Fall Color

I don’t know about you, but I found the Fall color to be fantastic this year.  Since I’m located in the PNW, this area is rich with possibilities for some amazing color when the season hits.  As summer faded and Fall began, I was a bit worried that we wouldn’t see much Fall color because of the strange (HOT!) weather and little moisture during the summer.  Thankfully, Mother Nature put in a great show this year and I was able to draw a lot of inspiration from what nature was providing and I was receptive to.  I was able to capture many images that I’m happy with this year, something I can’t always say.

I was so motivated as the Fall color really started to develop that I created a small series called the “dog walking chronicles” where I flexed my creative vision and creative muscles to create images while out walking the dog.  Just using my iPhone(mostly) and processing using Snapseed, I was impressed with what I was able to capture as a final image, as well as providing “exercise” for my creative muscles.  I really wanted to make the point (to myself and others) that you don’t need to travel to exotic locations and have tens of thousands of dollars in camera equipment to create great images.  You can do it anywhere and anytime….all you have to do is be open to the experience and see creatively.  We all have phones in our pockets, let’s not be too prideful as photographers to use them as another image capturing device.

SW Washington

On a sunny day as the trees were approaching peak Fall color in the Portland area, I headed in to SW Washington to a few locations that I knew could produce some nice color and nice images. Heading east through the Columbia River Gorge, I of course had to stop at a viewpoint for sunrise.  It was unplanned, as I’ve shot here so many times I typically wait to see what might develop before I make the last minute call to pull off the highway and head to the viewpoint.  On this morning, I was rewarded with some amazing foggy conditions over the river and surrounding hills.  What a great way to start the day!

After sunrise I crossed the Columbia River and headed in to Washington.  My first planned destination was Conboy Lake NWR, which typically has some great color in the area.  Along the way though, I was distracted by mysterious forest service roads and the hope of some hidden gems, so I headed off in to the woods to see what I could see.  Some times when I go out photographing, I have a plan and stick to it.  Other times, like on this day, I had a general plan but also was very open to going where the spirit, and Fall color, moved me.  I’m a strong believer in not “over planning” an outing, instead being open to the whims of nature, and myself, and follow the creative energy wherever it may lead. Although I didn’t find any epic shots, I did come away with some fun shots that represent nicely where I was.

I eventually made it to Conboy NWR.  Along the way though, I witnessed a flock of turkey, 20-30 birds, cross the road right in front of me, apparently running to find a good hiding place for Thanksgiving.  Then not more than a mile from where I saw the turkeys, I had an amazing wildlife encounter.  I rounded a slow corner on the road and noticed something big and moving off to the side.  I slowed down even more and was ready to slam on the brakes.  Then not more than 30 yards in front of my truck, a mature mountain lion came out of the brush and casually walked across the road!   These elusive cats are all around the PNW, but the chance of seeing one is pretty rare.  I was so excited and ecstatic to have seen one pass in front of the truck, slow enough that I could take in many details and appreciate the beauty of the big cat.  I didn’t even care that my camera was tucked away in the back…just the raw experience of seeing this amazing animal was enough for me!  I had another 5 miles to go to get the Conboy and by the time I reached there, my adrenaline had subsided and honestly, I felt a bit drained from the experience and not very creative.  But I did get my camera and spend a little time in the area photographing some scenes.  The color wasn’t popping like I had hoped it would be, so I did my best with what I found.

As I was walking, I noticed how the sunlight was penetrating the forest.  It really captured my attention and challenged my creativity to create a composition that pleased me.  This scene was another example of my earlier blog post about “visualizing your processing” while in the field, as I knew how I wanted to work the image in post, which influenced how I composed the shot in the field.

Further along the path there is a great stand of trees that are typically bathed in golden leaves.  Unfortunately on this day, the color hadn’t yet arrived and the trees were mostly green.  Still, wanting to flex some creativity, I worked to create some abstract images using intentional camera movement.  Here’s one that I was particularly happy with.

I eventually hit the road again and headed towards the Mt Adams area in search of fall color and streams and any image that caught my attention.  Mt Adams is a majestic volcano in SW Washington that is 12,281 feet tall and can be seen for hundreds of miles in each direction.  When I reached an area on the south side of the mountain, the trees opened up and I was treated to a magnificent view of the mountain with a lenticular cloud covering the summit.  I grabbed my Fujifilm GFX50s and worked the scene on a few different compositions and then pulled out my X-T3 and put the XF100-400mm on to capture some closer shots of the mountain and clouds.  Here is one of the wider angle shots I was happy with.

The rest of the day was spent wandering around the countryside looking for great Fall color.  I found a lot, however, the bright sunny skies didn’t help creating artful compositions, so eventually I turned back towards Portland and headed home.

Columbia River Gorge

A couple of weeks later, the Fall color had really matured and it was as close to “peak” color as I could imagine.  In the city itself, the color was almost past, but as I saw in WA, the color eastward wasn’t at the same stage as in the city.  So by my dead reckoning, color should be close to peak in the Gorge.  For those of you who haven’t been to the Columbia River Gorge, it really needs to be on your bucket list. It is truly one of the natural wonders of this country, all packed in to a relatively small location.  Waterfalls abound, almost around every corner, along with amazing views and plenty of hiking trails.  One of the downsides of being such an attraction is that is draws a lot of sightseers, so much so that by later in the morning, all the parking lots are filled along the historic highway. My strategy as always is to get out early, get to the locations I want to visit and then retreat home before the hoards ruin my mood. 🙂

One weekday I had cleared my office calendar and the forecast was for cloudy skies and rain, which is perfect waterfall photography weather, so early in the morning I grabbed my gear and headed out.    Once again I stopped at the overlook to see how the sunrise/morning was shaping up over the Gorge.

I spent the next several hours photographing the waterfalls, creeks and forests along the Columbia River Gorge.  The Fall color was simply amazing on this day!  The rain came and kept up for most of my time there, but I didn’t mind as it made for better lighting of the images, and, kept many of the would-be leaf peepers at home.  Instead of spending a lot of words describing the day in the gorge, I put together a short video to watch that features many of the images from the day, as well as talking about what it’s like to photograph in the Gorge.  Give it a look below…

As you can see from the video, it was an OUTSTANDING time in this beautiful and iconic location.  A perfect crescendo of fall color to end the season in the PNW.  I say “end” because a couple of days after I shot this video a big storm with high winds moved through the area and knocked a significant amount of the Fall color from the trees.  I was sad that leaf season was over for me, but also so very happy and satisfied that I felt the inspiration to go create art through my photography this Fall season.

Below are a few of the still images I captured using my Fujifilm GFX50s and GF32-64mm and GF100-200.  And yes, I had my GFX out in the rain and it performed wonderfully!  Great weather sealing on the Fujifilm gear.   I hope that you were able to get out and photograph some Fall color this year and keep your creative muscles toned.