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How to find iconic fall foliage images

The yellow book of Vermont scenic locations

by Jeff "Foliage" Folger

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Credit: Arnold Kaplan

Credit: Arnold Kaplan

Credit: Arnold Kaplan

Greetings Leaf Peepers! 20 Days until winter means 20 days of fall left!

If you have shots from this fall there are many places to show them off (besides your computer screen). First you can click on this link to go over to USA Today's On Deadline you can find instructions for submitting your fall picture. AND we would love to see them over on the

Facebook page that Yankee has so if you came north and took pictures please post them so we can see them!

Over the years I've been asked constantly two main questions. First they want to exactly when to come to New England to get here for peak? And my answer is always the same! If you figure out exactly when peak will be then you let me know.

Second, they want to know where every iconic scenic location is in New England. I've never been one to travel to the iconic scenes (I didn't even know where the Jenne farm was, OK, I admit it!).

I have to stress that I love exploring areas that don't show up on the radar of tour companies or in books. (so that's my excuse) I'm going to spend this winter and next fall trying to hit all the Iconic locations that I can fit in since.. well, I've never done that. This brings me back to the question? .... How does one find the Jenne farm and these other places?

Well I found a pamphlet that a Massachusetts photographer, Arnold Kaplan, self publishes. I decided to talk to him and see why he put this information out there.

I think you know that I try to share what and where I find places but I wanted to hear about why he does it. Now I'm probably one of the higher mileage photographers in the fall but I pale in comparison when you consider he's been doing photography since the 1940s and is currently 94 years old! And he still drives to Vermont in the fall!

Following is why he wrote the book. Back in the 1960s he belonged to a photo club that would travel to Vermont to photograph in the fall. They would get up in the early morning and a small select group would take off and come back later with great iconic fall shots and wouldn't share with the rest.

This led Arnold to start exploring every back road in VT and over the next 20+ years he compiled where all the postcard views were located and then he would hand out sheets with the locations documented. He said this made him and his sheets very popular with everyone except for those trying to keep these locations to themselves.

Around 1977 he put all the locations he had into a yellow book "How to find (and photograph) The Photo-Scenics in Vermont" and he started selling it to local photo groups. It currently sells for $19.95 and currently has an addendum with some new locations and a few locations that are sadly no longer available due to fire, destruction of property or in one case a large orange maple tree at the Jenne farm had split and fallen down.

I hope to get out and test his notes that say these places are just as pretty in the winter and if you keep checking back here I will post what I find during the winter and into the spring.

Check out our Facebook page @ [www.facebook.com/yankeefoliage[5] and if you want to see more wonderful fall photography then be sure to visit the reader photo gallery and email your favorite image to your friends and family. Jeff "Foliage" Folger Of course I can be reached at jeff.foliage@gmail.com if you have questions between now and next fall. Got Foliage?

Click here to follow my foliage reports in real time on twitter? Visit my Facebook fan page for Vistaphotography