Figure 1 – Hill-Stead Farm #1, (c) DE Wolf 2013.
We have been having a really wonderful fall here in New England. The foliage has been magnificent, although lacking just a bit in reds. These differences are the vagaries of summer rainfall and temperatures. We are just past “peak” now and took advantage of the hospitality of good friends to chase the foliage into the Connecticut River and Farmington Valleys of Northern Connecticut this past weekend.
Our destination were visits to the Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT and Hill-Stead Farm in Farmington, CT. These two magnificent homes offer up a glimpse into the great “Gilded Age.” To me it is always interesting to see these places and to imagine the inhabitants going about their lives and living out in newborn novelty the events of the times. Theodate Pope(1867-1946), the mistress and architect of Hill-Stead, was on the Lusitania when it was torpedoed on May 7, 1917. She was pulled in from the sea with boat hooks and laid among the dead. One woman pleaded with the rescuers to give her artificial respiration. They cut off her fashionable clothing and went to work. To everyone’s amazement she regained consciousness.
Needless-to-say photography is not allowed in either of the houses. However, I took a large number of photographs at both locations. In both cases I had really excellent light, late afternoon at the Twain House and reasonably early at Hill-Stead Farm. It’s going to take me a while to work all of these up and will certainly share more of them with you. However, since we’ve been on the topic of autumn colors, I’d like to share one (Figure 1) today that I think, hope, complements the wonderful impressionist art collection at Hill-Stead. It is the view from the farm of the barn, the valley, and the hillside. It is late fall, or at least late fall color, in the morning light. If you must know the particulars, they are: Canon T2i with EF70-200 mm f/4 USM lens at 94 mm, ISO 400, Aperture-Priority AE, Exposure compensation -1 (to catch the blue sky), 1/500th sec. at F/9.0.
The light and the season are changing. Next weekend comes Halloween, and we set the clocks back (Boo on both accounts). New light brings new perspectives and photographic opportunities.