• John W. Gardner.

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Here is one more from the Vermont Fall road trip. The highlight of the trip was a location known as smuggler’s notch, which is a pass close to the Canadian border that separates Mount Mansfield, the highest peak of the Green Mountains, from Spruce Peak and the Sterling Range. Peak fall colors were almost certain at this location. The foliage didn’t disappoint, but the sky was overcast and rainy for the whole trip.

I was in the process of changing my approach to photography, and the aspect I struggled with the most was changing adjusting to conditions. But this trip tested me. I came back with over 700 images, but only a few handfuls satisfied me. I reached Smuggler’s notch towards the end of the trip, and the frustration was at the very high limit. But at smuggler’s notch is when I started to think differently about the composition and started to take deliberate photos rather than the obvious composition.