Waterfalls of New England

It is the month of May and spring has finally taken over from winter in New England. With the woods turning green again, color has returned to the landscape. Most of the creeks and brooks that crisscross the region and give rise to hundreds of waterfalls are flowing reasonably well. Together this combination of silver and fluorescent (almost) green highlights the effervescence of spring and I, together with a friend, decided to explore this juxtaposition one weekend at a time.

Kent Falls, Kent Falls State Park, Connecticut Nikon F100 with Velvia 50, Nikkor 24-120mm f/4. 2.5 seconds, f/11, scanned with Nikon LS-5000

This is a travelogue of my first excursion into the woods of Connecticut and Massachusetts photographing their hidden gems aka waterfalls. It is appropriate at this moment to give credit to this excellent resource (and their book in print), which we used exclusively during our quest. I carried a Nikon F100 loaded with Fuji Velvia 50 and three lenses: 18-35mm, 24-120mm f/4 and 70-200mm f/4, each with a circular polarizer. In the end the 24-120mm proved more than adequate and I used it 99% of the time. I also carried a tripod, which is an absolute necessity for long exposures that are almost guaranteed inside dense forests with an ISO 50 film.

We started with Pitcher Falls, a 12 feet punchbowl about two hours west of Boston. A quick 20 min hike took us to a cascade and then 5 minutes further downstream to the Pitcher Falls. Instead of scrambling to the base of the waterfalls, I decided to m