On a recent trip to visit colleges for Sam, we had a chance to explore the Kancamangus Scenic Byway, a 35 mile stretch of road that traverses the White Mountains National Forest in New Hampshire.
Though it rained pretty solidly all day, the colors and scenery we saw along this road were both quite remarkable. Jack was a star when it came to spending so much time in the car, though we tried to get out and explore the area a couple of times despite the wet weather.
We were a little early for peak leaf peeping season, and the bad weather likely seriously impacted the number of people we saw on the road. On a sunny weekend this stretch of road would probably have been quite crowded, but on this day we pretty much had it all to ourselves.
Determined to enjoy our one chance to see some of New Hampshire, we persevered through the damp day and spent a little time in North Conway where we enjoyed Flatbread Pizza and Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. A toy store visit saw Jack refurbish his pirate weaponry arsenal, and his introduction to a Whoopee Cushion was memorable.
The steady and sometimes heavy rain meant that the camera pretty much stayed in the bag, though on a couple of occasions I couldn’t resist pulling it out and grabbing a couple of shots of the foliage color. I have been excited about trying the technique of moving the camera through a fall foliage scene while the shutter remains open, and when I saw the result of a couple of the shots I got I was not disappointed.
Limited by the weather and not wanting to take a chance on getting my “real” camera wet, I relied on my Canon A650IS point and shoot for these images. Even though I only had the camera out of my pocket for a few minutes to take these shots, it still got fairly wet, and I was concerned about the effect the water would have on the electronics. I liked the range of colors in each of these scenes, and am excited about the next couple of weeks as the fall foliage season starts to pick up here in Maine.
Stories from home 
The colors in the bottom photo are very interesting… you capture a pink in there even though I imagine you were seeing more red! Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
Argy… when using this technique the colors often bleed into one another, and colors tend to be more saturated when the shutter is open for a longer time. The pinks in the second were a nice surprise, and my guess is that they are the result of the reflection from the rain on the leaves and the red color blending together.
Nice abstracts David.
Mark… thanks. The rain and wind made it difficult to have the camera out in the elements for any length of time. Inspired by William Neill’s work, I enjoy these type of images very much.
Hi David,
I really like the fluidity of the first abstract as well as the color progression from left to right. With the second, the reds don’t feel right to me. It feels like the camera should either have been pointed higher to capture more of the reds or lower to eliminate the reds.
Ed… thanks for the comment and critique… much appreciated. Some scenes work well for this type of interpretation and others don’t. I totally understand your comment about the reds not being right here… wasn’t crazy about it myself.