Scenes of Late Summer in Vermont

Last summer, in late August, we went to Vermont to capture the vacation lifestyle of our friends, John and Paige. We had a great time but I never had a chance to blog the pictures and, well, NOW is as good a time as any!

This is the first of several posts highlighting some of my favorite shots from the trip. Above, I hiked up the mountain around 4:30 a.m. so I could be in position when the sun came up. See below for more!

I was a little nervous once I got up the mountain. I guess next time I should bring something with me in case I need to scare off a bear or something. I LOVE how the pictures came out! The blue haze in the valley added a depth to the scene that was intriguing.

We were staying at the Clay Brook resort which was designed on the outside like an old barn. On the inside, though — not barn-like at ALL. Modern, comfortable and has everything you’d need on the mountain.

We were there in 2009 during the last week of August/first week of September. There was a very subtle touch of color in the leaves which made Paige and I long to stay all the way through mid-October. For this year — I’m getting chills just thinking about this — we are going up to see the leaves in October. We’ve been planning this for a YEAR! By the way, isn’t that cloud above the mountain so interesting?

Most trees weren’t showing this much color when we were there, but this little red maple was fully red. It was a young tree that had been recently planted and was probably dropping its leaves early to reduce transplant stress. Trees are smart like that.

But my favorite place to be in Vermont at this time of year is not at the top of the mountain. The color palette of late summer in the valleys and farm land was stunning in late summer. And that’s why I waited a whole year to blog about these images. I wanted them to be relevant to the season, and last year, by the time we got back I had thousands of pictures to go through. By the time I went through them all, it was November!

We were hiking along the Mad River Trail.

It was a gorgeous day. I’m so thankful that I was in that place at that time with great camera equipment to capture the beauty and have it to look at now to remember what a great time I had with my family and Paige and John’s family. I am truly blessed to have such great friends and such great photo clients.

This image of Paige and her son walking in the Mad River Valley is one of my all-time favorites. I love images that capture a scene and tell a story of family relationships too.

I took this shot in case I someday needed to remember where I was. I HAVE to go back to that trail in the fall!

I kept falling behind the group, finding interesting details to capture.

It was nearing harvest time.

The children enjoyed inspecting the corn.

I LOVE this picture! It’s one of those perfect pictures that capture the essence of late summer.

I took this picture while riding the ski lift to the top of the mountain. At the time, I was so excited to be in a position to capture the scene that I was completely fearless of falling or dropping any of my camera equipment. I realized later that not only was I not strapped in, but turning around and digging through my camera bag for various lenses and things and NOT paying attention to how far up I was, or how far down I’d fall.

All’s well that ends well.

John and Paige were standing in front of their favorite Vermont places, the Village Creeme Stand in Bristol, Vermont. Best ice cream in Vermont if you ask them, and I agree, it was excellent!

We had a fun afternoon at the Shelburne Museum and got plenty of beautiful pictures there. More coming in future blog posts!

We were lucky the day we went to the Shelburne Museum because a balloon festival was planned. When we first got there, it was too windy to launch the balloons, but just as we were walking toward the car to go back to our apartment, the balloons started to rise! Yay!

While we were waiting for the sunset launch of the balloons, I was wandering around checking out the scenery.

That one was my favorite balloon!

That was a cool picture too.

Little touch of sunflare in this one, but I like it.

T-shirt seller at a craft fair had the light shining on this one. I loved it! Lots more Vermont pictures coming soon! But let me know if you’d like to see John and Paige’s awesome slide show from our trip. It was by far one of my all-time favorites!

Click the links below to read each post in my “Late Summer in Vermont” series:
Part 1: Scenes of Late Summer in Vermont
Part 2: Vermont’s Late Summer Harvest
Part 3: Vermont’s Mad River is Brrrrrrrrr
Part 4: Relaxing at Shelburne Farms in Late Summer
Part 5: Late Summer Fun at Vermont’s Sugarbush
Part 6: American Flatbread: The Place for Pizza