Far Horizon Fading

Hay Bales at Sunset - Photo by Sharon Vardatira
November 2021, Sunderland MA

 

Through the ample open door of the peaceful country barn.

A sunlit pasture field with cattle and horses feeding,

And haze and vista, and the far horizon fading away.

~ Walt Whitman

May you find much to be grateful for today. Happy Thanksgiving to all the cloud spotters!

Goat with Pumpkin - Photo by Sharon Vardatira
November 2021, Sunderland MA

Do cloudy days bring out the color?

Fall foliage in rain - Deerfield, MA
Photo by Sharon Vardatira

The question is not what you look at, but what you see.

 ~ Henry David Thoreau

Every year around this time, our perennial household debate: do fall foliage colors "pop" more when it's sunny or when it's cloudy? I submit for your consideration this photo, which I took yesterday during a lull in the downpours. Despite Western Massachusetts being well past peak now, this stand of orange trees under a grey stratus sky was utterly attention grabbing. Indeed, I was not the only person compelled to pull off the road and grab her camera. No surprise, then, that I land firmly on the side of "cloudy days bring out the colors." That said, I am not immune to the glory of sunlight slanting through the leaves.

Blue Heron in Fall Color at Cranberry Pond

Blue Heron in Fall Color at Cranberry Pond
Leverett/Shutesbury
Photo by Eric M. Berlin

Sometimes a photo submission just cannot be denied. That was the case with this photo, the featured image for November in our 2021 Head in the Clouds Amherst calendar. It violated one of our key cornerstone guidelines about images having to depict a recognizable location (close-ups rarely provide a sense of "place,"), but the jury was so taken with the photo they opted to override the guidance. 

Titled "Blue Heron in Fall Color at Cranberry Pond" (Leverett/Shutesbury), this photo was taken by Eric M. Berlin. This image did not come easily. As Eric describes, “I spent several days trying to capture this heron in the context of fall color. I consistently failed to get low enough to get the foliage in the background until I realized this composition.” 

Enjoy!