Take What You Are Given
This year I decided to chase fall all the way up to Vermont. I had seen so many pictures peppered across the internet and social media over the last few years of bright yellows, vibrant oranges, and deep reds covering the mountains and valleys of Vermont alike. I decided this year was the year I got in on the action. Well, I was wrong, yet again.
Since I was driving all the way up to Vermont and taking Sal along for the ride, I figured we needed to make it a worthwhile trip. I packed up the truck with two weeks worth of clothes, photography equipment, and camping supplies and made the long drive north. I spent the first night in a campground, sleeping in the driver’s seat of my truck while Sal slept in the back, because it was raining so, so hard and I couldn’t get my tent set up in the dark and pouring down rain. Little did I know that was just a sign of things to come.
Over the next ten days, it was overcast seemingly the entire time, and rained at least once a day. And the colors were more of the dull, pastel variety as opposed to the historical vibrant colors due to a late spring frost, floods and consistent rain through the summer, and persistent warm temperatures.
I scoured the northern mountains of Vermont for the best colors and compositions, and took advantage of the light the few times it was gifted. Really the only times that I could capture dynamic lighting was from my drone, flying high above the trees and able to quickly react to changes in lighting.
Throughout this trip, the age-old saying of “take what you are given” played on repeat in my head. What I was given was, not much. I had to get creative making my images. Isn’t that the point anyway?
I embraced these lackluster conditions, creating small projects, like photographing lone red trees. Or shooting soft, moody scenes where the varied colors could speak for themselves. Or playing with shutter speeds, letting the shutter hang open to smooth the water and enhance reflections, to later blend the image with a fast shutter shot to keep the trees from getting blurry in the wind.
Although this fall in Vermont didn’t make it easy, I may have learned the most in years from this trip, where I had to slow down, and think about how I could create something different and visceral.
