More Autumn

Canon 40d, 17-40 f4.0 L, @26mm
ISO 100, f11, 1/10th second, handheld.
(Trick to handheld sharpness- sit down low, brace elbows on knees,
and click the shutter as you exhale.)

My good friend Cameron and I spent an afternoon tromping around the tundra of the White Mountains with our cameras in mid-September. It was a nearly perfect day for photography with a mix of sunshine, cloud shadows, rain squalls, rainbows, and rich clouded-colors. We hiked a few miles to the top of a ridge, then dropped down to a creek where I made this image. New England has the reputation of the best fall foliage, but Alaska, well Alaska is something else entirely. The window of color is brief, lasting maybe a week or two in a good year. But the colors are extraordinary. It is just like walking through a Vermont hardwood forest, except that all the trees are at knee level. Willows erupt with gold, Dwarf Birch spill like hot orange lava across the land, and Blueberries shed the color of a rich, red sunset. Dark granite and endless mountains. Really, what can be better than Alaska? I love this place.