The Colours of Fall (autumn) – A Photo Story
What is a Fall:
The ‘Autumn’ interchangeably known as ‘Fall’ in North
America is that wonderful phase of nature which marks the transition from
Summer to Winter , come September in
Northern Hemisphere (ie in Northern Part of world ) & correspondingly in March in
Southern Hemisphere , the onset of night gradually becomes earlier and the
temperature begins to cool down noticeably.
My Dream:
Having born and brought up in Mumbai a tropical city
, I was always fascinated by that word Fall -Autumn as it was forever a dream for me, while reading
in the geography books in school, watching pictures of fall in magazines and
watching those lovely autumn scenes in Hollywood movies.
For that humble reason in Nov 2012 which was my wife’s
50th Birthday coupled with our 25th wedding anniversary I
decided to celebrate autumn in Kashmir, the period was 1st
week of November. I was privileged to witness the beauty of autumn for the first time in my life at the age of 55. Being a nature lover since childhood, photography
was my hobby which later turned into passion for Nature and Wildlife
photography now. During our stay in a hotel in Srinagar, on a penultimate day
of our trip I decided to wake up at 5am while my wife was fast asleep, ventured
out for a sunrise photo shoot . Stepping out of hotel on a cold autumn morning the
streets were completely deserted not a single person seen & neither any
auto rickshaw anywhere, after about few minutes of wait fortuitously I saw a
lonely auto rickshaw at a distance, I quickly signaled him, the rickshaw wala
sensing I am a tourist he immediately obliged, while sitting inside I told him
please take me to the best spot where I can see rows of huge chinar (Maple) trees,
I am interested in taking Autumn photographs. He took me to a place which was
the backwaters of Dal Lake & had rows of huge Chinar trees . Later when I
asked him he told me that all trees are at least 300 to 400 yrs old. That was
my first amazing experience of autumn at it's best.
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| Photo shot at the Chinar Baug,Dal Gate in Srinagar, early morning at 7 am , to capture colors of Autumn, hours before we left for the Srinagar airport. |
Fall tour planning:
Two years gone by sometime during the middle of 2014,
my sis-in-law suggested to my wife about the Fall Tour in New Hampshire in
U.S.A in 2015. We decided to go together but as it is said despite
all the advancement in science, each fall season in New Hampshire is
predictably unpredictable, the exact fall period which is only of 3 weeks
duration is difficult to envisage so early in advance. But my sis-in-law who
lives in Madison-WI did lot of homework referring weather patterns for last
couple of years finally we zeroed down to first week of October 2015. Now the
immediate task was to book tickets to USA. As it so happened that during Dec
2014–Jan 2015 we came across a promotional advertisement of ‘Air-India’
offering tickets to Mumbai- Chicago-Mumbai for Rs.52000/-. Without hesitation
we grabbed this opportunity and booked our seats sometime in Jan 2015. After
that it was time to book hotel room reservation, which my sis-in-law zeroed in
on Marriott’s Town Place Suites in Gilford –NH strategically located near the
White Mountain region which is known to be the paradise on earth especially during the fall season.
As the traveling date approached nearer all preparations were made,
special attention was given for my Camera Kit for which I purchased a Vanguard
trolley bag to accommodate DSLR Camera body, 3 lenses, batteries and
accessories for convenient and secure travel.
We reached Chicago ORD on 25th September 2015 early morning and arrived here in Madison by afternoon it was already perceptible visible the nature had just started to wrap up
the summer and opened up a vista for the new season the transition phase giving
rise to the odors of early autumn on the streets – sporadically the
temperature dropping drastically from an average of 70* F to a more comfortable
50*F.
When the first leaves melt and drops down on the sidewalks,
staining the gravel and sand with yellow and brown & the chestnuts, the crisp
morning air encouraging pedestrians to pick up their pace and driving idle
souls into the warm cafes.But it’s a nature’s way of saying it is time to
‘ring out the old and ring in the new’ transporting back the memories
motivating for the future.
As our
fall tour was to start from 4th Oct to 8th October, so
couple of those days in Madison were utilized for backyard birding, birding
around Madison which yielded some of the 1st time lifer species for
me seen during fall season in North America.
The tour begins :
On 4th
Oct 2015 , we moved towards New Hampshire after landing at Manchester airport and
hired a self-drive SUV it was a well-equipped new Chevrolet Trailblazer truly a
cross country vehicle with comfortable seating for 5 persons, great
air-conditioning and lot of boot space.
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| At the Manchester Airport all set to embark on a self drive tour. |
We planned to stay there for next 5 days to witness the
natures amazing show of colors. Although the reports were that the fall
foliage had reached the 50% of the level in the Northern part of New Hampshire,
but we kept our fingers crossed, till we waited for the nature’s drama to
unfold in front of our eyes for the next few days. And to our respite the fall
tour had begun in right earnest, our arrival at New Hampshire was just in time
as the autumn was officially announced by National Geographic on the same day
as we checked in at Marriott Towne Place Suites, Gilford in New Hampshire. Why New
Hampshire is one of the best places in the world to witness the brilliant
crimsons and golds of fall, it’s ‘seeing is believing’. While it may seem that the
gorgeous colors of fall are painted on the landscape, it’s really an intricate
chemical process that prompts leaves to change their colors in the early weeks
of autumn.
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| Driving through the fall colors , on our way to Marriott Town Palace Suites. |
We arrived in late afternoon at the Hotel after a long drive on way tasting the glimpse of fall colors holding great promise of the future things to unfold for the next few days.
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| Marriott Towne Place Suites-Gillford,NH |
There are
few places around the world where fall is so spectacular year after year &
no doubt why New Hampshire draws millions of visitors to see this colorful
exhibition of nature, which plays out during the unique weeks of weather here,
the variety of trees that undergo this transformation on the rugged terrain is one of those amazing stories of nature's evolution.
Day 1 - 5th Oct : As it was our first day of Fall tour , we decided to take an orientation drive towards White Mountain area and stopped in between wherever we found some places of interest , but had a target to reach the Fabyans Station from where further down for about 6 miles on can reach the famous Mount Washington cog-wheel railway base station , but by the time we reached there the last train to the White Mountain was full and we had to satisfy ourselves by viewing the Cogwheel train which was just about to leave. Meanwhile the sun was playing hide and seek and at many places it was very cloudy and the fall colors were not seen in it's full glory.
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Autumn
Reflection Panorama.
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While driving on a highway towards White
Mountains on a chilly autumn morning, the sun was still on its lower degree on
the horizon, I saw a very good opportunity for a Reflection Scene. We decided
to stop our car and got down to observe before I could take a proper decision
for exposure settings. I noticed a little tricky situation, there was a
considerable reflected light behind the
subject emanating from the sky with dispersed cloud formation. The subject was
a cluster of bungalows surrounded by a clear blue reflected lake waters and a
background of row of trees. Normally the reflected light would have darkened
the subject. I thought to compose the frame thereby keeping the horizon line at
the center of the frame allowing the large portion of water body in front to
give it a grand reflected sky effect panorama.
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| An
Affair with a Pumpkin ! Somewhere
on way to white mountains , NH , USA .As they say in
United States PUMPKIN , FALL & HALLOWEEN are inseparable. | | | | | | | |
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| Autumn Glory seen along the banks of water stream |
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Panoramic View of Mount Washington: World's
First Mountain Climbing Train, the only Cog Railway East of the Rockies,
to the Top of Mount Washington - the Highest Peak in New
England.
Autumn Panorama along the White mountain Highway
Day2-OCT 6th- Drive via I-89N & US-4W to the Vermont state
bordering the New Hampshire, known for its natural landscape, which is about 75% pristine forest.
It's also famous as a major producer of maple syrup. Because of thousands of
acres of alpine terrain it attracts visitors for its natural beauty during autumn and a popular winter destination for skiers and snowboarders.
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First
stop was Queechee Gorge known as ‘Vermont’s Little Grand Canyon’ formed some
13000yrs ago during the Ice age , spectacular
natural wonder.
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| Queechee
Gorge known as ‘Vermont’s Little Grand Canyon’ | |
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The
second stop was at Kent Pond in Killington,Vermont is a very scenic place to kayak. It surrounds the tall trees
of the Green Mountain National Forest. After that further up we stopped somewhere
for a trail walk inside the bamboo and pine forest by the time we finished our
trail walk it was time for Lunch as it was well past noon and bang in front of our eyes we saw
an English tavern having an old world charm straight out from a wild west movie , with a backdrop of verdant hill
covered with full autumn colored leaves. In fact we had a supper as it was
late afternoon.
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| Forest Trail | |
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| English Tavern |
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| English Tavern from inside |
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| Kent Pond Panorama with deep blue water and backdrop of tall trees & Green mountain national forest. |
Day3-OCT 7th- Visit to Squam Lake and Natural Science Center.
Today bright sunny morning opened up a great opportunity for another great day for our fall trip tour, we decided to take a shorter drive to Squam Lake and utilize more time to see the place by taking a Drive via US-3N driving to a distance of about 25 miles from our Hotel.We reached the lake front spot in the morning at about 9.30 and booked our 12 O'clock cruise tickets and enough time to take a round around the Natural Science Center.Saw some rare species of Mammals and Birds like Bob Cat, Mountain Lioness , Red Fox , Sea Otter , Downy Wood Pecker, White throated Sparrow, etc.
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| Bob Cat-a rare endangered specie |
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| Downy Woodpecker |
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| Eastern Chipmunk thinking larger than life |
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| Mountain Lioness- a rare threatened specie |
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| River Otter- rare specie |
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| Song Sparrow |
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| White Throated Sparrow |
It was now time for the boat cruise. Squam Lake is among the most magnificent and beautiful lakes in the world I
have seen among the most peaceful and pristine in the country and offers
visitors plenty of opportunity to enjoy its natural beauty. both big and
small Squam Lakes are naturally spring-fed and connected by a channel
in Holderness. Big Squam is 6,791 acres, 6 miles long, 4 miles wide and
98 feet deep with 61 miles of shoreline. It is the second-largest lake
located entirely in New Hampshire.Little Squam is 408 acres, 2 miles
long, 1/2 mile wide and 84 feet deep. The lakes are host to 67 islands.
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| Panorama of Squam Lake |
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| One of the island in the middle of the lake having diverse flora |
Day4-OCT 8th- As it was our last day of fall tour we decided on a route and planned to stop at important scenic areas , our first stop was Lower Falls on Kancamagus Highway , then further up Rocky Gorge scenic area , Sugar Hill overlook , Sabbaday Falls , Franconia Notch , Flume Gorge and finally at Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway a total of approximately 93miles.
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| Lower Falls on Kancamagus Highway |
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| Light and Shadow play At the lower falls |
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| Light and Shadow play |
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| At Lower Falls |
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| At Lower Falls |
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| Flume Tourist Center |
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| Water Falls at Flume Gorge |
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| At Canon Mountain Top by Aerial Tramway. |
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| Colors of Autumn in the White Mountains |
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| Group photo taken on the concluding stage of our memorable tour. | |
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That accomplishes
one of my most thrilling self-drive journeys in USA. As you have seen and read
above, it took four good days covering 2 states , and driving approximately
2000miles in 4 days at an average of 500miles daily exploring the most varied
rugged terrain of White mountains in New Hampshire and the stimulating
landscape of Vermont, displaying the natural beauty of autumn colors in all
its splendor and glory. This fall tour is not only of beholding nature’s
beauty but also of its diverse landscape, culture & people from all walks
of life. I have been to USA 4 times and always been the protagonist saying that
the beauty of the United States lies not in big cities but in the natural
world.
After
reading this, I am sure many people in India as well as in USA may think that
they have yet to go through this delightful experience and would undoubtedly wish
to do so in near future.
Before
I conclude few important things that need to make this tour a success, Plan your
tour early at least six months before , study the weather pattern of the
particular region to zeroing on the exact tour dates and third but not the
least is hiring a self-drive car without which this tour can never be an exciting
experience.
All images are fully copyrighted by Shekhar Bopardikar under the name 'ThirdEye Reflections'
Written and Presented by
Shekhar Bopardikar
