Adirondack Autumn Concluded- Seeing in Sixes

Waterfalls and autumn colors are a strong combination.  Here's an image that I had to work hard to compose and yet leaves me with mixed feelings. Why?   The central drop over the precipice hits a huge boulder in the lower right corner and is strongly redirected by 90 degrees to the left.  My eye often follows the flow downward to the right and continues out of the frame; but at times I accept the redirect to the center.

Another waterfall looks best in monochrome.  This has a backstory of a missed opportunity.   A fisherman was casting a fly rod next to the left bridge foundation.  I wanted to show the beautiful arc of the rod as the line looped out over the stream.  That would add a beautiful plus in the composition.  Needed to increase shutter speed.  In the half minute to make the change, he moved downstream and out of the frame.  Lost it!

Never assume the magic with continue.  Still, I like the image as is.

The Adirondacks are about rocks, often big ones.  The huge ones are called glacial erratics.   Their size and mass amazes me.  A rough calculation suggests that this one weighs about 110 tons.  In the fall, the fallen leaves starkly reveal its size.

In fall, I am often looking at the ground after any rain hoping to see mushrooms. That explains why my right knee is often dirty, as I find it necessary to get as low as possible.  The variety of sizes, colors and forms seen in fungi is of great interest to me.  This guy was hard to initially see, as it blended in with the freshly fallen leaf litter.  It's part of the classification called LBMs,  Little Brown Mushrooms.

While exploring the trails at Lake Durant, I discovered a nice joke.   Someone pried open the hollow remains of a fallen tree to position a nice bird box in the center.  Maybe a good caption for the photo would be: 

Is anybody home?

Probably not in October.

After the group dispersed, our leader Chris Murray noted in a message that there is a second part of autumn, which I take to be when attention shifts to smaller areas closer to the ground and more intimate.  Here is the final image that takes it direction from Chris's teaching.

 It offers simple colors and no distractions from the central subject.  I am continuing to photograph here at home mostly using a new phone camera with multiple lenses.  I will post on my progress learning the new system soon.

Paul Schmitt