Took a ride to Cherry Plain State Park in Rensselaer County. I had been here before and had pictured making a photo like this in my mind. I would have liked some red in the image but I liked the way the fallen orange leaves frame the roadway and lead the eyes through the scene towards the golden yellow trees.

Took a short ride to Richmondville in Schoharie County after watching some football this Sunday afternoon. The color wasn't bad at all as far as the trees are concerned but the light was less than spectacular. I liked this scene looking down the hill with the street curving through the frame and the backdrop of the colorful hillside.

This was one of my first attempts at "star photography". I had attempted to shoot star trails once before several years ago and learned a valuable lesson when I changed lenses right near a campfire. My sensor was filthy after that and I had to have it cleaned (I have since learned to clean my camera sensors myself).

I recently listened to a great podcast called "Alpha Mirrorless" hosted by Juan Pons and Andy Williams. The podcast centers around mirrorless cameras and more specifically, Sony mirrorless but they touch on a wider gamut of photography topics. Recently they discussed star photography and nighttime photography and I decided to give this a shot at my camp on Galway Lake.

The key to these types of exposures is to shoot at a wide aperture (2.8 or wider is ideal) and a long shutter speed but not long enough to obtain star trails (unless that is your goal). I shot this with my D610 and my old Nikkor 20mm F/2.8 prime.

There is a ton of room for improvement but I was pleased with the way this came out after editing in Lightroom. I look forward to going back and shooting some more images like this once there is less "light pollution" around the lake. Sections of Galway Lake are more or less seasonal use only so once late fall/early winter hit, there is a lot less artificial light around the lake.

Please feel free to check out the Alpha Mirrorless podcast that I mentioned.

http://thisweekinphoto.com/category/alphamirrorless/

I came upon this scene yesterday when I was in the area. Unfortunately, when I came upon it the first time, the sun was high in the sky and although the foliage was stunning, the light was less than interesting. The second time I came upon it, the farm in the background was in deep shadow. Basically, I hit it too early and too late. I decided to take the trip back tonight (40 minutes from home give or take five) and wait out the light. This area of Schoharie County is really rife with photo opportunities. So many beautiful farms and hillsides.

I took this photo from several angles. I really wanted to incorporate the glowing sugar maple in the foreground along with that larger row of trees that helped add a sense of scale to the valley below. Another five minutes and that farm would have once again been in shadow.

Timing is really everything in photography. We wait all year for color in the trees and then sometimes our vision of the image we want to make can come down to just minutes of possibility. In another week, this scene will look drastically different, as it did one week prior I'm sure. That's life.

Taken with my 70-200 F/2.8 and trusty old D7000.

Roseboom

Nothing increases motivation for photography like a beautiful October day. I usually find foliage reports pretty unreliable and that might have a lot to do with my expectations as opposed to those reporting. That being said, I checked out the I Love NY website's foliage reports and saw that the Otsego County area was near peak. 

I drove out to Cooperstown via Route 10 to 165/166 and checked out a scene I had photographed in the past. I drove by the scene you see here on the way out and thought to myself that if the location I had in mind didn't pan out I'd come back to this one. Well, the other scene didn't offer me the color I was hoping for so I came back to this one as the sun was setting. 

If you have seen any of my photos, you know that I generally gravitate towards farms and old farm buildings. I think this image would look much better without the house and willow trees in it but seeing as though this is someone's home I don't feel quite right just erasing it from the scene. 

Hard to believe it has been almost a year since I posted here. As has been the theme in the past, other pursuits have gotten in the way of photography. It's never been far from my mind however and I've wanted to get out and shoot something for quite a while. This was taken in a familiar location in West Charlton, NY. 

I took a short ride to the Landis Arboretum in Esperance, NY this morning. Lots of nice views but this one was my favorite. The sun was hitting everything just right and the view of the valley below was beautiful.