Scouting, discovering, and revisiting is how I spent most of my time out with the camera in September. With Fall quickly approaching, I went into full composition hunting mode. Fall was a struggle photographically for me last year due to the little time I had to go out shooting. I just simply didn’t have the time and to be honest didn’t have the energy to go out chasing Fall color. This left me feeling very disappointed by the time October ended, but this time around I want to change that. I returned to a few of the spots I frequent between Fall and Spring to see how the landscape has changed over the Summer. I even explored some new areas I previously have not spent much time in. I have a few compositions in mind that could turn out to be photos I would be very proud of. Needless to say, the outlook for capturing the beautiful Fall colors is much better than last year. Between heading North, and staying local, I should have two great windows of time to capture peak fall color. Now, I just simply have to believe in the compositions I have in mind and hope for great conditions and light.

As for the photo above, I think it has a ton of potential to be one of my favorites of the year. It has all of the elements I have been working on this Summer. It’s soft, painterly, intimate, and represents the experience I had while I was there. This photo is yet another ICM shot of the reeds along the edges of the water at my local marshland. Typically for me to achieve this effect I shoot with slow shutter speeds while moving my camera up, down, left, and right. However, this time I simply dropped my shutter speed and aperture, kept the camera relatively still, and let the wind blow the reeds sideways to create the motion. I did take this photo the day before writing this blog so this photo is far from “finished” but I believe its already well on its way to being done. I do like to let photos sit for a week or two before making the final decision to add them to one of my galleries. Time will tell if this photo will be gallery-worthy, but so far I love the direction it is headed.