I wanted to photograph as much of the fall color as possible this year. It’s been such a great color year in the east, but today’s misty, overcast and breezy day made me take a closer look at the ground and the leaves that have already fallen. I noticed many were covered with water droplets so I got my macro lens to get an up-close look.

I found a lot of interesting patterns to shoot (right in my backyard).  The fall leaves covered in rain droplets and the tip of a lambs ear plant with a background of red maple leaves, I think, are nice representations of the fall season.

A nice weather day prompted a drive to Prince William Forest, which is adjacent to the Marine Corp. base in Quantico, VA. The fall color is just hitting near peak there.  The scene above is on a trail called Quantico Cascades. The sun had not yet reached down to the stream so I had good conditions for water shots.

The sun started to hit the tops of the nearby trees and the shot above is the reflection of color on the stream.   I like the pattern the water gives the color.  The photo below is a pan of nearby trees reflecting strong sunlight. The exposure was 1.3 secs.

Storm clouds threatened all day and finally the rains came in the afternoon.  Just before sunset the rain stopped and the clouds started to break up.  I drove down to the local marina to check out the scene and took a few photos before darkness set in.  The trees in this area are having a very colorful fall this year.

A rainy and breezy weekend made staying indoors sound like a good idea. I decided to stick close to home and experiment with some images of leaves that had been knocked down over the last couple of days. I searched the front yard  for different compositions and found a couple of nice, colorful choices, using both 105mm macro and 24-70mm lenses.

This morning wrapped up the photography workshop in Vermont.  Once again, fog has hugging the landscape as we headed to Brandon Gap on Rt. 73.  However, we decided to pull off the road to catch the dramatic clouds that were happening around us.  When the fog lifted a little, the hillside scene above appeared.

The last stop in the workshop was a stream along a park road.  The color was outstanding and the overcast conditions allowed some nice water images.  We photographed the area for some time, with most shots requiring getting our feet wet and placing our tripods in the middle of the stream.

That wrapped up a great workshop by Mountain Trail Photography led by a very talented photographer, Joseph Rossbach who is also an outstanding teacher.  If you want to increase your photographic skills in great locations, these workshops are highly recommended.

Additional photos from Vermont are posted here.

Day 3 of the workshop started much like day 2….with a lot of fog and wet weather.  We drove to Lefferts Pond adjacent to Chittenden Reservoir in the Green Mountains and found the scene above just before sunrise. After sunrise, the fog lifted and the morning turned sunny, revealing the surrounding landscape.

Before leaving this area we had a chance to work on some macro photography, including the spider web below holding on to the beads of water from the morning rain. I arranged my shot to include the fall color in the background.

Day 2 of the workshop started early and in a light rain.  Driving up a hillside our workshop lead, Joe Rossbach, spotted a nice composition of trees in the morning fog.  Later in the afternoon, we searched for covered bridges and found one near a grist mill which was fed by by a large stream surrounded by great tree color.

In the early evening we photographed a waterfall under heavy overcast skies which helped bring out the color in the scene and allowed longer exposure times to capture the rushing water.