Michael Blanchette Photography

Home
United States
Bedford, NH
Michael Blanchette Photography

Photographer | Traveler | New Englander |

06/05/2026

𝑴𝙤𝒖𝙣𝒕𝙖𝒊𝙣 𝘾𝒂𝙨𝒄𝙖𝒅𝙚

Another photo from a few days ago. Crystal Cascade is a two-tier waterfall located in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I have many photos of this place in various seasons but never tire of its natural beauty. The horsetail- and plunge-type waterfall drops 100 feet down a rock face.

There isn’t a lot of variety in compositions here since most photos are taken from a constructed overlook, but I still consider it one of the prettiest waterfalls in New Hampshire. I took it on a mostly cloudy day with filtered light against the spring foliage.

06/03/2026

𝙎𝒑𝙧𝒊𝙣𝒈 𝒐𝙣 𝙩𝒉𝙚 𝙁𝒂𝙧𝒎

I went back to a familiar location last night. I took this drone photo during the “golden hour” before sunset. Mount Kearsarge is in the background, rising at 2,100 feet (640 meters), making it one of the twelve mountains in New Hampshire with a height over 2,000 feet.

Originally the Harvey Homestead, the farm remains a working museum, producing vegetables, fruit, flowers, hay and cordwood.

05/31/2026

𝑴𝙤𝒓𝙣 𝙖𝒕 𝒕𝙝𝒆 𝑻𝙚𝒎𝙥𝒍𝙚𝒔

One last photo from our recent trip to Utah. The Temple of the Sun and The Temple of the Moon were top locations on our bucket list. These tall, red sandstone monoliths are located in Cathedral Valley, a remote section in the northern district of Capitol Reef National Park. It takes about an hour over a rough desert track to get here in a high-clearance vehicle, so we hired an excellent outfitter (Waterpocket Adventure) to take us out rather than risking damage to the rental vehicle.

When we arrived, the orange sandstone was beautifully lit, with 400-foot (120-meter) tall Temple of the Sun prominent in the foreground. The Temple of the Moon is the smaller formation on its left, and the even smaller Temple of the Stars sit further back near the base of the cliffs. The red sandy road provided a nice leading line through the scene while the puffy clouds served to frame the top portion of the image. And we were alone to enjoy this beautiful scenery.

05/30/2026

𝑺𝙠𝒚𝙡𝒊𝙣𝒆 𝑹𝙞𝒎

While at Moonscape Overlook in Utah for sunrise one morning, I flew my drone to capture early light against Skyline Rim. Skyline Rim is a towering ridge that provides a breathtaking view over the lunar-like landscape below.

The iconic Factory Butte sits in center-background. Also in the center of the frame is the rough dirt track driven to reach the overlook in a high-clearance vehicle. That track is not passable after rainfall because it turns to slippery clay.

05/29/2026

𝙏𝒊𝙚𝒓𝙚𝒅 𝑾𝙖𝒕𝙚𝒓𝙛𝒂𝙡𝒍

Spring is among the best times to photograph waterfalls in New England, especially after rainfall. We had decent rain recently so when yesterday's weather forecast called for cloudy skies (ideal for waterfall photography), I rushed out to a couple of my favorite New Hampshire “watering holes”.

This is a pretty, 40-foot multi-tiered waterfall along a southern New Hampshire brook. The land surrounding these falls is private property and access had been closed for years due to visitor abuse, but thankfully, it has since been re-opened under careful watch.

I love photographing waterfalls in spring because they usually have a more abundant flow. In addition, the young foliage sports a lighter yellow-green color that I find more appealing than the deeper green of summer. And even better still, I was entirely alone photographing the waterfall.

05/28/2026

𝑻𝙝𝒆 𝑮𝙞𝒍𝙨𝒐𝙣 𝘽𝒖𝙩𝒕𝙚𝒔

Past the entrance to Goblin Valley State Park, we could see two prominent buttes sitting about a mile off the state highway. From a distance, the Gilson Buttes looked very photogenic, so we vowed to return at sunrise the next morning. And since it’s not possible to reach these buttes by conventional vehicle, it was an easy decision for us to fly our drones over to take the photos.

Little Gilson Butte in the foreground is the smaller of the two buttes, with a max elevation of 900 feet (274 meters) and a surface length of 1,600 feet (488 meters). Gilson Butte in the background is the longer of the two, rising 467 feet (142 meters) above the desert floor with a surface length of over 1.5 miles.

We took up the drones at first sign of light as the red sandstone quickly took on a vibrant orange hue. I positioned my drone near the narrow end of Little Gilson Butte, using the patterns on the desert floor as leading elements. The Henry Mountains are visible in the background to the left. We would have needed a human or vehicle on the ground to give a sense of scale because these buttes are huge.

05/27/2026

𝘿𝒆𝙨𝒆𝙧𝒕 𝑾𝙖𝒗𝙚𝒔

Factory Butte is one of the most iconic locations in southern Utah. The butte was named by early settlers who thought it resembled a big factory building. The impressive geological formation towers some 1,500 feet (457 meters) above the desert floor. And even better, the area surrounding Factory Butte is a vast expanse of badlands that might look like the surface of another planet.

I took the photo from a drone shortly after sunrise. I captured the scene with both conventional camera and drone, but the aerial photos show so much more of the patterns that have been sculpted by erosion over millions of years. I thought this particular set of patterns resembled sandy waves.

05/26/2026

𝑻𝙝𝒆 𝑻𝙝𝒓𝙚𝒆 𝑺𝙞𝒔𝙩𝒆𝙧𝒔

Goblin Valley State park is located in southern Utah. The park is known for its abundance of hoodoos, which they locally call “goblins”. These rock formations were formed by erosion over a span of some 10 million years. There are lots of goblins in the park but one of the most impressive groupings is “the three sisters”, featuring three distinctive hoodoos on top of a sandstone base.

I took the photo at sunset near the base of the formation. The desert floor nearby included patches of evening primrose flowers (white) in peak bloom and some balsam root flowers (yellow) past their prime.

05/24/2026

𝙈𝒐𝙤𝒏 𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙧 𝙈𝒐𝙡𝒍𝙮'𝙨 𝘾𝒂𝙨𝒕𝙡𝒆

We arrived at Goblin Valley at dawn to shoot sunrise over the San Rafael Desert. While waiting for the sun, I aimed my camera equipped with a long lens at Molly’s Castle, a large red rock formation two miles away, named for its likeness to a big medieval castle. The quarter moon was rising just as the sun began casting light along the horizon. I underexposed the photo to yield a silhouette of the prominent butte and to expose for the moon over the scene.

05/23/2026

𝑻𝙝𝒆 𝑩𝙚𝒏𝙩𝒐𝙣𝒊𝙩𝒆 𝑯𝙞𝒍𝙡𝒔

One of the highlights of our recent trip to Utah was a visit to the remote Bentonite Hills. These are multi-colored hills sporting bands of red, gray, purple, and green. The colors were created by the accumulation of volcanic ash that settled in lakes and swamps some 140-150 million years ago, eventually forming the Bentonite clay that gives the hills their distinctive color.

The best time to photograph these formations is at blue hour after sunset or before sunrise when the sky color increases the vibrancy of the clay hills. And the best angle is from the air looking down, so these are all drone photos. The patterns and colors are quite spectacular from the air, reminiscent of abstract paisley designs and colors from a distant past.

Address

Bedford, NH
03110

Website

https://www.michaelblanchette.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Michael Blanchette Photography posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Michael Blanchette Photography:

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Photography Service in Bedford?