HOW–TO

Spring In New England

As the weather warms, the Northeast offers some of its most dramatic and colorful vistas
By Jerry Monkman, Photography By Jerry And Marcy Monkman

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Hamilton Falls, Jamaica State Park, Green Mountains, Vermont
Springtime is waterfall time in New England, and Vermont’s Green Mountains are full of them. Many, like Hamilton Falls in the southern Green Mountains, require hiking several miles to get there. When I need to travel more than a couple of miles under my own power, I usually opt to bring a smaller carbon-fiber tripod to reduce the amount of weight I carry; I currently use a Gitzo Mountaineer GT2530. In order to increase the stability of a smaller tripod, I hang my camera bag off the bottom of the center post, which helps to weight it down. I used a polarizer here, this time to reduce the glare on the pool of water, allowing the color of the streambed to show through. I also used my wide-angle zoom lens at 16mm in order to include the shape of the sculpted rocks that encircle the pool as a foreground subject.
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, Canon EF 16-35mm ƒ/2.8, polarizer

Stream At Dusk, Connecticut River, Plainfield, New Hampshire
The Connecticut River Valley is New England’s largest watershed, and in its 400-plus miles, it flows through most of the region’s classic geographic features: moose-filled boreal forests, rugged mountains, fertile farmlands and sprawling coastal wetlands. In spring, water levels are usually high, but can fluctuate dramatically depending on snowmelt and rainfall. High water can make it challenging to access the river for photography, however, because for most of its length, the river’s banks are heavily forested. I found this location while exploring NH Route 10 in Plainfield. For about half of its length, the Connecticut River forms the border between New Hampshire and Vermont, and there are good roads on both sides of the river worth exploring; in Vermont, try US 5 and VT 102; in New Hampshire, try US 3, NH 10 and NH 12.

For this image, it was essential to use a tripod to get low to the ground; I mounted the ballhead directly on top of the tripod without a center column.
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, Canon EF 16-35mm ƒ/2.8, Lee three-stop graduated split neutral-density filter, Gitzo Mountaineer G1348 tripod, Kirk ballhead

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