Vermont Fall Foliage - 2025 - Part 1

Village of Stowe, Vermont
(Probably cannot get this shot today - unless maybe with a drone)
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

SINCE 2005, I have made 7 trips to Vermont - approximately every other year - to photograph Fall Foliage. I got my start in the pursuit of serious photography while attending college in Vermont in 1977. I spent a few years of my life in Vermont, including several complete 4-seasons. Vermont can be beautiful about 3/4 of the year, but fall has always been the superstar. Over that 15 plus years, I have had the pleasure of making a handful of good friends, whose connection would not have happened but for Vermont. Actually, long before I began making the trips to Vermont, I "met" one of my closest Vermont acquaintances on an "old school" style photography hobby/message board called Nature Photographers Network. The board is still around, and I still occasionallly visit it. But it is nothing today like it was pre-Facebook and other social media sites. It was divided into regions and though I spent most of my time in the "mid-west" region which covered Michigan, I also frequented the northeast region in light of my connection to Vermont. It was on the northeast region part of the board that I met fellow photographer, Rich Ennis.

Rich Ennis (in silhouette) doing what he loves - Cabot Plains Road - Cabot, Vermont
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

OVER TIME, we had a few exchanges and learned that we had a fair amount in common. Both owned our own consulting businesses: Rich a CPA firm in the Burlington area, and me an Estate Planning, Tax and Business law firm in mid-Michigan. We were both Nikon shooters (at the time). We both liked nature photography and working with digital processing - primarily Photoshop. I think Rich may have had a pretty healthy head-start on me on the Photoshop stuff. I have learned from him over the years.

That year (2021) was my first in-person meeting with Rich

IN 2005, in preparation for our trip (my best buddy - "the other Rich" - from Michigan, and me) to Vermont (his first), I discovered another board named "Scenes of Vermont," which focused on Vermont's fall foliage viewing (sadly, in 2025, "SOV", as we knew it, closed down for good). During the season the board very busy with posters. Naturally, a handful of them were also photographers. I met close to a dozen new friends on that board, from all over the country, including Texas, Minnesota, California, Utah, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, among others. And along the way, I re-discovered my old on-line friend, Rich Ennis. Though we had been in contact over many years, we had yet to meet face-to-face.

. . . it was really as if we had known each other for years (and thanks to digital technology, we kind of had)

THAT CHANGED in 2021. My closest friend from the Scenes of Vermont board, who I "met" there in 2005, is Carol Smith. Carol is, among her other talents, an accomplished photographer. And, significantly, she is my co-author for our (former eBook) PDF Publication on Photographing Vermont's Fall Foliage. Carol and I finally met in person in 2010, when she invited me and another mutual (Scenes of Vermont) friend and photographer, Al Utzig, to stay at her Northeast Kingdom Vacation home that fall. In 2021, Carol set up a VRBO for a group of us in Burke, Vermont. Rich and another friend joined our group for dinner one night early in the week. That was my first in-person meeting with Rich (and our friend, Tim Kirchoff, another Scenes of Vermont friend and photographer, who also lives nearby), but it was really as if we had known each other for years (and thanks to digital technology, we kind of had). Rich joined Carol, Al and me the next day to shoot. Later, Carol and Al decided to take the afternoon off, but I wanted to keep shooting. Rich did too, so I spent the afternoon with him. We got along great, and he mentioned casually that he had a large house with plenty of space and I was alway welcome to stay with him.

Lake Willoughby from Hinton Hill Road - Westmore, Vermont
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

BE CAREFUL what you wish for (or who you invite to visit). 😇 It was not until 2 years later that I took Rich up on his offer, but I reached out and he said "come on down" (er, actually up). I stayed with Rich for several days in 2023 and he typically takes time off during that time of the year to photograph; so not only a great host, but a superb guide. Rich has lived in Vermont all his life and has pretty good knowledge of the state. We drove all over the place, finding some great photo - ops. I must not have overstayed my welcome, because when I reached out this past summer, he said sure. "There is room at the Inn." This fall, I spent about 10 days - mostly with Rich - shooting Vermont foliage. Found a few new ones. I know: a long intro (I am not known for brevity). 😑

Daybreak - Cabot Plains Road - Cabot, Vermont
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

2025 WAS a bit of a strange year. But not totally unprecedented. Fall came early. Probably about 10 days to 2 weeks. Years back in a lot of the northern parts of Vermont that wasn't unusual. Since I started traveling there to photograph back in 2005, though, the pattern has been a bit later. We have been able to "plan" for the season to start anywhere from the very end of Sepember, through at least the 3rd week of October (and often later), depending on where in the state you are. We (including my Vermont friends) had grown used to this pattern. I booked my trip to arrive in the NEK on October 1. When I first told him, Rich was actually concerned I might be too early. My gut told me that I was likely to find some good foliage during the next 10 days or so. By the time I actually arrived we judged that I had actually just missed the so-called "peak."

Rich Ennis' Backyard (from his deck) - Sutton, Vermont
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

I SHOWED up with an agenda (actually pre-discussed and pre-scouted by Rich), to add to some thoughts he already had. We wanted to shoot a couple different farms. We also wanted to do some moonrise and moonset shots. And Rich lives 10 minutes from the famed Lake Willoughby, where he shoots often. If we don't another destination locked in, it is always good for twilight/sunrise. We had a shooting agenda every day but one (Rich had an engagement, so I was on my own that day).

Lone Pine Farm - Kirby, Vermont
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

I ARRIVED at Rich's house mid-afternoon on October 1, and we had already planned to go back to an area we had "found" and shot in 2023, on nearby Kirby Mountain Road. We had found a nice farm scene, but never had really great light. Rich had scouted it and thought that if the light was good, we might be able to get the NH White Mountains in the background. We tried. In the end, although I did process a couple of the shots, there was just too much atmospheric haze that evening. But it was a good warmup.

The "iconic" shot of the "Three Steeples" in Island Pond, with some nice, low fog on the water in the foreground - Nice and checked of my list, but the shot below is (perhaps obviously) my favorite.
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

WE ARRIVED early (just after sunup) at our first planned shot the next morning. The (now iconic) "Three Steeples" in Island Pond had been on my agenda for a number of years, after seeing Carol's shot (which is in the PDF). On the 2021 trip our mutual friend and shooter, Tim Kirchoff took us there on a "drive-around," but I was handicapped in two ways. First (and probably the main issue), it was a cloudy, overcast day - not the best for shooting landscape images. A close second, however, was my lack of "ammunition" in my lens arsenal. I had recently acquired the Sony A7rii, which sports a 42MP sensor. My longest lens at that time was a Sony 24-105 f4 G zoom lens. My rationale (other than trying to travel light) for not owning anything longer at the time was that I could always crop. Sometimes that works, but just from a matter of perspective and atmospherics, I learned that I really wanted a longer focal length for my out of the camera images. By the time 2025 came around, I came prepared, and - conditions permitting - with a plan to shoot the scene. I very recently acquired Sony's 100 - 400mm G-Master zoom lens (with a 2x Teleconverter), giving me plenty of reach for my purposes. I really didn't expect to use it a lot, but knew it was the tool for this shot from across Island Pond.

We made sure to be back and on location well before the fog actually broke, which gave us time to watch things develop - and get shots like this one
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

MOTHER NATURE cooperated. Gloriously. Though we weren't too sure when we arrived at the scene, as it was completely "socked in" with fog. What we knew was that the predictions for that day were pretty clear, and relatively warm, so we were confident that the fog would burn off. And when it did, albeit briefly, it yielded a pretty nice scene. As we stood and watched (and waited), I looked around and immediately to our left, on the north end of the lake, the fog was developing nice surroundings, and the "summer camps" and a lone moored sailboat still lingering gave us some other shooting opportunities.

Summer Camps and Sailboat - Island Pond
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

AFTER OUR morning at Island Pond, that afternoon, we decided to wander back up to an area we had shot in 2023: Bear Mountain Road in Newport. It seemed to us that we had found and shot the most photogenic of the scenes we found up there. Driving the road, though, we found a shot of a barn with a mature cornfield in the background and the (mostly past "peak") mountain side in the background. We liked it enough that we headed back there again one morning. I really didn't find that the lighting was "better" at either time, but ulimately, my "keeper" shots were from the next morning.

Farmstead - Bear Mountain Road - Newport, Vermont
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

AS I mentioned earlier, the frequently photographed Lake Willoughby in Westmore is 10 minutes or less from Rich's house and it always a good bet for morning shots from its south end. The next morning, hoping for some "good light" we started there at daybreak. The long, narrow, north/south lake is flanked to the east and west by mountain peaks (Pisgah, and Hor), and is reminiscent of a fjord. At the south end there is a small (but often crowded in the summer season) beach. But the western side of the south end has trees and boulders which can serve as great foreground interest. We weren't disappointed that morning.

Lake Willoughby - Westmore, Vermont
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

IN 2021, a group of us from the "SOV" site visited the lake one morning and I set up my tripod low to the ground and made a series of shots which I later used to create a panoramic image. Some years later, I was contacted by a contractor for the State of Vermont who purchased that image to hang in two different Vermont Welcome Centers along the Interstate Highway. This trip, however, I focused on atmospherics. On my last morning, we again headed over to Willoughby and were greated by some nice, low fog hovering just above the lake surface.

Lake Willoughby - Westmore, Vermont
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

BACK ON my agenda list, there were some farms over in my old "stomping grounds" back in the 70's, that I had been wanting to photograph. Both, it seemed, were likely to be afternoon shots for "best" light. Rich had lived over in that area for a number of years and was thoroughly familiar with several of them. One, he informed me, was no longer viable from the old, traditional view where I had seen the shots. As is so common, tree growth had obscured the view (though we think maybe a drone shot could still be done from there). But there is a "long view" which he also knew about, so we headed to the Cambridge/Jeffersonville/Fletcher area.

Bryce Farm - Cambridge, Vermont
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

THE BRYCE Farm is one that has had a bit of photographer "chatter" on line during the past summer. People like me, trying to figure out where to make the shot from. We drove up to the old (years old, it turns out) staging area and could tell it was indeed completely obscured with tree growth. We drove up through the farmstead, which is actually south of the Cambridge Village, just off the Pleasant Valley Road at the based of Mt. Mansfield. It is always interesting to see the "real deal" close up as compared to the often more romanticised landscape photos we make. We then headed back north of Cambridge, across SR 15 and across the Lamoille River, onto Pumpkin Harbor Road, toward Fletcher. Rich had ridden (bicycle) and driven all through here and he had a memory of this spot which gives the long view of the farm. It is a good 2 miles as the proverbial "crow flies" from the farmstead! Definitely calls for a long lens and I put my new 400mm to the test

Bryce Farm - Cambridge, Vermont
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

TO MY way of thinking, there are really two different images here (at least that is the way I ultimately portrayed the scene). On is of the farmstead off in the distance, but but set in the backdrop of the always dramatic Mansfield summit (Vermont's tallest mountain peak). The second one, is a more intimate look at the farmstead, coming in tight. Again, my new equipment was a helper here (this time, the 62MP sensor which gave me lots of headroom to crop this one in tight from the 400mm original image). Light was a bit "hot" that afternoon with clear blue skies, creating some hazy atmospheric conditions (than God for the "dehaze" feature in Photoshop). This one, we think, could be dramatic (and perhaps better suited) in the right lighting conditions in winter.

Tinker Farm - Fletcher, Vermont
Copyright Andy Richards 2025

THE OTHER farm is the "Tinker Farm," just up the road in Fletcher. Rich was surprised that I hadn't already "discovered" and shot this farm. I was too, given that I had spent a fair amount of time driving on and exploring Pumpkin Harbor Road and on over to Fairfax all the way back in the early 2000's. Ironically, I actually had. But I "just missed" the real shot. As we drove by it this time, I still am not sure how I did that. My shot was actually from Fairfax Road to the southeast of the farm, downhill, nearly 1/2 mile away. Not the best view of the farm and no real context. "The" shot is actually from Cambridge/Fairfield (not Fairfax) Road which passes directly by the farm as it heads northeast. This shot can be made along the road, very close to the barns, and with Mt. Mansfield in the background. Definitely the better view. It had been a couple of long and photographically fruitful days.

THE NEXT day, I would be on my own and had decided I would head over to Peacham for the morning.