Month: October 2017

Our first full day to see fall colors in Vermont’s premier ski region, Killington, started off with a bang,  shortly after 7 AM Tuesday morning.    We didn’t actually hear the bang.  We had just arrived at Kent Pond and were starting to set up our gear when Jonathan, the newbie in the group  that included Emerson, me, and of course, Moose, heard the tell tale hiss of a tire  losing air. The right rear tire of our Ford Expedition was quickly losing pressure so we aborted our plans, loaded back into the Expedition and we hissed and hustled down the road to Rutland, about 15 miles away.  We found a Midas Auto shop that had just opened and could fit us in immediately.  By 9AM we were back at Kent Pond.

We seem to have hit perfect fall colors just as they peak this week.  It’s fascinating to see the differences in microclimates depending on modest changes in direction and elevation.   But, Vermont’s state tree, the sugar maple, takes front and center with the leaves ranging from brilliant yellow to vibrant orange to deep crimson.

This warty gourd caught my attention.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.”  Truer words were never spoken, especially when they refer to Bartlett Pears.  Despite the gorgeous color of the  Bartlett’s peel which can range from lemon yellow to a blushing peach color, and which seems to be a false indication of lusciousness, more often than not, one minute they are hard, the briefest moment they are juicy and delicious, and, in the blink of an eye, mushy and almost inedible.  I don’t find the same is true of d’Anjou or Comice pears which seem always to be lucious and I never eat Bosc pears raw but Bartlett’s are so tricky I rarely buy them.  It is the peak of Bartlett season, though and I bought a bag, most of which so far seem to be at their “ten minute” peak of perfection.

On the Mill Creek side of the road to Lundy Lake, off Hwy. 395 just outside Lee Vining, the aspens are turning.  The winds kept them quaking.  Even with a fast shutter speed (1/640) I had a hard time getting the leaves in focus as they jiggled in the wind.

Late Sunday afternoon we stopped at Olmsted Point to check out the stunning view of Half Dome.  Fires in the valley prevented anything but hazy photos.  A few adjustments in Luminar revealed the smoke that was obliterating the view.

It’s been a while since I’ve done any landscape photography.  I have two trips coming up soon that will focus on landscape so I’m looking forward to honing my skills which seem to be a bit rusty.  Saturday morning in Mammoth Lakes, the sun rose behind us as we watched the colors change over the Minarets.  The Minarets are a series of jagged peaks  in the Ritter Range of the Sierra Nevada mountains, a part of the Ansel Adams Wilderness area.  This is a three-panel panorama of the view.

 

It’s been almost a year since I visited Chugach State Park in Anchorage, AK to photograph moose with Moose.  That was an incredible adventure that I won’t soon forget.  On our last full day there, we spent hours with a group of about a dozen bull moose that were grazing and resting.   Among my favorite images from that day are those featuring a bull moose curled up on the ground, watching us.  I posted one image of that moose here.  The image below is the same moose with one major difference…the position of the ears.  Most of the images I took of this moose show his ears laid back as in the referenced image, which is possibly an indication of aggression.  We were required to stay at least 25 yards or so away from them as I recall and none of them made any aggressive moves toward us.  But they were clearly concerned about our presence there.  Of the dozens of photographs I took of this moose, only two show his ears forward.   There are several subtle differences between these two photographs including the direction of the moose’s huge antlers, the position of the head and shoulders, and of course the ears.  As I venture deeper into wildlife photography, I continue to learn some of the nuances that can affect the success of a photograph.  I wish I had been more aware of these subtleties when I was photographing this bull.  He does look less concerned in this shot than the previous one but his antlers aren’t as impressive.

Sunday afternoon, we drove home from Mammoth Lakes through Yosemite National Park and stopped at Olmsted Point on Tioga Road, elevation 8300 feet.  We followed the short trail over glacier creased granite to view the north side of Half Dome and Tenaya Canyon.  Sadly, smoke from a fire in Yosemite Valley made the view  hazy but I found this stunted lone pine struggling through a crack in the granite to be quite photogenic.