565 - Wild Gardens of Acadia
Is treescape a word? Because after this shoot, I’m going to trademark it.
Today’s adventure was a journey into the Wild Gardens of Acadia. A botanical garden filled with a tremendous variety of fall colors. Since I’ve been hitting the waterfalls hard lately, I figured I’d switch it up a bit a dabble with some forest scenes.
Gotta keep it spicy, you know?
The path I started on was called the Jesup Trail, which is a boardwalk through a swamp-land of aspen trees. And I know what you’re thinking. With great aspen trees comes great fall colors.
And you couldn’t be more right. But… I’m going to make a bold claim here.
This is the most colorful landscape I’ve ever seen. So brace yourself. If Candyland the board game was real, this is where it would take place. For as far as the eye could see, in any direction, multi-colored aspen trees swayed in the breeze, and leaves spiraled through the air.
Crickets droned in the distance, wood creaked below my feet, and a peaceful silence filled the void. Here’s a glimpse of the walkway looked like:
“Speckle Stroll”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 3200 ~ 75mm ~ f/18 ~ 1/160s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
The trail goes on like this for almost half a mile. And on either side of you, endless photo opportunities shattered my mind:
“Last of Autumn”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 800 ~ 74mm ~ f/10 ~ 1/200s]
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“Mute Spectrum”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 2500 ~ 73mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/500s]
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“Lush Fire”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 800 ~ 54mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/200s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
It’s moments like these where I feel truly happy. It doesn’t matter what is going on anywhere in the world, in my life, or anyone else's. All that exists in my reality is a strange little world of color. And I was completely enraptured by it.
The feeling was multiplied by my ability to skillfully filter the landscape through my own mental reality.
Now, I know that sentence sounds insane. But let me explain.
There’s this strange frustration when you first start photography, where you see beautiful scenes, but you can’t quite put them into something tangible. For the first couple years, nothing that comes through that lens ends up looking anything like what you saw in reality.
In fact, it looks significantly worse.
And as an artist, it’s hard to push through this barrier. It constantly feels like you’re pushing for something that’s just out of sight. There’s something in your mind, but you can’t quite see what it is. Yet.
You must keep pushing.
Eventually it starts to come out, in little bits and pieces. Maybe you recognize parts of an image as your own, but other parts are foreign to you. And over the years, it ramps up.
Photography slowly starts to become a tool. A tool that allows you to see what’s going on in the deeper, less noticeable parts of your mind.
Is this making any sense? Or am I speaking gibberish here?
What I’m trying to say is that the better you get at photography, the more clearly you can understand who you are as a person. Visually. In front of you. Laid out. Like a map.
It’s hard to describe. But trust me. It’s a mind-blowing skillset to develop. And I imagine it’s the same with any type of art you put massive amounts of time into.
While you digest that, let’s take a look at some more micro scenes I took:
“Fool’s Gold”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 1000 ~ 24mm ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/125s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
“Flare-up”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 3200 ~ 85mm ~ f/18 ~ 1/100s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Definitely a darker editing style to those two photos than the previous set.
I’m constantly at war with my OCD mind asking me to edit every shot in the same style. Probably so they could cleanly fit into a sort of collage together. But I refuse. Every photo has its own vibe… and making them fit together feels like it ruins their integrity.
For example, check out this photo here:
“Sway”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 1250 ~ 44mm ~ f/11 ~ 1/320s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
This photo wouldn’t fit with the first set or the second set. It’s not colorful enough to fit with the first photos, but not dark enough to fit in with the second set.
Standing alone however, it looks fantastic.
Let’s see here. How many photos am I at in this adventure now? Seven? Jesus Christ. I need to slow down. THESE FALL SHOOTS ARE GETTING OUT OF CONTROL.
Alright one more then we’ll call it a day. Deal? Deal.
“Rasta Fall”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 2500 ~ 99mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/640s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
I love the Jamaica vibes coming out of this one. But we’re a loooooong way from rasta-town.
Bruh… imagine a shoot down in Jamaica. That’d be so fun.
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