Landscapes

Pennsylvania in autumn colors

Ingrid, my wife, came running back to our recreational vehicle after her early morning walk with our dog. “Bjorn, get up, the light is fabulous!” Not only that - the fall leaves put on a display not seen for years. Before next morning, I had done my composition scouting and was ready to seize a moment in camera. Prince Gallitzin State Park, western Pennsylvania. Click on photos for larger images (and for some, turn your phone sideways).

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The backlit maple

About to return to the campground from a morning photo shoot, I looked into a dark grove, and there it was, the backlit maple in all its glory. Prince Gallitzin State Park, western Pennsylvania.

Morning mist

The sun breaking through the morning mist over Glendale Lake, Prince Gallitzin State Park, western Pennsylvania.

Kentuck Knob

The world’s most famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, has his most famous house, Fallingwater, located in southwestern Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands. 10 minutes’ drive from it is another pearl from Wright, the Kentuck Knob house. The main road leading to it is lined with these trees. Bad luck, or rather bad planning, that most of the autumn leaves were on the ground when I got around to photographing them.

Colors

Finding good compositions is hard, and sometimes in stead you look for colors. But I’ll give the old oak a point for character. Ohiopyle, western Pennsylvania.

The rotating mothership

We didn’t expect a supercell thunderstorm to show up at our campground, 45 miles of mud roads into the American Prairie Reserve in northern Montana, U.S. It passed us by, thankfully.

Frozen highlands

I shot this photo well before I started watching YouTube videos providing formulas for successful photos. I still like it, though admittedly it would be perfect kitsch if a moose had walked by. Laurel Highlands, western Pennsylvania.

Pulpit Rock

I suppose good photography often is about making the extra effort. Having strenuously reached the Pulpit Rock (lower left), we carried on to this vantage point. A shot in the morning golden hour could have been spectacular, but it’s not the safest route to hike in darkness. Lysefjorden near Sandnes, my hometown in Norway. Pulpit Rock (Preikestolen) is one of the most visited natural tourist attractions in Norway.

Sycamore

Snowless winter landscape isn’t all that exciting here in the Washington DC area. Still, I ventured out to Great Falls at the Potomac River, before dawn. The falls are indeed great, but I couldn’t see the greatness in them through the lens. So, I honed in on a sycamore tree on the other side of the river, which had another sycamore bathed in morning sunlight behind it.