"Find Your Way" Photo Spotlight

November greetings everyone, and wow, I can’t believe I’m saying that! We’re really getting down do it here in terms of winding up 2025. And I’d be lying if I didn’t use the words “challenging, difficult, and stressful” as summarizations, to say the least. But, I must remind myself that there has been a fair amount of fun and good memories made as well. And I’d also be wise to keep in mind the old adage that “nothing that is worth it is easy.”

These thoughts make this weeks’ photo highlight quite fitting. I feel like I’ve been doing nothing but trying to “find my way” of late, as if we aren’t always doing that to some degree of truth in our lives…

“Find Your Way” - Bald Eagle State Forest, PA

“It has been some time since I’ve stilled this scene. In fact it is one of the oldest in my professional portfolio that I still hold near the top as some of my best work. An oldie but a goodie, if you will. Circa October 2011, I’m pretty confident off the top of my head, as it came at a time when the way finding I was doing was due to a recent relationship break-up I was having a very difficult time with.

It happened in mid-August and I can recall desperately wanting the Autumn to arrive as I looked for anything to make a difference in my surroundings. And I felt the change of seasons held the greatest promise of distraction to get me back out there, so to speak.

Although the Autumn still proved to be an emotional time for me, I did begin to get back out there and got lost in my Art for a while. This was the Fall before I would have my first backpacking adventure in the Spring of 2012, thusly all of my work was still coming via day hikes in and around the mountains of central Pennsylvania, home. I remember this October provided some brilliant foliage for a couple week period in my nearby haunts, and I took every opportunity I could to immerse myself in it!

On this particular afternoon I headed out deep into what is known as the Seven Mountains, towards Poe Valley and Poe Paddy State Parks in Bald Eagle State Forest lands. I had driven past this area a couple times already the previous week and noticed the bright red beginning to flame. The rainy, foggy conditions of the day made me feel if this grove of what I had originally thought was Red Maple was still on fire, it could be magical!…

Well, it was. And upon closer investigation, I realized these were not Maple trees at all and would later identify them as Sourwood. I spent some time there in the late afternoon examining the area and reveling in the mysticism that surrounded me everywhere I turned.

As the sunset drew closer and light was waning quickly, the atmosphere got even more photogenic. The fog thickened as it crept through the trees of this glowing red forest. Peering deep into the soul of these woods, as I recall, the internal turmoil and pain were absent and I felt a clarity I hadn’t in sometime.

Call it corny and cliché if you must, but I remember vividly in that moment knowing that it was through this veil I must go. And I do strongly feel this is one of those defining moments in my journey - as a photographer, as an artist, as a person.

Fast forward almost 15 years now and I still love to get lost in this forest. And so do many of you it seems - it has been a favorite of admirers and collectors from the moment I first shared it, through to this day.

There is just something about the eerie beauty of its enchantment and the magic of its mystery that beckons one to walk right into it. Go on ahead… ‘Find Your Way’”

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If you’ve made it back out of there yet, thank you for your time and I hope you found it enriching in some manner for yourself. And if you checked out that short and anti-climactic video (Lol!) I attached on my Halloween post, thank you, there was a point to that - I want to incorporate more of my video I take while out there into the website and blog and so I wanted/need to test out a few things on my end.

There’s still one more Autumn Photograph I want to highlight yet, so be on the lookout for that most likely next week! Until then, let’s keep on hiking on through…

All my best,

Brandon

Happy Halloween and "Morning with the Maples" Photo Spotlight

Ghoulish greetings my friends! 🧛🏻‍♂️(Said in a classic Dracula voice)… I’m so sorry, wait actually no - I can’t help myself, I’m an unapologetic fun-loving nerd, lol! We are still having some rather spooky weather here in the Northeast - gray skies, spits of rain, and winds whipping all around! Hopefully anyone going out Trick or Treating tonight with their kids or just embracing the joy of being a kid themselves stays safe and has a wonderful time!

I know I say this approximately 9 times a year (albeit all for very specific reasons!), but I love this time of year! I grew up with a healthy love of the horror genre and fully embrace that to this day. I could right a whole book here on the various films, books, and video games that have brought me joy and helped shape who I am, but I’ll digress, and try to keep things more relevant, haha!

Halloween, now in middle-age adulthood, has come to represent to me the culmination of the month of October. It’s like taking everything I love about the Autumn season - the trees changing leaves, the crisp air, the delicious smells, the harvest, the horrors - and stirring it all into a Witches Cauldron for one big Monster Mash of a celebration!🧙‍♀️🍁🍄🌰🍂🧌🌕🐺🧟‍♂️🎃👻

And so, I just felt compelled to treat you all to a little piece of Autumn eye candy to enjoy throughout the All-Hallowtide Weekend we have upon us. Be sure to delve deep down to the bottom of this bag (aka this post) to enjoy a short, sweet treat…

“Morning with the Maples” - Shenandoah National Park, VA

“Shenandoah, my first National Park. And my first National Park backpacking experience way back in October of 2012, a couple years before I made my first pilgrimage to Vermont for the Fall Foliage. This Park holds a special place in my heart, and is arguably my favorite east of the Mississippi. Once I experienced Autumn in New England, and began coinciding Art Festivals along with being up there for the first part of October, it has become increasingly difficult to make it Shenandoah then in the latter part of the month after returning home. But on occasional years, I can pull it all off in one Monster of a month, if you will!

This was one such year, and although I don’t have this date handy off the top of my head, I’m going to say it is either 2014 or 2015 because I know it’s back from my Mamiya RB67 medium-format film days. I had actually hiked this trail (Meadow School Trail in the Central District) first in the Spring and realized the forest here is predominantly Sugar Maple, need I say more!!!

Up here in the Central District of Shenandoah, you are accessing trails from much higher elevation than many further Northern and Southern District Trails. And I have learned that means peak foliage up to a week or two earlier on average, occurring more in mid-October than late October. This particular year, I was fortunate enough to nail it! I’m talking about an “All Out Glowing Orange Color Assault On Your Senses!!!” I mean, and as you can see, basically EVERY leaf was screaming “CHECK ME OUT” all the way down to the forest floor!

It was simply magical! And oh the smell!!! Such glorious conditions abounded on this backpack… The air was clear and crisp, the ground was slightly damp and evoked the Earth and the Maple Leaves in every beautiful breath! (Yes, I wholeheartedly feel the smell of a predominant Maple Forest smells different - and what I associate with the Season - than an Oak Forest, let’s say, in the Fall). I recall the night prior to photographing this scene, having one of my first quintessential Autumn backpacking experiences…

‘It was in the cool dark of night that I sat in my Therma-Rest make-shift Airpad seat, tucked in my 20 degree sleeping bag with only the light of tea candle providing any visibility. As I sipped my Southern Tier Pumking Ale, out of nowhere the shrieks and yips and howls pierced the still of night! A pack of coyotes going crazy over something! And they were close! I even got a brief glance of one prancing by in the shadows of my headlamp and candlelight! It sent chills up my spine, in a beautifully eerie way that I will never forget. How fitting for the Season!’

I remember then in the morning, it was so difficult to pull myself away. My coffee and Mountain House Biscuits & Gravy were an absolute perfect match to the brisk morning. I truly felt the essence of this forest all around me for a few blissful hours and knew I had to still it on film, so that I could always come back to my bountiful ‘Morning with the Maples.’”

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Side note on the above image and story - this forest also is home to one of the oldest, gnarliest Sugar Maples I have been graced to encounter out in the Wilderness. Tap to take a peak at this spooky beauty, if you dare! Mmmmmmmwwwaaaaaaaahhhhhaaahhhaaahhh…

Happy Halloween my friends, 🎃💀🎃👻🎃🧟‍♀️🎃

Brandon

“Happy When It Rains” Photo Spotlight

Hey everyone, boy are we getting a good soaking here in the Northeast! I was just outside checking on some things and caught a little of the fresh drizzle, and it reminded me of just how refreshing and re-invigorating that feeling can be - literally like the cleansing of a shower! And so I thought I’d take a break from the “glorious sun highlighting Autumn’s beauty” type of photographs I’ve shared recently and show you that rain, mist, and fog in the Fall Forest are also quite glorious! Depending on the scene and one’s mood at that time (just like Mother Nature’s), one could even say such conditions are arguably even better…

“Happy When It Rains” - Green Mountain National Forest, VT

I recall from this week in early October of 2018, that the mood you see here pretty much sums it up. I was on my traditional backpacking week between two Art Festival weekends up in Vermont, and I had chosen this little nook of the Appalachian/Long Trail near Killington. (If you read my “In the Heart of Autumn” spotlight on October 1st, yes that same stretch of trail!)

“Often, people will say what a great day to be out taking photographs on a bright, sunny day. And while, yes, I enjoy a lovely sunny day out on the trail as much as the next person, it doesn’t always exactly resonate with stunning photography outside of the wee early hours and then the latter hours of the day. But clouds, on the other hand, contribute to nice, even light, even during times of the day when light can typically be too harsh. And storms, well, they can create otherworldly conditions and atmosphere!

As I’m sure I mentioned in that other post, this stretch of forest is filled with towering Old-Growth Sugar Maples, not to mention Red Maples, White and Gray Birch, Beech, Aspen, Hemlock, and well, you get the idea - it is a magical place to find yourself lost in for a time!

And this time that I was given was wet. Multiple storms hovered over the region for most of that week, but you know what? I had such a memorable time filled with wonder just kind of hanging out for a few days. I had made a lovely little campsite hidden well off the trail, nestled in amongst some of the Giants of the Forest. And there I basically holed up in my hammock, rain fly, warm clothes and good rain gear. I can vividly recall how relaxing it was and the strong smell of the damp Autumn Woods. And when the rains weren’t too drenching, I would head out with my camera and explore…

Of the uncountable incredible scenes I came across on these early days of Autumn - the forest still lushly green, dappled with those Sugar and Red Maples beginning to vibrantly glow in their oranges and reds, veiled by mist and fog - this one made me stop in my tracks and ponder it for some time. And when that happens, it usually means it is time to break out the beast (aka the large-format 4x5 view camera).

Those soaked and saturated heart-shaped leaves just jumped out of the scene before me along with the downed birch trunk and foreground green, while everything else - hints of orange and the forest you know is back there is kind of cloaked in another world by the misty atmosphere. I just love how the image oozes with earthiness and mystery. You can just feel the dampness and smell the Earth! And one can’t help but wonder what other treasures lurk just beyond sight, out there in the fog…

After exposing my sheets of film, I meandered back to my little hammock cave and would soak in another night of rain drops falling through the forest, beading off of my rain fly and the Old-Growth Giants swaying in the breeze. I eventually would really get a good drenching on my backpack out, the kind that even solid rain gear can’t withstand forever haha, but I wouldn’t have wanted any of this rain soaked adventure to be any different. What a healthy, refreshing reminder to slow down and absorb the world around you.”

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Take care and be on the lookout again tomorrow, I have another Treat lined up for this Halloween Weekend, because why not have a little excess goodness during this Spooky fun time of the year!

All my best,

Brandon

P.S. - It also recently hit me to get back to showing this when I do a photo spotlight to give you an idea of how the image could look in one of my Custom Curly Maple Frames!

"Autumn's Divine Glory" / "Maple Kissed by Dawn" Photo Spotlights

Happy greetings on this glorious mid-October day! And welcome to a few of you whom I just met in Northampton, MA at the Paradise City Arts Festival this past weekend, it was a pleasure. I missed posting this last week amidst the scramble of show life and travels, so I’m giving you a double whammy to enjoy. Very apropos, as Autumn’s blaze has been firing up through Northern Vermont the past couple weeks and is moving southward throughout the Northeast!

Funny enough, I had actually forgotten that these two images were made only a week apart from each other. In my head they were 2 different years, but no - only 5 days apart, both along the Long Trail while backpacking up Mount Mansfield near Stowe, VT. The first one somewhere in the ballpark of 500-1,000 feet higher up the mountain than the latter the following week. The foliage that year (2016) was special, as you can see! And as you will read direct writings from my journal, I was having very similar emotions on both backpacks…

“Autumn’s Divine Glory”

“- From my journal on October 6th, 2016 from where I made camp off of the Long Trail hiking up Mt. Mansfield in Vermont -

         I came upon these beckoning Sugar Maples late in the day and made camp right here in hopes to catch the dawn’s first light setting them on fire. Earlier today I smelled Fall distinctly for the first time this season. Halfway up this mountain, on the Long Trail, the delicious smell of Autumn leaves in the crisp air! Mixed with the strong scent of pine and fir and the Earthy aroma of damp soil in the coolness of shade towards sunset, the smell evoked the spirit of the season! Within this forest of Maple, Birch, and Evergreen, I sit with my eyes and thoughts fixed upon the stars and the silhouetted giant trees. Leaves tumble down upon me in the breeze as I drift amongst the stars. I await the morning light to cast its glow upon these mountains, ablaze with Autumn fire like I have only ever imagined...”

         -October 7th-  

         “I awoke this morning to a magnificent pre-dawn glow, accentuating the orange glow of the maples with its pinkish-purple hue. The first rays of light to touch these beauties were purely divine. Highlighted Birch bark and fiery Sugar Maple leaves contrast against the shadow of the Green Mountains. What a majestic scene in this golden light! The heavy smell of fir mingles with the unmistakable scent of Autumn. The leaves, the cool air, the dampness in this refreshing light. It is so peaceful as birds softly chatter and it lulls me back to a dreamy state... Autumn’s glory, so fleeting and so precious.”

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“Maple Kissed by Dawn”

October 11th, 2016 -

“How glorious this crisp October morning is underneath this canopy of majestic Maples! When the sun breaks the facing mountains at dawn and casts its soft warm glow upon this forest, its light sets the fiery orange and red Sugar Maples ablaze! Like rekindling the flame that temporarily burned to embers, the Sugar Maples’ dark orange hue from their nightly slumber is awakened with brilliance!

         It truly is Autumn in all it’s glory where I sit right now, sipping my coffee. I have camped amongst some magnificent old beauties this past evening and morning. Although brisk, chilling winds whipped around last night for hours before calming, the sky was as clear as could be - starlit with a waxing gibbous moon glow. And this morning, not a cloud in the sky, that deep crisp blue like only October can produce. The sun gives warmth yet a chill at the same time. And the forest a splattering of fading lime greens, shimmering yellows, glowing oranges and burning reds!

         It is calm and quiet, unlike the peacefulness of the birdsongs and insects of Spring and Summer, you can almost hear the air this time of year. And oh, the smell of the leaves! Like only a forest floor blanketed with Maple and Birch leaves can smell… Yes, Autumn is in the air!”

www.brandonklinewnp.com/printpurchasing/maple-kissed-by-dawn

More Autumn adventures to come over the next few weeks! Until then, get out and enjoy the bounty of the season!

All my best,

Brandon