S Curve

Looking towards Mount Mansfield, Stowe, VT.

A pretty crazy month at work. I’ve been off the last few days.

I had big dreams of what I’d do with my downtime. But I’ve pretty much just recuperated at home.

I’m not at all complaining about that. Sometimes slowing down and staying put can be the best thing after going full tilt for a long stretch.

I recently made the move to a mirrorless camera system. The short story here is that newer camera bodies are considerably lighter and more compact, so I can save some weight and space when I’m out.

The older I get, the more important a minimalist loadout becomes to me.

I also reasoned that camera equipment will soon be unaffordable in the US, so I opted to buy now.

I’ve tested the gear out to make sure it works correctly, and I’ve customized the camera’s numerous features, including what most of the buttons do.

But other than a quick visit to a beach that didn’t wow me and an outing or two where I played around with close ups of the flora here in town, I haven’t photographed anything with intent.

All this to say that this month’s share isn’t a recent composition but rather a scene I captured in Vermont back in October.

I WAS wowed by just about everything I saw on that trip. I took something like 300 photos combined on my now older camera and now older phone (I’ve since upgraded to this year’s Samsung Galaxy) in the 36 hours or so that I got to spend there.

I ended up being disappointed with many of the images I took the time to set up for.

That might have more to do with how excited I was to be in Stowe during peak leaf peeping season than anything else.

Much in the same way that I talked about at the start of this write up, I had grandiose visions of the epic landscape photos I would come away with.

One particular element of the landscape genre that I am constantly on the lookout for is an S bend to frame the composition around.

This is exactly what it sounds like. You’ll not infrequently see it in scenes of a winding road in autumn. Absolutely magical.

I’ve all but given up on finding a workable version of that when I’m exploring.

Anywhere I’ve been here in the US at least, there will invariably be power lines marring the shot.

So the other option is to find a bend in a river.

Still hard to locate and then capture, especially if you’re unable to get to a good vantage point, for instance, because the land with the best view is privately owned.

Luckily I was able to make this one work despite those kinds of challenges. It was a very hazy early morning after almost nothing but rain the day before.

There’s just a touch of alpenglow brushing the top of Mt. Mansfield in the background.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get out more in the coming weeks as New England finally warms up after a rather chilly and windy start to spring.