Autumn

Nikon D700, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lens @ 75mm, f/11, ISO 200.

Seems like the whole valley drove up the canyon this afternoon to view the leaves. They are in full color at Tony Grove, and creeping down the canyons daily, like a shag carpet--out with the green, in with the orange!

There's a special grandeur to the changing of the leaves--like the world is putting on it's best clothes before death. Have you seen that movie, "Get Low"? Like this is the party of the year, and it's time to dress up for it.

Nikon D700, 300mm f/4 lens, f/8, 1/15s, ISO 200.

So, we oblige. I called up the Cache Valley Paparazzi on Friday and invited them all to come with me on Saturday morning for the red carpet opening of Autumn up the Canyon. We tossed around where to attend, as if J. Lo and Lady Gaga were both throwing galas and we had to choose which one. We thought of heading to the Temple Fork road with it's high vantages, but Steve scouted that beforehand and noted that there was a distinct lack of red maples; we decided the place to be was Tony's.

Nikon D700, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lens @ 70mm, f/16, 1/125s, ISO 640.

A herd of photogs appeared for the show, and it was well worth awaking at 5:00am. That first image was one of the very ones I made. I like to begin shooting well before the sun is up because the colors are very rich and the sky is not yet bright so there is not too much contrast between light and dark, which means that you can capture detail in both the sky and the landscape. And anyway, I'm already up, so I may as well shoot!

Nikon D700, 300mm f/4 lens, f8, 1/100s, ISO 200.

It never ceases to amaze me how much fun it is to make pictures of this kind of majesty. The colors, the clouds, the light, the hills themselves--it's all quite stunning. This kind of experience reminds of how much I love travel photography. I love creating images that show some of the soul of a place, the things that locals rave about--the things they are proud of in their home. Tony Grove is just such a place to the residents of Cache Valley. Everyone always goes on about how beautiful it is, at every season, and they spend weekends there and hundreds of people use it for snowmobiling each winter. Well, this was my first trip to that particular spot, and it really is lovely.

Nikon D700, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lens @112mm, f/8, 1/160s, ISO 200.

So, this great place has been in my backyard while I've been traveling to Dubai, Korea, and St. Louis, etc. and relishing the pictures I made in those great places. The lesson for me, then, is that I can create great travel photographs right in the place where I live! I don't need to travel around the world to find great locales loaded with culture and interest.

Anyone want to join us for our Caribbean cruise this winter?