photographed a couple of years ago of this iconic hillside with our workshop group.

Just a little while later, we were treated to beautiful moonrise over the even more iconic Peacham church. The foliage here was some of the best we encountered, and it was awesome running into a bunch of talented photographers, including Jennifer Egan and Adam Silverman, among others.

The next night we encountered the moon yet again, this time in a somewhat surprise appearance over the Hunger Mountain Range above the Waterbury Reservoir. It was stunning!

Sunrise the next morning brought us down to Lefferts Pond, near Killington, Vermont. The reflections here were stunning, though the colorful hillside and shoreline were in deep shadow and tough to photograph with the bright sky.

On the other side of Lefferts sits the Chittenden Reservoir, a well-known view and one that we love taking our groups to. The reflection game was strong here, too, which can be pretty rare once the morning progresses and the air gets stirred up.

That brings us halfway through my fall images thus far, and I think this is a good stopping point before we get through with a bunch more images in the next post. Until then, please check out our listings for our 2026 fall foliage photography workshops. We’d love to have you join us on our adventures next year!