Hi, everyone!
I hope you are doing well.
Some locations make you want to return before you have even finished looking through the photographs from your previous visit. The Little White Church in Eaton, New Hampshire, has been one of those places for me.
I had photographed it before, in both autumn and winter. I came away with images I liked, but I kept wondering what the scene might look like with a different combination of light and atmosphere. This autumn, I decided to give it another try.
I also put together a video from the morning, combining the finished photographs with footage and timelapses of the changing conditions. You can watch it here, or continue below for the story behind the images.
On my earlier autumn visit, I arrived too late in the day for the light I had hoped to find. The fall colors were there, and I made a photograph, but I felt there was more potential in the scene.
My next visit was in winter. This time I came for sunrise, but the clouds had their own ideas. The light remained subdued, and the church photograph I had imagined would have to wait for another occasion.
The Little White Church Autumn view, Eaton, NH
The Little White Church Winter view, Eaton, NH
However, that winter trip gave me Mithril.
Mithril. Taken at the Little White Church in Eaton, NH
The frosted trees became a subject worth the journey in their own right. Looking back at that image, it is difficult to be too disappointed about the weather. I might have gone there to photograph the church, but I was very happy to bring this photograph home.
Still, I wanted to see the place again in autumn.
For this visit, I left in the dark, allowing myself enough time to watch the morning develop. By the time I reached the pond, there was already light in the sky, and mist was lying across the water. Boats and their reflections appeared through it, with the far shore becoming more or less visible as the mist moved.
There was already plenty to photograph. Getting there early was a good decision :-)
Little White Church in the Mist
I set one camera to record a timelapse, then used my second camera to explore the smaller scenes around the pond.
The boats immediately caught my attention. They were almost still, with reflections beneath them and layers of mist separating them from the shore behind. Nearby, the boathouse and kayaks offered another composition, with brighter shapes standing out against the subdued surroundings.
Adrift in a Dream
Waiting on the Water
I enjoyed having time to work with these subjects. With the timelapse running, I could keep an eye on the church while looking for other photographs along the water.
At the Water’s Edge
Where the Forest Disappears
As sunlight reached more of the hillside, the autumn colors began to come through. The water and mist below retained their cooler tones, while the trees above gradually became warmer.
This was the combination I had been hoping to see.
Autumn Sanctuary
What I particularly like about this photograph is the relationship between the different parts of the scene. The sunlit hillside gives the church its setting, while the mist separates it from some of the surrounding detail. The small white building remains clearly visible, but there is still plenty of room for the landscape around it.
The mist had been there when I arrived. Watching the light move across the hillside helped me appreciate how much the photograph could change while I stood in the same place.
The light also completely transformed the scenes I photographed earlier.
Before the Morning Stirs
Moored in the Mist
I enjoy comparing these two photographs. Much of the composition remains the same, but the changing light gives each image its own character. I was glad I had photographed the boats earlier, and equally glad I had stayed to see them again under different conditions.
Waiting in the Mist
There were other subjects as well: trees appearing through the mist, small details along the shore, and wider views of the pond. Together, these photographs bring back more of the morning than the church image could on its own.
Morning Veil
Before heading home, I stopped at another small pond I had passed on the way to the church. I had wanted to return once I was finished at the main location, and I was pleased I did.
The morning was brighter by then, though a little mist still hovered above the water. An island and its reflection provided a simple composition. After spending the morning watching the light change around the church, I enjoyed the stillness of this scene.
An Island of Stillness
It was a good way to finish the trip.
Returning to Eaton gave me another opportunity to make a photograph I had been thinking about for some time. It also gave me the boats, the reflections, and that final stop at the second pond.
Mithril had already given me a good reason to look beyond the photograph I had planned. This visit gave me a few more.
I hope you enjoy the photographs and the video. Have you returned to a location several times before finding the conditions you wanted? I would love to hear about it.
Thank you for reading and for your support.
Dimitry
