I spent the first 10 days of October driving up to Vermont as I had seen so much about fall colors in New England but had never experienced it for myself – and I must admit it was spectacular! I have so many photos now that I am overwhelmed when trying to choose my favorites, but I will write more about Vermont in the near future! I have written about the famous little barn near Stowe, and here is an aerial image of the fall colors around the road through Smugglers Notch (which is a mountain pass) near Stowe:
But what did I find on my return home to West Virginia – yes, some lovely fall colors! Not as advanced as in the north but developing very nicely! I first visited my favorite haunt of Coopers Rock State Forest, which now has a brand-new entrance structure:
The colors over Cheat Canyon were really starting to develop very nicely around the 11th October and I like the sinuous way the river snakes through the trees towards the sun:
The next morning, we had a beautiful clear sky with the sun providing some brilliant backlight to the scene and so I decided to fly away from the overlook (early morning so no-one to bother!) to capture this much wider view of the scene.
And then a closer shot of the overlook itself:
By the 14th October I was ready for some lake images and drove down to Cheat Lake Park in the late afternoon hoping to catch the low light of the setting sun on the trees by the lake. I had in mind a reflection type of shot and I had checked the wind forecast and it showed that the wind would slowly drop from 8mph to 4mph by 8pm. That sounded a bit late to me – the sun would be gone! But I decided to do the typical professional photographer thing – just set up my camera on tripod (low to the ground and the water level) and just wait and wait! This little side bay from the lake, Morgans Run, already gets some protection from the wind by the rail trail to the left and I watched as the calm water spread sideways further and further up the lake as the wind slowly dropped and finally, at around 5:30pm I captured this image, which was so perfect in my mind that I didn’t go back for any second attempt!
I’m sure some of you like the challenge of a jigsaw puzzle – how about this image with 1000-pieces! That would keep you going until next Christmas!
As there was a nice collection of small clouds around the setting sun, I decided to drive straight up to Coopers Rock to see how the sunset would look from the overlook. It was pretty crowded (and very cold in shorts) but the resultant lightshow made it all worthwhile. There wasn’t the classic “bright red clouds look” that you sometimes get when the sun has gone below the horizon, but this image really shows off the fall colors:
I also looked the other way (always a good thing to do) to capture the sun on the bright trees with the river in shade far below.
I decided to visit yet again, the following morning as I thought the rising sun on this same view would provide some interest, so here is an alternative view of this same location around 12 hours later!
I did go back to Cheat Lake with my drone later that day to capture a different perspective on that earlier image with the reflection. There was more wind this time so no flat surface on the lake, but I think this gives a nicely rounded view of the trees and the lake, looking towards the dam.
At this stage, I went down with a pretty rough illness caused I think by the RSV virus doing the rounds and I watched about 5 days of lovely warm sunny days go by with no energy to even attempt any photographs. I’m not sure what I would have taken to surpass some of these, but that will now have to wait for another year!
I have made a new calendar for 2023 with the 12 best fall images from the Morgantown area. You can find more details about that calendar, and the images I chose, in this article.
My images are all available on many types of print – canvas, metal, acrylic and framed in my Pictorem store with free shipping and a 30-day money back guarantee. They are also available on many products – mugs, greeting cards, jigsaws and so on at my Pixels store – same 30-day guarantee but shipping is extra, I’m afraid! Perfect for a holiday gift for a loved one (or for yourself!) And I do have a sale going on for the rest of November!
Bill Swartwout
29 Oct 2022Wow, those shots of Cheat Lake are truly superb. That looks like an island for your subject but I’m thinking a peninsula. I may have to drive out there one day to see for myself. That is just how inviting you image is to me.
Steve Heap
29 Oct 2022Thanks Bill! Sometimes no drone is needed – just a good composition and patience!
Louis Dallara Fine Art Photography
29 Oct 2022I hope you are well and over your illness. I did a little leaf peeping, but could get the quality out of the drone, and just enjoyed walking and looking at nature and how it changes day after day.
Steve Heap
29 Oct 2022Almost – still coughing but not badly! This was a really nice fall in terms of colors and weather. A pity I missed a good week of it!
Katrina Gunn Art
29 Oct 2022Such lovely colors in these photos, Steve!
Steve Heap
29 Oct 2022Thanks Katrina!
Anne Haile
31 Oct 2022Great colours and great landscape. I am particularly impressed with the reflections . Hope you are feeling better now
Steve Heap
1 Nov 2022Thanks Anne – it was a great fall around here!
Bob Decker
12 Nov 2022Wow! Very striking photos. On the coast of NC we don’t get much of a color change in the fall. I have to drive a bit inland for autumn photography or apply the magic of Photo Shop to some local images. 😉
Steve Heap
12 Nov 2022Yes, Photoshop can do it! We were lucky this year with the leaves – much better than normal!
Tatiana
23 Nov 2022Stunning colors with the water reflections – Love it!
Steve Heap
23 Nov 2022Thanks Tatiana! I think this is one of my best ones of the season