As the days get shorter, the nights get cooler and pumpkins start to dot the landscape you know that autumn is making its entry on Long Island.
Autumn on Long Island offers photographers some of the best images that can be found all year. Whether its images from one of the many fall festivals or fairs held throughout the season or a pond reflecting the beautiful colors of the dying leaves, your opportunities are endless. Listed below are some of my favorite autumn hangouts:
Anywhere on the North Fork - The North Fork is the closest you can get to New England without making the five-hour drive to Vermont. It offers quaint towns, clapboard churches, farm stands, wineries and an abundance of coastal scenery. Hortons Point Lighthouse in Southhold is one of my favorite places along with the many ponds that dot route 25.
St. Johns Church, Cold Spring Harbor - (route 25A) This old white clapboard church is located alongside a lake that runs adjacent to route 108 and route 25A and sits directly behind the Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery. There is plenty of parking and is open to visitors all day long. This area is best photographed in the late afternoon.
Planting Fields Arboretum - Located in Oyster Bay, it offers beautiful landscape images. The best time in autumn to photograph here is late October, call for their hours of operations at this time of year.
Hecksher State Park - Located in Islip on the South Shore, you can photograph the beautiful fall landscape along with some wildlife photo opportunities. Plan on spending the whole day here since it is quite large.
Northport Village - Located off of Route 25A in Northport this classic coastal village offers the serious photographer many scenic opportunities. Northport harbor located at the south end of the village is still a "working" harbor.
My favorite film for autumns beautiful colors is Fuji's Sensia 100 slide film. This film has a nice warm tone to it that lends itself to the red, yellows and oranges of the season. One hint; set your film speed dial to 125. This will mean that your roll of film will be underexposed by a third of a stop, this will add some punch to your color. This only works with Fujichrome. Your choice of print film is less important since the developing and printing of your images is more important to the final image. My favorite fall lens is my 35 - 70mm.
The Huntington Camera Club will host a program by guest speaker Bill Rudock on "How to photograph fall foliage". The program will be on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 7:30 PM at the Huntington Public Library. Guests are welcome and the program is free.