Birch and Ferns, Ricketts Glen State Park, PA
I enjoy exploring lesser know area in and around popular spots. It’s exciting to find a sot that is often overlooked by other photographers who have tunnel vision and feel they must concentrate all of their energies on a specific location or subject. Case in point, Ricketts Glen State Park in north central PA has some of the most amazing waterfalls in the Mid Atlantic. In fact you can visit well over 30 falls in the course of a 4 or 5 mile hike. I have returned to this location at least a dozen times over the past few years to hike the falls circuit and shoot new images. On a recent trip however, I decided to focus my attention on a few other spots just north of the main section of the park. For two days I camped and explored a great meadow filled with bracken ferns, maples and birch. I can only image how awesome this are will be come fall and I am planning to make a stop there on my way back from Vermont this October.
Best of light,
Joseph Rossbach
New “Photo of the Week” image is now live on the website!
Goldenrod and Mount Washington at Sunset
This week I choose an image from my latest trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire, enjoy!
Maple Decay
Maple Decay
While exploring the banks of the Ammonoosuc River below Mount Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, I noticed a bunch of fallen leaves in a small pool of water. Upon closer inspection I was delighted to find a single maple leaf that had fallen from the canopy above mixed in with the oily decay of organic matter. As i moved around the pool of water, the oily sheen began to pick up and reflect the blue sky above. The color contrast was too wonderful to pass up. I used my Nikon 70-200mm with a 1.4 tele-convertor to frame the leaf. I choose a daylight balance to retail the cool blue reflection and used LIVE VIEW for critical focusing to make sure the entire image was sharp from edge to edge.
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Harrison Wright Falls, Ricketts Glen State Park, Pennsylvania
Harrison Wright Falls
From last weeks waterfall hike in the Glens Natural Area, Ricketts Glen State Park, PA. The water levels were exceptionally low and although I did the entire circuit hike I was only inspired to shoot a total of 3 compositions. Either way I am pretty happy with my keepers!
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Lupine meadow at sunset, Gunnison National Forest, Colorado
Hinterlands Explosion
I found this wonderful meadow of blooming Lupine up Gothic road north of the quirky ski town of Mount Crested Butte. The monsoon was a little weak on this afternoon, but the clouds happened to hang around until sunset providing me with some great shapes and nice color. I used an ultra wide-angle lens getting in close to the most profuse blooms and framed in the spectacular sky waiting until the color in the clouds reached its peak before tripping the shutter.
See more of my Colorado images in the Mountain Magic gallery on my website.
Behind the Rocks bathed in sunset light under the La Sal Mountains from Poision Spider Mesa, Moab, Utah
Fins on Fire
I made this image on the last night of another epic western trip to Colorado to shoot wildflowers and monsoon light and then a brief foray into Moab to work some desert light before heading back. On this fateful eve, myself and fellow photographers Alex Mody and Chris Kayler took Alex’s tricked out 4×4 monster FJ up onto Poison Spider Mesa to shoot this not so iconic location from a spot about 2/3 of the way up the mesa. The trail was rough and involved some serious rock crawling and super technical 4×4 maneuvering to get to our intended spot. Arriving with a couple of hours to spare before sunset, we decided to venture onward and upward towards the top of the mesa. The road continued to deteriorate, but we landed safely on top with no problem, or so we thought!!
As we turned around at the top of the loop and began back down on flat and smooth packed dirt, we felt the truck buckle and bounce on the driver side. Thinking at first we had hit a rock or were perhaps dragging something, Alex stopped the truck to inspect. To our horror the axle had snapped at the joint and the tire was buckled under the front of the car. Now that was an OH SHIT moment for sure! With no other options, we put on our backs what we could carry and began the long 5 mile walk down the mesa to the trail head where my Element was parked. Not being able to get to our original shooting location in time, I settled for a telephoto comp as the light broke and bathed the fins of Behind the Rocks in glowing red light for only moments before the sun disappeared once again behind monsoon clouds on the western horizon. As we made our way down the trail in the gathering darkness, I was struck by the unconditional beauty and unforgiving nature of the desert and just how lucky we were to have broken down on this evening in the the land of burning rock and big sky.
Waterfall in Porphyry Basin, San Juan Mountains, Colorado
Dreamland
Porphyry Basin Falls at sunset, San Juan Mountains, Colorado.
More…visit Joseph Rossbach/Impressions of Nature
Great Falls One Day Summer Workshop Announcement
We just added an exciting new summer workshop at Great Falls National Park in Virginia on Saturday July 24th! This one day (sunrise to sunset) workshop is limited to 5 people. Registrations just opened up and this one will fill up fast!
Acadia National Park 2010
Thunder Hole at First Light
I just returnd home from a 14 day trip to Acadia National Park on the rugged coast of Maine. I worked the light and the weather every day from before sunrise at 3;30am until well after sunset each night. While many of the days were socked in with rain and fog, those rare moments when the weather and light came together made all my long hours and work worth the while. You can view a selection of my top 20 images from the trip on my website. Just follow the link below to have a look! Thanks in advance, Joe.
Joseph Rossbach Photography 