Two brooks, two looks, one fall

When it threatens rain, I head to a brook to see what I can do with it. Sometimes I get lucky and it doesn’t rain, other times I don’t and I get wet. One of these days I’d like to have a weatherproof camera. My main lens is weatherproof, but not the E-30, and while I don’t mind a sprinkle, it won’t take a soaking and who knows how things are going to go once the rain gets started. So with Purgatory brook I had to cut it short unfortunately. Still managed to get a few shots that I like. It’s such a pretty brook and the flow was low so I could get out onto rocks that were previously out of reach.

Even the details were pretty cool. Lots of tripod in the water action going on.

Maybe you’ve noticed the color of a lot of the brook and stream shots I’ve shared. It’s sort of brown or yellowish. That’s because of tannins leaching out of the leaves and other decaying plant matter (it’s the reason your tea is tea-colored). My friend Melissa and I had a conversation about it, but didn’t know what specific circumstances make for a tannic waterway. Most of the brooks, rivers and streams in southern NH are tannic, but many of them up north are not. This is Smart’s Brook (another favorite) and it’s clear as a bell. In winter it even has a green tinge. The nearby Mad River is also a greeny-blue that’s just magical when it freezes. The light in this shot just blows me away. Melissa and I waited until the trees blocked the sunlight from the water directly, but it is still in the background playing in the trees. I think it adds such depth. Just look at those tree trunks on the left. Smashing.

Sometimes the light in the woods is so amazing that I have to give it a go and try to capture it in an image. This is still Smart’s Brook, but looking downstream through the mist of a humid day. The light in the canopy was wonderful, but I needed to keep the water itself out of the photo as much as possible (hello blown highlights). It’s kind of a strange shot, but I think it’s pretty effective in a subdued kind of way.

Even though both shots were taken on the same day, just an hour apart, the looks are completely different. Oh NH, you are always surprising me.