After a visit to Acadia, it can take weeks for me to review, edit, then process all my pictures. It took more than six weeks this time round, but I finally finished going through my pictures from my two October trips to Acadia. I took 1700 photos all together. To me, that's almost embarrassing. I don't need to make so many images. Ansel Adams once said he was happy to create twelve masterpieces a year– I like that idea. Especially in these days of digital photography, we take way too many pictures. We should slow down, shoot less and create better images.

Having said all that, I spent a lot of time photographing water this Autumn. Water, as you know, changes constantly. And I spent a great deal of time photographing waves at Schoodic Point and reflections in Duck Brook, which, even if I set my camera to continuous shooting mode, would have given me a different picture with every frame. Hence the reason for 1700 pictures. It was hard to come home and delete so many good images. But I had to weed out a lot of really good images in order to allow the most stunning ones to rise to the top.

I don't like to race all over Acadia, collecting as many pictures as possible before my week ends. I'm continually looking, observing and watching weather conditions, to see what subjects present themselves to me in their best light. Often that means returning again and again to the same location as the conditions improve, whether that means better lighting, more intense colors or better weather.

Duck Brook was one location I had never been to before this Autumn. Normally, the small stream flows quickly, ruling out the possibility of getting some nice reflections in the water. But water levels in Acadia have been lower than normal for the past two or three years, and Duck Brook flowed quietly and gently, making it ideal to photograph abstract reflections of the colorful foliage along its banks.

I stopped by the brook four times in three days in order to hone my images of the reflections. First visits are always more of what the English call a recce (short for reconnoitre)– I didn't even bring my camera with me. The next trip is like visiting a new friend again, and by the third visit, it's like seeing an old friend. You feel the spirit of the place and become familiar with everything around you.

I spent several happy hours here, sometimes lying on my stomach along the edge of the brook in order to catch the right reflections. I wandered downstream past the beautiful (and high) Duck Brook bridge to photograph swirling leaves in the water, at one point my glasses slid off my head and landed in the brook- fortunately only a few inches deep.

I'm hoping the water levels rise by next Autumn, but I'm grateful that I was able to make some images that might not normally be possible. Enjoy.

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