Fall foliage and covered bridges are quintessential parts of the New England scenery. So at the end of October went for a drive to see the Henniker Covered Bridge and the beautiful fall foliage in New Hampshire. Hope you like the photos.

Left Boston around 5.30 am for the 1.5 hour drive north to Henniker which is located in the south-east part of New Hampshire. Arrived at Henniker via Route 114 around 7.00 am and parked the car on Main street for the short walk to the vehicle bridge that crosses the Contoocook River. From this bridge you get a great view of the Henniker Covered Bridge. This covered bridge was built in 1972 and is about 140 feet long and serves as a pedestrian walkway between New England College and the town of Henniker. For this photography assignment I took a Canon 5DIV camera, Canon 24mm f/1.4L II lens, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens, Lee filters (graduated neutral density, neutral density, and polarizer filter), Really Right Stuff tripod, and a remote cable release.

At this time of the morning the rising sun cast a beautiful yellow light across the river and the neighboring trees. You can see the covered bridge in the shadows in the distance.

Used a longer focal length to reveal the beauty of the Henniker Covered Bridge set amongst the yellow, orange, and green foliage and their reflections off the river below. This photo was taken at 1/13 second and an ND filter to slightly “smooth” the surface of the river to add definition to the reflections.

After getting the getting the photos above, started to look around for other photo opportunities. Noticed a rock amongst the reflections of trees near the left side of the river bank. Thought this might make an interesting abstract photo. So used an ND filter and a long exposure of 20 seconds to soften and blend the reflections, which resulted in a water color-like effect.

As the sun got higher in the sky decided to pack up my camera gear and walked along the path next to the river bank on the right-side of the river that leads to the Henniker Covered Bridge. Here’s a view back along the path I was walking along.

Since the light was coming from my left and behind me, there were a lot of opportunities for back-lit photos of the leaves.

The Henniker Covered Bridge.

Took another look around the river bank before walking across the bridge. The morning light coming through the fall foliage was beautiful and their were photo opportunities wherever you looked, including up into the canopy of the trees.

You may wonder why I titled this blog “A Fall View From the Henniker Covered Bridge”, rather than “A Fall View of the Henniker Covered Bridge”. The image above is the reason. Was walking across the bridge and saw this beautiful view of the Contoocook River and the vehicle bridge that I photographed from earlier in the morning. Spent several minutes looking at this view, and thinking “wow”.

Here’s a couple of more photos of this view using longer focal lengths.

Before heading back to the car, took a look back at the interior of the covered bridge. Had a great time walking around the Contoocook River.

Thanks for spending your time reading this blog about the Henniker Covered Bridge.