View Finders

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] National Roofing Partners deliver single source commercial roofing solutions in all 50 states through over 260 contractors nationwide.

National Roofing Partners is a proud sponsor of "View Finders".

(bright music) - [Announcer] Sigma is proud to support photographers and filmmakers around the world.

And we believe creativity and sustainability go hand in hand.

(bright music) - [Announcer] Every explorer seeks their own path (adventurous upbeat music) and the promise of what's to come.

(adventurous upbeat music) The truth lies West.

- [Announcer] Georgia College & State University provides over 40 graduate program offerings, including doctorates in nursing and education.

Learn more at gcsu.edu.

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(no audio) ("Would That I") (upbeat lively music) True that I saw her hair like a branch of a tree A willow dancing on air before covering me Under cotton and calicoes Over canopy dapple long ago - With 13 mountain peaks named after U.S. Presidents.

- Home to the world's first mountain Cog Railway.

- Home to one of the highest recorded wing gusts on the planet.

- These are the White Mountains.

I'm Chris.

- I'm Paul.

- [Both] And we're the View Finders.

(dramatic folksy music) (dramatic folksy music continues) (dramatic folksy music swells) (upbeat lively music) And it's not tonight, oh, oh, oh-oh-oh Where I'm set alight, oh, oh, oh-oh-oh And I blink in sight, oh, oh, oh Of your blinding light, oh, oh, oh Oh, and it's not tonight, oh, oh, oh-oh-oh Where you hold me tight, oh, oh, oh-oh-oh Light the fire bright, oh, oh, oh Oh, let it blaze, all right - Just a few hours ago we were down in Atlanta.

It was like 80 degrees, no color.

And now we're up entering the White Mountains- - Buying gloves.

(chuckles) - Buying gloves for Mount Washington and just surrounded by fall.

- New Hampshire with its fall foliage is a perfect place to come because you can always go to Maine and see the coast.

You go to Vermont and see their mountains and you're close to the city of Boston.

So it really gives you that centerpiece where you really can get a little bit of everything and I think that makes it a perfect spot.

- These are proper mountains and I think this is certainly, or relates to, what is an incredible skiing experience for our guests who come visit us during the winter.

An excellent hiking experience, climbing experience, for those who visit us in the summer.

- [Paul] Haven't been to New Hampshire- - Okay.

- In probably, 20 something years.

A little over 30 years, maybe.

- [Chris] Okay, so it's been a bit?

- Yeah and I wasn't into photography when I was up here at that point in time.

- Yeah, yeah.

- [Paul] But right now what I'm hoping for, believe it or not this is like counterintuitive what you think of as a photographer, a little bit of rain wouldn't hurt.

- Okay.

- It would actually help right now.

- [Chris] I know where you're going with this.

'Cause right now we got some sun and that's great, but I wouldn't mind some clouds and maybe a little rain, so- - It'll flatten out that light, yeah, exactly.

Cause where I come from, honey, it hardly ever rains - Paul, this is a great start.

- It is.

- I mean, literally, quintessential New England.

A simple white church- - [Paul] A little quaint town.

- Surrounded by fall color.

- Yeah.

- It's on a lake.

- [Paul] We got the color.

Got the foreground.

Got a mid ground.

Definitely have that subject back there in the background.

- Yeah, it works really well because it is that pop of white.

That building is just a pop of white.

- Yep.

- Against all of those trees, all of that color.

This is a great spot.

(camera shutter clicks) Hardly ever rains (camera shutter clicks) (singer vocalizing) - New Hampshire is special with our White Mountains, basically, because we have so much diversity on what a person can do.

They can go out and hike for a day.

They could golf.

They can ski.

But we also have 18 attractions here in this little area where you can actually set up a whole week's worth of trips and stay in one place.

- So we're here at the Saco Covered Bridge and we just totally happened upon this.

Paul and I were actually joking on the way here.

We were thinking we were gonna just keep coming upon beautiful scenes that we were never gonna actually get to where we needed to be.

And that's kind of what's happening right now.

We got this beautiful river going past in fall color and we have flat light because clouds have rolled in.

So it's really working out well for us.

What are you thinking, Paul?

- I'm thinking the same thing.

I got my ND on there, 6-stop, which is gonna allow me to slow the shutter speed on here.

I'm gonna see if I can at the same time smooth the water out, but also get some movement in the clouds.

They're just a bunch of different compositions you can get here.

I like these little formations of rocks and then also with the leaves that are down here.

(camera shutter clicks) Ain't a road too long All I got is my good name And my family waiting back home I keep driving, stay in my lane There ain't a load too heavy to haul to keep me gone There ain't a road too long ("Ain't A Road Too Long") (camera shutter clicks) (dramatic upbeat music) (camera shutter clicks) (dramatic upbeat music continues) - You know, Paul, there was a time in my life where a day like this would've been a miserable vacation day.

- But for photography; waterfall, rain, cloudy skies- - [Chris] I mean, what more can you ask for?

- If you're shooting photography, typically, you don't want a rainy day.

But when you're doing stuff like this, the fall foliage, the waterfalls- - Yeah.

- Rain is perfect.

The rain saturates the leaves, the color in the leaves.

- The only thing I'm battling is I'm just getting precipitation on my lens, having to wipe it a lot and everything.

- I'm trying to keep mine down and- - Yeah, exactly.

- [Paul] Keep the hood on too and that helps a little.

- I don't know, man.

It's just like shooting fish in a barrel right now.

Everywhere you look it's colorful.

It's pretty.

- Yeah.

- And every time I see an image on the back of my screen I'm like, (clicks tongue) I think that one looks pretty good.

- But you still take another one just in case.

- Yeah, but let me take another one just in case.

("Into the Mystic") We were born before the wind Also, younger than the sun 'Ere the bonnie boat was won As we sailed into the mystic Hark now, hear the sailors cry Smell the sea and feel the sky Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic (camera shutter clicks) And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home - [Chris] I love this.

- [Paul] This is New England.

- [Chris] It's just wrapped in fall colors and we got a crystal clear river flowing under it.

We got a strong leading line with the tracks going over it.

We can even be on the tracks because it's part of a hiking trail.

- Yeah, I think we made the right choice coming out here, too.

I think also with the amount of people we're seeing at different locations we're going to- - Yeah.

- I mean everyone's here to see these colors in New England.

You can't beat this.

I don't have to fear it And I wanna rock your gypsy soul Just like way back in the days of old Then magnificently we will float into the mystic (camera shutter clicks) ("Into the Mystic") (camera shutter clicks) (mellow upbeat music) - [Chris] I like it.

- [Paul] Yeah, it's got some character.

- [Chris] Man, it does.

- [Paul] I like the color of contrast.

The pinks against the white church.

- Kinda like how the tree is framing the church and I've got a leading line here as well.

- [Paul] Yeah, this can definitely work.

You know, I will coming home Yeah, when that fog horn whistle blows I gotta hear it I don't have to fear it And I wanna rock your gypsy soul Just like way back in the days of old (camera shutter clicks) And together we will float into the mystic - The Flume Gorge has Conway granite walls of up to 90 feet high.

The walls itself are only about 12 to 20 feet apart.

So people come up here for an experience that you don't really find too many other places in this part of the East.

- Well, I have heard a lot about the gorge and I'm excited about this.

- Yeah, I haven't really seen many pictures from here.

So this is really gonna be quite new for me.

- As far as even the access that we're gonna have.

Little narrow walkways and stairs, so I think there'll be some challenging little spots.

- Each spring and then each fall we, actually, rebuild the boardwalk right through the gorge.

And this has been done actually since the 1850s.

So this has been a very popular attraction for well over 150 years.

- Well, right now we got it to ourselves and we're gonna take advantage of that as long as we can.

("Summer Light") (water gurgling) Come on baby, let's take a ride (water gurgling) We might make it by morning light (water burbling) The sun is bright and bold and bray My car is a stone that gently weighs (water gurgling) (gentle folksy music) (camera shutter clicks) (gentle folksy music) (camera shutter clicks) So jersey lays like a sight never seen - We have a tremendous network of folks here, both nationally and then here regionally, that are friends of the park and assist in sustainability and stewardship to maintain our trail system and to conserve the environment, both flora and fauna as much as we can.

Working with the DNCR, working with Fish and Game and then working with our network of friends and nonprofit organizations, we essentially have a whole of group effort to ensure sustainability of the park for the future generations.

(water splashing) - I've got a pool of water here with the leaves kind of swirling a bit.

And so I kind of have it in the bottom left to offset the covered bridge, the top right and then in the middle of the image I've got this cascading water.

So it all just kind of flows together, pun intended.

And Paul's helping me out here- - [Paul] Doing a little housekeeping.

- Would you take care of all this, like these distractions in the photograph.

You just removed them.

You're like nature's Photoshop.

Cause my way, is that the way home And they tried to do their best to carry on - I'm not sure if I wanna go high and get the trees, but I do like this little mini waterfall we got going on here.

So I may try to do something with that.

- [Chris] So we got this double swirls happening here.

Little bright on the roof, so I've underexposed the whole thing and I had to go to F18, which I don't love.

I might end up shooting this again and focus stacking, so I can bring that down to like F16.

I went to F18 to go sharp front to back with one picture.

- I see another composition that I wanna try.

I see some rocks behind us here.

And I think I'm gonna try to make my way onto those rocks to get more of these mini falls leading up to the covered bridge.

Sometimes the more you can add structurally into that photo, the more appealing it is.

The toughest thing about this is not really getting the composition, it's really getting to the rock where you wanna be without slipping and hurting something.

Stay in my lane There ain't a load too heavy to haul to keep me gone - Just so y'all know, this guy's gonna be drinking coffee from like six in the morning to 10 in the morning.

Four hours on one cup of coffee.

I'm not saying there's a problem, but there may be a problem.

(camera shutter clicks) (spirited upbeat music) (camera shutter clicks) (spirited upbeat music) (spirited upbeat music continues) - Mount Washington as a 6,000 foot mountain is not terribly tall when it comes to a global scale, but it's generally considered the most dangerous small mountain worldwide and one of the most unpredictable places to try to forecast weather for.

(train whistle blaring) ("Bravado") All my life I've been fighting a war I can't talk to you or your friends It's not only you My heart jumps around when I'm alluded to This will not do - It's all about the weather patterns that come across the country.

So as all the weather patterns, the jet streams and everything come this way, they all funnel right in through the, basically, the Adirondack Valley.

And as they come, they all converge right here on the summit of Mount Washington and it makes it a very unpredictable weather.

Oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh - There are unique meteorological phenomena going on here.

Three storm tracks converging, nearby peaks creating a natural wind tunnel of sorts.

And you've got this tree line at 5,000 feet and after you get above that, you're exposed to the elements.

So when those conditions do deteriorate and change, hikers can get caught off guard.

And that's actually what led to the idea for the railway was our founder, Sylvester Marsh, taking a hike and getting caught off guard by those very conditions.

Oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh; oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh; oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh; oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh - Paul, this is a little different conditions than about an hour ago.

An hour ago, we were shooting this bucolic railroad trestle nestled in the middle of just fall color- - We went from fall to winter.

- We are now in winter.

- Right, you know.

- [Chris] It is snowing on us.

It's like 30 degrees.

We've taken the train halfway to the top, I guess, of Mount Washington.

They can't take us to the top because of severe weather conditions.

- Right.

- And I guess, the highest recorded gusts from a manned weather station ever is 231 miles an hour, not too far from us.

- That's kinda breezy, right?

- [Chris] That is insane.

I can't even wrap my brain around that type of gusty winds.

- This is the world's first mountain climbing Cog Railway and the steam train that we're running today is the second oldest in our roster with a build date of 1908.

So a Cog train is climbing a very significant grade.

So a flat railway friction drives by turning the outside wheels.

We have gears in the center that go into a center rack.

We're climbing an average grade of 25% here.

And these are extra special because our diesel units here we build on site.

Our coaches we build on site.

And we're very proud of this unique equipment that we're tailoring to our own needs right here.

- I mean, how cool is this?

- You know what got me was the incline coming up on this thing.

- Yeah, yeah.

- [Paul] I mean this was like, I think the conductor said it was a 34% incline.

- [Chris] And this is old tech, too.

I mean, it's steam, it's coal, it's mechanical.

There's nothing electronic about any of it.

But it works.

It got us here safely- - All we need is the brakes to work.

That's it.

- We want the brakes to continue to work.

to get us back down, but super cool experience.

- Yeah.

Loved it.

(camera shutter clicks) Whoa, oh, oh, oh; whoa, oh, oh, oh (camera shutter clicks) Whoa, oh, oh, oh Whoa, oh, oh, oh (insects chirping) - So just an update.

We are trying to shoot the sunrise and we got to one spot and there was what?

Just like a little, like a little window- - Yeah.

- Of hope at the horizon, 'cause it's very cloudy.

But we just kind of kicked it back and forth and decided it wasn't gonna be good enough.

We didn't think we could get much of a composition, so we're moving on to another overlook.

- [Paul] But the hard thing about it is trying to find a good composition to put a photo together.

That's the struggle.

- Yeah, it is.

It can be tough to find something like really great light or like a strong subject and when you just have a big vista of mountains, it's really pretty- - [Paul] You get lost in it.

- Yeah, your eye's kind of just not sure where to rest on.

I had a vision last night Night diving in Monterey That water on my skin - I'm doing a blended exposure on this.

I'm doing like a pretty quick shot so that I don't get any movement in the leaves for all of the foreground, the color as well as the structure.

And I'm putting on an ND filter and I'm shooting a 30 second exposure to get the clouds really kind of moving overhead.

And I think it'll work really well if they light.

So I'm crossing my fingers we get some kind of pink underneath these clouds.

Now that I say that it's, actually, starting to happen.

The underside of all of these clouds is starting to get a little pink hue and I'm hopeful this is about to get really good.

("Night Diving") I had a vision last night Horses on the granite plains - [Chris] The sky just went off for us.

- It did.

Opened up.

- Yeah.

- [Paul] A lot of colors up there; reds, pinks, blues.

I don't think we missed anything from- - [Chris] No, we got the full spectrum.

- Yeah.

- Between the sky and between what the leaves are giving us.

- Yeah, I think I kind of like this spot because it's almost like as you come in here, this is where you kind of gravitate towards to see the information about the overlook and what's going on here.

- Sure.

(camera shutter clicks) (singers vocalizing) (camera shutter clicks) (upbeat folksy music) (singers vocalizing) - So one thing, right when we were leaving that I noticed that, just a tip.

Sometimes light hits just certain things in the landscape and everything else is still in shadow.

That's what's happening with these leaves on these trees.

They're very colorful, very bright and behind them is still dark, dark shadows.

So the sun is breaking across, illuminating them.

So I kind of zoomed in and just filled a frame with just leaves, but it's against a black background, basically.

And I think that that's gonna kind of work and it's gonna be almost abstract, very minimalist, but it just kind of, it's another little showcase of just how glorious the colors are here in New England right now.

(camera shutter clicks) (upbeat folksy music) Hmm-mmm-mmm - Well, the White Mountains have set the bar very high when it comes to lots of great photography.

- Loved it.

This place doesn't owe me anything?

- Nope.

- Got a lot of shots in here that I'm proud of.

- Ah, man, it was clean.

It was one after another after another.

- It was just like composition city.

Where do you go to get a shot?

I mean- - I know.

- [Paul] I was like a kid in a candy shop.

- There was color everywhere.

There were multiple compositions.

We didn't have to drive far from place to place to get another gorgeous shot and the weather- - [Paul] The sky cooperated.

- Yes, like we had overcast conditions, misty, rain, snow, everything, which was perfect.

- Yes.

- For landscape photography.

- [Paul] Yes, you need that rain.

Yeah.

- Maybe not for other things that you enjoy doing outside, but for us it was absolutely ideal.

- Yeah, I mean, I haven't been in this area of the country this time of year in I don't know how long, but- - Yeah, - I am truly impressed with the foliage.

I mean, this is really good.

- I saw some of your shots.

They're gorgeous.

The ones I saw on the back of my screen, loved it and everybody was just so accommodating.

- Yeah.

- They helped us.

They got us to the right location, shared some tips for us.

- Timing.

- The timing worked out so well in so many places.

- Definitely.

- I cannot wait to see where we go next, but I'm gonna remember this one for a long time.

- You got it.

- Let's go, man.

- [Paul] Find a view.

Hollows in the woods call out Trails up mountains climb Waves and sand keep beat and time Mossy blankets, swirling streams Over rocks and dirt Run at pace with all the earth Could we capture nature's wonder Find our way to getting lost Freeze a frame to save forever Adventure worth the cost Bees and dandelion grain Dance in sun-soaked fields Wind and gleam together yield Pocket worries fade to dim Wait on focus new Wild is coming into view ("Chasing Light") (gentle music) - [Announcer] National Roofing partners deliver single source commercial roofing solutions in all 50 states through over 260 contractors nationwide.

National Roofing Partners is a proud sponsor of "View Finders".

(bright music) - [Announcer] Sigma is proud to support photographers and filmmakers around the world.

And we believe creativity and sustainability go hand in hand.

(bright music) - [Announcer] Every explorer seeks their own path and the promise of what's to come.

(dramatic upbeat music) The truth lies West.

- [Announcer] Georgia College & State University provides over 40 graduate program offerings; including doctorates in nursing and education.

Learn more at gcsu.edu.

- [Announcer] Troncalli Subaru is a proud sponsor of "View Finders".

(dramatic chimes)