Ginkgo for the Win

We have had a decent fall foliage show despite dry weather, but this year I have seen so many ginkgo trees stealing the show wherever they are. If you see a ginkgo changing color, it is only a matter of days till the whole tree is bright yellow and a few days later the leaves drop in what almost feels like a few hours.

Explore Your Options

Every once in a while I offer some insights on how I end up with the images I share here and this post is one of those times. I used to drive around for hours looking for subjects, but these days I find it harder to allot time to just look. So this particular day I was hoping to get a couple fall foliage shots and was driving the area when I noticed this tree lined farm lane with maple trees just past prime but still very colorful. I pulled off the road so I could walk over to the entrance to the lane and get a tree framed view of the barns. I snapped a couple angles and was walking back to the car when I saw a buggy coming. I thought this will be awesome with my original composition plus a buggy added to the equation! So I sat in the car camera pre-focused, exposure set, ready to blast a series of shots and the top image is the best result of that series. This is not the first time I have found my calculations for a shot turned out to be way off. First the shots I got with the full buggy showing literally blocks the entire farm scene, and even with a fast shutter speed the buggy moving right to left in front of me had some motion blur.

So as I evaluated my error and considered the lay of the land around me I decided to climb a hill behind me. As I got up the hill I noticed that bright area of fallen leaves to the left of the tree and thought if I could get one more buggy passing, I could get what I was after! I waited maybe five minutes and not only did a buggy come but he actually turned into the farm lane which made him stand out clearly against the fallen leaves giving me more than I had hoped for. Surprisingly this is one of my favorites from this fall season because of several points. First I feel the composition is perfectly balanced, it gives you a feeling of going home, the yellow maples, two red barns and two red maples just make a pleasing autumn scene and the horses eating in the pasture add a nice touch! So explore the options wherever your journey takes you!

Beading Nicely

rain drops on hood

It has been a little while since we had rain around here and we could sure use some! This Shot of my Jeep Hood was taken a few weeks ago when we had a spell of rainy weather. This particular day was a fine misting rain which formed drops of every size on my polished and protected vehicle.

Local Produce Stand

farm stand

This local farm produce stand sells fruits and vegetables and other delicious treats from spring till fall. Right now they are stocked with all kinds of fall decor. My favorites throughout the year include Sweet Corn, Peaches, Strawberries, Watermelon and on and on.

An Ocean of People

Not my typical posting but this is a local fair that I shot with a longer lens and a 4 second shutter speed. The funny thing is the few times I have done this, it seems there is always at least one person who is looking directly at me. In this shot there were a couple people who stood fairly still for 4 seconds and right in the mass of people there is one lady beside the big guy in the white shirt who stood fairly still and is looking at me! I am perhaps almost a football field away too.

Patience Tested

I shot this Aurora this past week mainly because a friend was without his car so I offered to take him to this lake. We were there about a half hour with nothing to speak of and seconds before I was going back to my vehicle to relax while he persisted, he suddenly blurts out “look to your left” and sure enough this color started to explode across the sky and reflect in the lake.