Catskill Mountains Autumn

180 degree view from Artist Rock

After a night car camped at North Lake State campground waking to an ice encrusted vehicle, I started hiking to my morning shoot, an un-scouted photo location known as Artist Rock with only my GPS to guide me to the landmark. With a name like Artist Rock it sounded like a sure photogenic bet! Now I don’t cold shoot a location. I first research by shoots well before my visit but I was not expecting to end up on my first night out in the Catskills but had planned photographing in Harriman State Park to the south. If a storm front from the south did not force me to find the clearer skies to the north I would have had an afternoon to well research this Catskill Location. But even with the GPS, it was easy to lose track of the well marked trail from the numerous side trails that followed along the well layered horizontal rock strata of the Catskill Mountain- According to geologists, the Catskills are not true mountains. They are a highly erosion dissected plateau.

The short diversion took long enough for me to lose the predawn light part of my shoot which was a loss. Not photographing the sun rising over the horizon was not much of a loss as cloud cover prevented a clean light rise. So I had some time to set up for my panoramic before the sun peeked above the low elevation clouds resulting in this image here. As you can see the autumn foliage is at peak, the angle of the sun is just right to bring out the leave’s colors. The sky has enough of both blueness and clouds to fill it- a perfect full light fall color Catskill image like the Hudson River School of Art painting that made Artist Rock and the Catskills famous!