Not Quite Fall at Ricketts Glen

Timing may not be the only thing, but it’s definitely one of the main things.

The best landscape photographers will tell you that a good portion of their success is making sure you’re at the right place at the right time. That phrasing is not meant to trivialize the effort it takes to be in the right place at the right time. Those truly dedicated to the craft do a significant amount of research, planning, and have a willingness to get to remote locations at times of the day when most of us are preoccupied with other things. Things like deciding which side of our body is giving us the least amount of discomfort so we can adjust accordingly, thereby maximizing our time underneath some delightfully warm covers.

When it comes to landscape photography, I would generally place myself in the “extending my warm under-cover time” category rather than the “pre-planning” category. For that genre, I’ve depended more on luck and happenstance than anything else. Among many other reasons, that’s probably why you’re not perusing one of my many successful landscape-focused coffee table books or calendars right now.

However, there is one trip I do try to make an effort to put some thought into, my not quite so annual visit to Ricketts Glen. My usual routine is to try and get into the park before sunrise and quickly hike to my preferred spots to maximize the amount of shots I can get before daylight creeps over the tree line. At that point, unless there’s cloud cover, the overhead sun blows out all the highlights on the waterfalls and my picture taking is essentially done for the day (unless you count a shaded mushroom patch here and there.)

On many occasions I’ve suppressed a chuckle as I see photographers lugging some pretty serious looking gear into the woods to start their shooting in the mid-day sun while I’m already hiking out after several hours of photographing. I might even cop to mumbling a sarcastic “Good luck pal,” under my breath once or twice. Well photography sinner, judge not, lest ye be judged.

So there I was, on a rare fall day off when I had no other obligations at home, making the trek up to Northeastern Pennsylvania to spend a few hours shooting waterfalls. Did I plan ahead to leave my house at three a.m. so I could get to the park at five a.m. so I could hike to my favorite spots before sunrise?

No I did not.

I was that guy with the fancy looking gear hiking in well after the best time of day had passed and I was grateful that I didn’t meet some uppity guy with a tripod on his way out with something pithy to say about my tardiness.

I was lucky enough to get some overcast skies, so I was able to get more shots than I had anticipated. Unfortunately, my big miss on being at the right place at the right time had more to do with foliage. I thought my day off would line up perfectly with some peak fall color in northeast PA, but I think my trip was early by about a week or two. There were a few patches of yellow here and there, but the majority of the trees were still pretty green.

I’m not complaining. A day spent hiking and doing something I love is never truly wasted, and I’ve definitely had worse results photographically. So while my timing may not be ideal, and you still won’t be seeing any coffee table books or calendars coming your way any time soon, I’m learning to appreciate the results regardless of the planning.

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