Lessons Learned: Try, Try Again

This picture represents a study in frustration for me. For the past three years, I've traveled home to Maine to photograph the best images of fall foliage I could find. And this dark little stream is among the most spectacular locations I've seen yet.

I'd shoot for an hour or so here, then take the images home, open them in my image editor...and groan. My mind's eye sees a fantasy forest reflected in a dark mysterious woodland stream. Amazing patterns of light and shadow interacting and playing back against each other.

Yet I've never been able to capture an image that matched the one I'd envisioned. Not even this one.

So, I'll try again next year and the year after and...

So, what shall I try next? This is a late afternoon picture. I chose the time because the sun's golden rays come in at a low angle from the right side of the picture side-lighting the foliage on the left side of the stream.

Next year, I'll try an early morning shot here, just after sunrise (and for however long I need to hang around after sunrise). I'm anticipating backlit foliage and hopefully some low fog or mist rising from the water. I hope that combination delivers the image of mystical beauty I've dreamed about.