For about four October sunrises in a row, I came to this place near my camp in this superb national forest and tried to get it at its best. It is surprising how much light varies from one day to the next, even under seemingly identical conditions of weather and time of day. You find out how much and how fast natural light changes when you are always racing it to find your quarry. This is especially true when you are working with transparency film, because its high contrast and short exposure scale exaggerate some of the changes. Even midday sun changes quickly enough that a view camera operator had better think twice about thinking twice

To prove my point, see also: Maples and birches, White Mountains, New Hampshire 1985, and Maples and birches #3, White Mountains, New Hampshire 1992, two other high points from one of those mornings and a second visit seven years later, elsewhere in this gallery.  You can also use the "Find Images" feature and simply enter Maples and Birches and you'll get all three of them and no others for convenient comparison.

I've added this image to the Recent Additions gallery as of May, 2025 because it just received a major overhaul and it's now much better revealed.