I'll admit it, I have Fall Fever really bad right now which is odd considering that it is still very warm outside, and I'm still mowing every week. That being said, typically by this time each year I have already started seeing color in the higher elevations in the Blue Ridge Mountains. In fact, it was around Sept 17th, last year when I went to Graveyard Fields and found all sorts of color. I've been keeping track online to see how the color is coming this year and it seems to be a good bit later due to the warm temperatures. Based on what I was seeing though, I decided that it was time to make a journey out to Graveyard Fields and see for myself how things were coming along. With my work schedule this week, I ended up having to take Friday off (Darn!) since I was working on Saturday. Looking at the weather, there was a pretty good chance of clouds throughout the morning and showers later in the day. With some good rains recently, I figured that this would be a great time to see the Fall colors and to shoot some of the waterfalls at Graveyard Fields. I have yet to try the lower falls because when I have been there, the sun has been too bright to attempt waterfall photography. The forecast was showing some promise this time though. As an added benefit, the sunrise forecaster was calling for a good probability of some color in the sky as well. This was going to make for a really good trip if I could get a sunrise, and waterfalls in the same day, along with some bright colored leaves. I knew that it wasn't going to be anywhere near peak, but if I could just get a few trees here and there, I would be very happy with the first Autumn trek of the year. As is typical, I had to wake up pretty early to catch a sunrise. Oddly enough, the sun was rising after 7am at this point in the year and that makes it much more tolerable than the middle of Summer when the sun wakes up before 6am. However, Graveyard Fields is just a tick over three hours from home. Doing the math...carry the one...that meant that I was waking up at 3:30 and on the road by 4. I hate early mornings!
My plan was to get on the Parkway in time to find a place to set up for the sunrise, which shouldn't be a problem considering I was looking at arriving around 6:15 or so. The trip out there was interesting. I left in the rain, and had clouds and fog most of the way to the lower section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I wasn't sure how sunrise would look, but I was sure going to be in good shape for waterfalls. In fact, I even brought along directions to get to Estatoe Falls which is on my short list of waterfalls to visit. I figured that after shooting at Graveyard Fields, I could jump down the road to Estatoe and save the three hour drive I would have to make another day to shoot it. When I arrived on the Parkway, the fog was heavy and most of the overlooks were socked in. Not being very familiar with this section of the Parkway, I started hunting something that looked promising. The only problem was I couldn't see anything at all in the distance to know what to shoot. The sun was coming up too, and I was running out of time to find something. I started to drive by a long driveway that was marked "Mt Pisgah Parking" and thought about turning to see if that was an overlook. I remember thinking to myself, if I turn here, I won't have time to find anything else. If I stay straight, I don't know what I will find ahead. Essentially, it was a chance either way and I opted to make the turn and climb the short driveway.
Passion in the Air
What I found at the top of the driveway was the Buck Springs Gap Overlook. It was positioned perfectly to see the sun, and there were some of the most awesome clouds down below. I pulled in and just parked the truck right on the edge, not wanting to be concerned with whether or not I was in a parking space. I got out and grabbed the camera. I set the tripod up and fitted my 70-200mm lens to the camera. I made a single exposure and found that I wasn't able to get the reach that I really wanted at this stage of the game so I added my 2X teleconverter to extend the reach. I was now able to shoot at 400mm which was just perfect to capture the clouds and the color in the sky. I was right in the nick of time to capture this as the colors were unfolding quickly in front of me. As the sky started to erupt in color, I removed the teleconverter and went back to my standard 70-200mm lens. I started looking at composition options and found that this was going to be a great prospect for a panorama. I flipped the camera on its side and got the tripod perfectly level. I did a dry sweep to check the exposure and set the focus. I then shot a 6 frame series across the horizon which I later stitched together for the opening image to this entry. I worked with other compositions and found some pretty good images over the course of about 30 minutes. In the end, I decided that I would pick the two best examples since they were largely of the same subject. These are the two that I liked best from the sunrise at Mt Pisgah.
After that series was done, I looked around to see what else was available. The sky was really nice, but I wasn't able to find any more workable compositions that excited me. I packed up my gear which actually took a minute. In my haste, I was throwing bits and pieces into the bag and not worrying about where they were landing. That meant that I had to move everything around to get it all back to where it was supposed to be. I considered shooting a short video here, but decided that the photography was more important than any video work. I still had a chance of getting some really cool skies if I found another vantage point to shoot from. I loaded the truck back up and started back out on the Parkway towards Graveyard Fields once again. I ended up passing Funnel Top and saw some really interesting clouds around the mountains. It was most definitely worth pulling over and setting the camera up again. This time, I was pretty sure that the 70-200mm would be the right one, and it turned out to be just that. With the conditions present, I still wasn't using any filters as the exposures were still very good. I started doing my isolation thing with the mountains in the clouds. This is always a lot of fun to do and it starts to take on an abstract quality really quick. My intention at this point was to shoot in black and white, but when I got home I realized that the color in the sky was pretty nice and worth leaving in.
After Dawn
The clouds were really thick down in the valleys and the sun was still being diffused by the clouds to the East. This gave me very soft light and that was just what I wanted. I loved being able to render the textures in the mountains, and even the hint of green. These would have been absolutely gorgeous if the leaves were at peak with the colors in the sky complementing the Autumn colors, but alas, that was not the case. I'm not complaining because regardless of the colors present, these were a lot of fun to compose and shoot.
Reaching for the Day
As I was shooting, I realized that there were a few clouds that seemed to be arching into the sky. When I started looking, I realized that their shape was mimicking the mountains beneath them. This was a good enough reason to capture that scene. I had no problem isolating this phenomenon with the 70-200mm lens. The background mountains even lived up to the name of "Blue Ridge" in this light. Again, the color here was too good to pass up so I opted not to convert either of these images to black and white. I stuck around here about 20 minutes or so before I realized that I had shot all that I cared to from this location. The clouds were not changing significantly, so there were really no other compositions developing. I loaded up and hit the road once again, still bound for the Autumn colors of Graveyard Field.
Clouded Looking Glass
Not far down the road I passed by a well known landmark of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Looking Glass Rock. At first I wasn't going to shoot it, but when I saw how the clouds were looking around it I reconsidered. Once again I pulled out the 70-200mm lens and left any filters off of it. I worked on a few different compositions here before I found the one that I liked. There are repeating patterns of waves from the foreground into the background. The big interruption is the large bank of clouds with Looking Glass peeking out above it. The subtle hues in the sky rounded the image out, and I really liked how this one panned out overall. While I shot about 10 frames here, I only decided to keep this one. the others were just variations on the theme and really didn't stand on their own compared to this one. It was now time to move on down the road for my ultimate destination. I was looking forward to seeing the Fall colors at Graveyard Fields. However, when I arrived, my hopes were dashed. I could see the lower falls, or second falls from the Parkway and they were shrouded in green. They were also fully lit by the sun which had found its way into a large expanse of empty sky. The entire landscape mirrored what I was seeing at the falls with nothing but green present. I was disappointed to say the least because I was really hoping to see something similar to what I had seen last year, over a week earlier. Oh well, I was here and had driven a long way for this specific spot. I grabbed my gear and started off into the trails. As I was hiking through I could see where some of the trees I had expected to be in full color were now bare. It appeared as though those same trees had changed and then shed their leaves quickly. This would explain why I had been seeing pictures on Facebook showing some fair color in the area. I was too late for that, and too early for the majority of the leaves.
Cascades on Cascades
I decided to skip the leaves this time and focus on the waterfalls. Yes, I know they were fully in the sunlight and that is a bad thing. My hope was by the time I got into position that the sun would be hidden behind the clouds. I was happy to find that the first little cascade by the boardwalk was in shadow. I had shot this last year with some color on the trees, but this year everything was totally green. I decided to give it a shot and I fitted my 24-70mm lens with the Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer before looking for a composition. I found a few workable compositions, but the lack of color left them rather flat and lifeless. The lighting was also not the best with some highlights in the background from the sun. After about a half dozen shots I decided that this wasn't going to work for me. I packed the camera back up and continued on to the lower falls.
Having never been here before, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect as far as terrain. I knew what pictures were possible, but not exactly what was needed to get those pictures. After I made it down the steps, I came face to face with a rock garden like I have never seen before. The boulders were stacked up too high to get a good composition from where I was at. My only option was to find a way to rock hop to a location somewhere on the top of that pile. Fortunately I did have my waterfall boots on so some shallow wading was possible. The problem was the water was deeper than the boots were tall. I did manage to find my way around and over the boulders. My final location was interesting to say the least. I was standing on a rock, and there were three other rocks where I was able to place my tripod legs. I had very little wiggle room, and the camera was pretty much where it was with no movement possible.
As you can see, I made use of what I had to the fullest. I started out with my 16-35mm lens along with the Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer, but quickly realized that that was just too much for this waterfall. I didn't like the compositions that I was getting and it was including too much of the foreground for my tastes. I swapped it out with my 24-70mm lens with the polarizer and found that focal length to work much better. My problem was the sun was still bright and causing my problems. The problems weren't my usual ones though with highlights and deep shadows. This waterfall is situated perfectly for a sunny shot as there are no shadows to contend with and everything is evenly lit. My problem was I was having a really hard time getting a slow shutter speed with just the polarizer.
Second Falls
I knew I was going to need to add an ND filter to reduce the light and I have one for just this purpose. However, I was recalling my recent shot with Elk River Falls where I used the 10-Stop ND to get a three minute exposure. I figured that with the bright light here, I might actually be onto something with that kind of light reduction. I went ahead and added the lee Filter Holder to the edge of the polarizer and slid in the Singh-Ray Mor Slo 10-Stop ND filter. The lighting was much brighter than at Elk River Falls, so I knew I wasn't going to get a three minute exposure, and really didn't want that. Actually, I was aiming for 30 seconds, and was able to get just that with this filter combination. I shot several different compositions and exposures for this waterfall. I did everything from 1/5 of a second up to 30 seconds. I was actually surprised to find that I liked the results of the 30 second exposure best by far. The water flow was quick, but it was cascading beautifully so that it maintained detail throughout the falls. In the end, I decided that I liked a horizontal as well as vertical composition of this waterfall. I did shoot some isolations, but none of them really stood out to me, and I ended up trashing them. After this I was feeling pretty good about the day, but the clouds were clearing and it was not looking like Estatoe was going to be a possibility. Instead of giving that one a try, I decided to pack up and head home. I was getting sleepy anyway having been up for a very long time already. The sky was gorgeous all the way home, but the lighting was not quite good enough for photography. I think I made the right decision in calling it quits. I will get to Estatoe Falls eventually, but I do want it to be on a very cloudy day as I have in mind what I want to capture and sunlight really won't play a part in it.
This was an odd trek to say the least. It wasn't well planned, and was more or less a complete gamble. I had been sick for the majority of the week and hadn't really put much thought at all into where I might want to go, and what little energy I had was spent working on the Behind the Camera feature that was released earlier today. So when the weekend rolled around, I was feeling better and needed to start looking at where I might want to go. Checking the weather, it was looking like the mountains were all going to be seeing about the same conditions with 70-75% cloud cover through most of the day, and the potential for storms in the mid afternoon. These are definitely favorable conditions for photography as the unsettled atmosphere usually produces some really great skies and lighting. The question was, where to go in the mountains. What I was really waning to do was shoot Catawba Falls, but I had a feeling that the clouds were not going to be thick enough for that to work. I kept it as an alternate in the back of my mind, but I was looking to focus more on landscapes. I tossed around the idea of going back to the area of Boone where I always have great luck, but having recently been there, I opted to nix that plan. There was always Doughton Park which I enjoy, but I wasn't really wanting to do anything there since I don't have any new ideas for compositions. There was an overlook that I had been thinking about trying for sunrise at The Lump Overlook, and that wasn't too far from the house at about 1.5 hours away. That was going to be my destination for the morning.
Amber Waves
My day started early as would be expected with the clock ringing at 3:30am. As you know, I checked the forecast, and the sunrise was expected to be less than stellar, but the actual cloud conditions were looking promising for a sunrise. The downside, was the cloud cover was showing to be thinning a bit as the day moved on. Even more disturbing, the hourly forecast showed cloudy conditions currently, but the actual reported forecast was showing clear conditions. This, of course, put the entire forecast in question. OK, I know that my history with forecasts should put every forecast in question, and it does. This time, I had evidence that things were not as expected already. But...I was already awake, and my mind was going. I figured I would give it a try, even if I went out and just stayed for a little while. The trip went quick, and the entire way up to the mountains I could see the moon and the stars above. It was not looking good at all, but I was going to be in the mountains and that is always a good thing. When I hit the Parkway I could still see the stars, but oddly enough I was starting to pass through some fog here and there. This kind of got me excited because I could work with fog in the valleys below. I started to look out over the overlooks and wasn't really finding anything that caught my eye. When I got to "The Lump" I drove around the circle and found one other car there. That wouldn't be a problem. I could see the hill that I was thinking about shooting, but for some reason it just really didn't catch my eye at all. I wasn't feeling this location at all, and the lack of interest in the sky was not doing this location any favors at all. I decided to abandon this overlook and go searching for something else.
Resting Easy
I started to head out towards Doughton with the hopes of finding something along the way that would work. I pulled into several overlooks which had great views, but nothing really to anchor the image. When I arrived at the Jumpin' Off Rocks Overlook I could see some nice fog between the rolling hills. I knew that there was a short trail that lead to an overlook, but I didn't have the time to make that hike. This was my last chance to catch whatever sunrise had to offer on this morning. I was pleased to see that there were some clouds in the sky now which offered the possibility of some color. I got the camera set up quickly with my 24-70mm lens with the Lee filter holder attached. I was expecting some situations to present themselves which would mandate some ND Grads to be used. I started to frame up compositions with the pale color in the sky just in case they got completely washed out when the sun came up. Fairly quickly, I decided that 70mm was just too wide for the color that I was seeing. I moved to my 70-200mm lens and skipped the Lee Filter Holder since I was seeing that the exposures were pretty simple so far. One of the things that caught my attention was this one lone house atop the major mountain in this view. Usually, houses won't draw much interest from me, but this one was different. It was all alone in this grand landscape as the only visible house for miles and miles. The tract of land that it was on was well cleared, and it was right on top of the mountain. This really stood out to me, so much that I wanted to capture it in some way. I had shot it a few times with the normal lens, but now that I had my telephoto lens on, I was going to be able to get in much closer. What I found was the closer I got, the less impressive it became. Then it came to me...Panorama! I got the tripod leveled, and did a dry sweep to check plum with the camera. I set the focus and double checked the exposure before starting my six image sweep of the landscape. Each exposure was several seconds long because of the low light so I was really worried that the quality of light would change drastically between the start and the finish of the series. According to my histogram, it all recorded as expected. It was my one and only attempt at a panorama shot, and it actually worked out pretty decent.
Foggy View
As the sun came up, I shot several more in hopes that I could avoid lens flare which is a weakness of my telephoto lens. While I was shooting the sun coming up, I was watching my back to see what the light was doing on the other side of the ridge I was on. There was some pretty dense fog over there and I knew that there were some other mountain ranges in that direction. Feeling pretty good about what I had shot thus far I walked across the street to check that scene out. There was this one tree that was set right next to cabin which caught my attention. I got positioned so that I could place a distant mountain top in the background beyond the tree and I flipped the camera on its side for the shot. It took a few tries to get this image because I wanted just the right amount of fog in the view. The cabin needed to be visible, but not so much as to make you want to see the rest of it. I wanted the soft covering of the fog over the entire image, and yet I wanted to be able to see off into the distance. I had one frame that fit that concept. While shooting this scene and some other compositions with the distant mountains another Parkway visitor arrived at the overlook and walked over to me. He struck up a conversation and before I knew it I realized that I was talking to another Law Enforcement Officer. He was from the Charlotte area and was looking to retire in the mountains. Small world since that is my goal as well. He was a bit closer to retirement than I am, but not by much. There I was on the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway talking shop and the benefits of a 25 year retirement with a deputy while shooting a foggy scene such as this. It was a bit odd but a nice conversation nonetheless.
Twists and Textures
Finding it increasingly hard to fight the fog on the other side of the Parkway I decided to go back over to the other side and see what the light was doing. I found some nice morning light hitting one of the trees feet away from my truck that I decided to capture. I left the telephoto lens attached and narrowed the depth of field a bit to capture this image. The slight twist of the trunk was pretty cool, and the extreme side light helped to accentuate that twisting. I did a few different compositions of this tree but in the end I found that the more intimate capture was the one that worked the best.
Cradled in Fog
Before calling it quits at this location, I wanted to take advantage of the layers created by the fog in the valley. In order to do this, I needed a bit more reach than my 200mm lens would offer. I added my 2x teleconverter and zoomed in to 400mm to pick out some abstracts. Since the light was less than colorful and the mountains were hazy and dark, I shot these images thinking that they would become black and white shots. It did work out with the various shades of gray moving from darker to lighter. This was my favorite of the intimate hill captures. My eyes keep moving all around the image seeing every texture and taking time to appreciate every ridge near to far.
Golden Hour
One thing that I wasn't expecting at this point was any real color in the sky. I was actually surprised to look over to my right and see some faint yellows still hanging around in the sky. There was still a good bit of fog in the lower areas, and the clouds were doing some interesting things above the color as well. I went ahead and trained my (extra) long lens in that direction to frame up this shot. It was a strange phenomenon and one that I really can't explain accurately. I can say that there were no filters applied to the lens for this shot, and Lightroom was only used to pull out the colors that were present when the shutter was released. My favorite part of this image is the background which is largely hidden in the fog. If you look closely though, you can see the distant ridges which are completely bathed in the warm light of sunrise. I resisted the urge to really do much in the way of processing this image because I wanted to keep it as accurate as possible to the experience. This did represent the last image shot from this location. I had shot a lot of frames here and quite honestly wasn't sure if any of them would work as keepers. Sunrises are so hard to really determine since the preview in the camera is set with no contrast and no saturation. It gives me a more accurate histogram, but the cost is I can't really see how the colors are turning out. Regardless, I was pretty sure I had a few that were decent from the experience, and I was satisfied with my morning. It was time to move on to a different location to try some more shots.
Organized Field
As I started to dive North on the Parkway I was seeing that the clouds were all thinning out pretty quickly. I was finding myself driving into a bright and low sun which said that the light quality was going to be pretty lousy for most directions at this point. I did happen to pass by a field a few miles down the road which seemed to have a decent quality of light falling on it. As a bonus, there was a mountain in the background with some of the low fog right at the horizon. The composition wasn't a classic one, but it was worth trying a few frames out. I got the camera out and set up with my 24-70mm lens since I wanted to include the broken fence in the foreground. I added a Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer to help bring out the colors in the grass and sky as well. I started to work on compositions, but the trees on either side of the field really made things difficult for me. If I included both banks of trees then the image seemed very compressed and didn't have room to breathe. By flipping the camera and shooting a portrait shot, I was able to include the fence, the distant mountain, and only one of the banks of trees for balance. This was the only composition that I felt worked for this scene. It had a very nice flow and the lighting was fair for it. I really liked the different textures as your eyes moved through the scene. This was going to be my last set for the day. I had full intentions of sticking around for a while and shooting some different areas, but the lack of clouds had other ideas. My options were to kill a few hours and wait until mid afternoon when the storms were supposed to be rolling in, or head back to the house. I chose the latter since that just made more sense to me. It was a fun few hours on the Parkway and I was very happy that I got to the mountains for a bit. I would have loved to have been out there longer, but I was happy having shot 83 frames in this time. The days images aren't spectacular, but they do represent a little bit of experimentation with techniques which is always worth while. We have officially reached that part of summer where I am ready for the fall colors to get started. Everything is just so green with all of the rain that we have had this year. I need something to break that up! Soon...very soon.
Does anyone remember the last time I went to the Blue Ridge Parkway? It seems like forever ago to me. Looking back in the blog, it appears that it was May 19th when I last visited the Parkway. That is much too long for one of my favorite places to go when it comes to photography. I've been wanting to get back there for a few weeks, but my scheduling has been such that I just couldn't dedicate that kind of time to a Trek. That changed a bit this weekend with Toni at work, and Sierra with her Uncle. I finally had the time that I needed to head West to the High Country. The only thing left to determine was where to go exactly. I looked at the weather, and it seemed that the chances of clouds were going to be better around the Boone, and Linville areas, while further North it was looking more like clear conditions. Of course, we all know my track record with the weather forecasts so I really wasn't all that sure of what to expect. The plan when I went to sleep was to get up at 3am and head out to Rough Ridge for a sunrise attempt. Looking at the sunrise forecaster, I didn't have a lot of high hopes for any color, but there were clouds in the forecast and they were showing to have a low ceiling. This meant that I might be able to do some woodland work along the Rough Ridge Trail. Either way, I wanted to get an early start to the day. From there, I was going to go where the conditions dictated.
Color on the Ridge
My day started as planned, way too early for my liking. I checked the weather before getting out of bed and it looked like nothing had changed from the forecast that I had seen the night before. The chance of a great sunrise was going to be slim, but the clouds were looking good for most of the day with a slight chance for a storm around mid day. I went ahead and got things together and started my drive out to Rough Ridge. the entire way there, I was seeing stars in the sky, and was really getting worried about the conditions I was going to be faced with soon. I knew that whatever was going to happen, I was going to be in the mountains with my camera so it couldn't be too bad. When I arrived on the Parkway, a familiar dynamic started with me. One minute it was clear as a bell, and then all of a sudden visibility would drop to nothing due to fog and clouds. Weather like this makes for some very interesting photography and I was getting excited. I started looking for a good place to set up for sunrise in case a target of opportunity presented itself before I arrived at Rough Ridge. As luck would have it, nothing really fell into place, and I found myself nearing the parking area for Rough Ridge. Well, I was here, and there was only one other car in the parking lot. Let's do this! I grabbed my gear and started the dark (and rather soggy) hike to the boardwalk where I was planning on shooting the sunrise. The hike went quick enough, and I was really happy that I had brought my waterfall boots in case the weather dictated that I start looking for cascades to shoot. I slogged my way up the trail and found the rocky outcropping just off of the boardwalk to be completely empty which was a nice treat. I went out on the rock and got set up on the smaller section closest to the boardwalk.
Bridging Colors
I had been running different compositions in my head while hiking up to the boardwalk and knew that I was wanting to try out my 16-35mm lens to get a little different perspective from my normal 24-70mm choice. I started out with no filters at all, but quickly realized that the compositions that I was wanting to shoot were going to need some exposure help. Starting out early, I added my Lee Filter Holder and a 3-Stop Singh-Ray, Daryl Benson Reverse ND Grad. this helped the exposure in the sky right at the horizon, while letting the sky further up expose a little bit more. that was just the trick that I needed to get the exposures as close to correct as I could. While I was shooting the opening series of the new day, a couple came hiking up the trail and joined me on the rock. He was apparently a photographer as well since he pulled out a camera and tripod. He set it up to shoot intervals as the sun came up. While the camera was firing off frames he got a drone ready, which he sent up to view Rough Ridge from the air. It was quite an impressive display, but I just sat there and worked my compositions one at a time. As the sun came up and the colors started to fade towards the East, I decided to swap out lenses and use my 70-200mm lens to get some isolations of the clouds in the valley below. Since I wasn't shooting into the bright part of the sky, I opted to leave the filters off of the lens and just shoot as the scene appeared. What I found was as the color faded to the East, it started to pick back up to the West, and I had a lot of great color in the sky to play with.
Vibrant Viaduct
Something that I am always seeming to photograph when I visit Rough Ridge is the Linn Cove Viaduct which is visible from many portions of the trail. With the 70-200mm lens, I can just about reach out and touch it. With the colors that were developing in the Western sky, I was able to photograph the Viaduct in a way that I hadn't been able to before. I was actually getting sunlight on the side of the mountain and the warm light was doing really cool things with the clouds above. As I worked this unique situation I noticed that there was another element that was working its way into the frames. There was a thin cloud coming between me and the Viaduct, and as it reached the frame it provided a really nice layer of fog to the image. The Viaduct wasn't the only part of the landscape that was looking really nice. The sky to the East was actually starting to erupt in color again and since the sun was partially hidden, the exposure looked very workable without any filters. I trained the camera back around and framed up a shot at 70mm that included part of the boardwalk as well as the sky above.
Tanawha Tales
My main purpose in this shot was to get the sky, but I wanted something interesting in the foreground to anchor the image. Not wanting to lose the light, I shot it with the long lens and made due the best that I could. As it turned out, the little hint of the boardwalk and the rock made for a great foreground, and didn't weigh in too heavily at all in the composition. The colors in the sky were great, and the low clouds across the mountains in the distance really added the depth to the image that I needed. There was still the slight haze from the passing clouds which gave the image a dreamlike quality that I really liked. With all of this back and forth, I was starting to become overwhelmed at the list of potential subjects. As I was finishing up the shot over the Tanawha Trail, I happened to look back to my right and saw something that I can only describe as amazing. While the sky above was starting to settle into the normal hues, there was a large bank of clouds that was on the way across the mountains that was bathed in an orange and pink hue from the sun. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but it was just too cool for words. I decided that was going to be my next shot. I just had no idea how to capture it. I was still shooting with my long lens and I was able to get a few shots of the clouds, but nothing that I really liked. I decided that I would try a panorama of it. I flipped the camera on its side, and leveled the tripod. I made a quick sweep to confirm that the camera was going to be level the entire trip across the image. I set my focus and exposure and shot a six frame series that I later merged in Lightroom.
Blue Ridge on Fire
This panorama isn't one of my best ones. It lacks the prior planning that most of them really need. It is a great documentation of of the cloud that I saw which was just so freaking amazing though. The clouds above and below this one bank of clouds were all pretty much normal hues by this point, but this one cloud was like watching a flame move across the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was just incredible, and I'm glad that I thought to make this a panorama shot since swapping lenses would have allowed the light to be lost more than likely.
A Ginger Sky
When I got done shooting the panorama, I went back to shooting single frame images of the cloud in an attempt to capture the unique look of this situation. I followed it all along its path until it was pretty well hidden by the peak to the East of the trail. As the cloud moved on, I could see that most of the color was now gone in the sky except for a small area to the South. I could see some remaining color in some of the clouds above the mountains and figured that I would give them a shot as well. They were far enough away that the long lens was a fine choice to capture them.
Feeling Peachy
The composition here was a simple one. I was focusing on the low clouds in the valley below and using the clouds as a framing element and pretty much the only color in the image. I thought about doing this as a monochrome image, but that hint of warmth really helps the clouds stand out from the valleys. After shooting this image, I was starting to see the blues really coming into play in the sky, so I decided to swap out my lenses one last time. I put the 16-35mm back on and added a 2-Stop Singh-Ray, Galen Rowell hard edge ND-Grad filter to the front. This was going to take the place of a polarizer since I didn't want to cause uneven blues in the sky which is a risk using a polarizer. This would also allow me more flexibility in darkening the sky regardless of my angle to the sun.
Sun Drops
When I got the camera all put back together and ready to shoot I noticed that there was another bank of clouds moving across the valley that looked very similar to the earlier ones. These were a good deal lighter since the sun was still climbing in the sky, but the color was still there. The ND-Grad did an excellent job at bringing that color out by avoiding overexposure. I shot about four frames with this concept, but slightly different compositions. This was the one where the color showed the best, and the composition felt slightly better than the other ones as well. Honestly, this was the first image that I shot from the morning that I really felt good about. The funny thing was, I thought that I had shot about 45 frames during the sunrise. As it turned out, I had shot 79 frames in about an hour and a half's time. My how time flies when you are having fun!! It was time to move on to other things though. I went ahead and packed up the camera and started moving my way back down the trail to the truck. When I got there, I could see that the clouds were mostly clearing out at this point. It was also that strange time of day after the golden hour when the sky is just white. I wasn't looking to do much in the way of landscapes at this point until the sky got better again. What I decided on was taking a little drive to a road that I had seen on the map earlier. It was Roseboro Rd, and it was just a little beyond the Viaduct. I had spotted this on the map because it looked like a good secondary road to find some old barns on. When I found it and turned, I found that it was a typical gravel mountain road. Oh well, I needed to spin the 4WD for a few miles this month anyway, I dropped into 4Hi and continued on down the road.
Roseboro Falls
In an interesting turn of fate, I didn't find a single barn that I wanted to photograph on this road, but I did find a waterfall that to my knowledge is unnamed, and possibly only here during high rainfall times. Conveniently, there was a pull out on the side of the road a short distance from the waterfall which leads me to believe that this waterfall is a fairly typical feature. At any rate, I grabbed the camera and loaded the 24-70mm lens along with the Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer. With this waterfall right off of the road, my compositions were limited. I tried some isolations, but the moving vegetation proved too distracting for the isolations to work. By capturing more of the falls, I was able to minimize the motion blur issues to a point. The composition that I settled on was one that actually included the sky peeking through the trees above the waterfall. I was worried about the exposure, but my histogram was telling me that I wasn't blowing out too many pixels by shooting this composition. It actually was a pleasing shot of this odd waterfall stuck on the side of the road. I didn't have long to work with this waterfall though. Remember how I said there were no clouds in the sky after I finished up at Rough Ridge? Well, the sun was now starting to shine through the trees and it was hitting the waterfall in a splotchy fashion. After maybe 15 minutes, I packed up the camera and continued down the road in search of a barn. I did find one, but the lighting was no good for it, and the setting was a little bland as well. I passed on the chance to do anything with it.
Keep it Together
I did my normal get lost thing in hopes of finding a good barn to photograph. As luck would have it, I didn't run into anything promising before finding my way back to Hwy 221 and eventually the Blue Ridge Parkway. I started my way North hoping to find a few things to shoot before getting on the road home. As I was passing through Julian Price Park, I happened to notice that there were some clouds moving into view over a field that I enjoy shooting near the red barn that is so famous. I went ahead and pulled off on the side of the road and grabbed the camera. For this situation, I wanted my 24-70mm lens so that I could shoot up close and wide angles as well. I added my Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer as well to really help the clouds to pop against the blue sky. Since I was going to be shooting roughly ninety degrees to the sun, the polarizer was going to work very well.
Summertime Blues
As I was shooting, the clouds were getting thicker and thicker. I was so glad that I stopped since I really like having these kinds of clouds in my photos. It just adds so much life to the image. I was shooting composition after composition. I slowed long enough to let traffic pass by when I was shooting from across the street. I did have the opportunity to watch about a dozen cyclists ride through the area which made me remember the several rides I had done on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I knew the struggles that they were involved in, and I kind of missed it...But, I had pictures that I needed to be working on, so I got my mind back in the moment and worked on more compositions.
Split Rail Dreams
For longer than I can remember, I have enjoyed photographing this one lone tree in the field. That is usually the reason that I stop here when I do. Something else that I really enjoy doing is photographing the fences along the Parkway. While I was setting up shots I decided that I would probably do well to include both of these subjects in a composition. I flipped the camera on its side and framed up a composition that had good visual balance, and took full advantage of the fence as a visual anchor. The clouds were really starting to come in nicely by this point, and I was having a lot of fun picking out views to put under the clouds as they appeared.
Time Well Wasted
I wasn't going to let this great fence get away from me. The overgrown weeds really created the perfect story for this fence, and I found a section that was very easy to isolate. I managed to work compositions in both vertical and horizontal orientations to go along with the tree in the background. The textures and colors really stood out, but that was what I was really liking about this fence and the field where it was standing. The greens of the weeds and grasses complimented the yellowing sections quite well. The bleached wood of the fence maintained its own visual weight despite being largely consumed by the vegetation. But was color really all that necessary for these images?
Monochrome Malaise
I wanted to find out, and actually set up a shot as a black and white image. What made this one different from the others in the series was the sky. There was a section of blue that was completely surrounded by clouds. This was the perfect scenario for a black and white conversion since I like to render my blue skies as dark grey. By putting a single post in the bottom right third, I was able to visually anchor the image. I shot it in color, but I had full intention of making this one monochrome when it came time to edit it. After I did the conversion, I could see that my previsualization worked just fine for this image. It all came together so nicely as a black and white image. The clouds popped, and the textures of the weeds and wood really stood out with the color stripped from the image.
Mountain Motorway
What's a day on the Blue Ridge Parkway without actually shooting the road itself. Well, I admit that is a new thing I'm doing these days. Years ago, I would occasionally shoot the roadway, but here in the last year or so, I have found that some of my favorite Parkway images actually include the road. The sweeping turns really do make fantastic leading lines for a sense of depth to the image. Of course, the fences that line the Parkway make for some outstanding complimenting elements as well.
Melancholy Barn
As luck would have it, the sky that was pretty much void of clouds an hour ago, was now getting overloaded with clouds. Those clouds were bringing some rain as well. It wasn't enough that I was having problems shooting, but it was enough to get me thinking about packing up and going down the road to see what else I could find. Before packing up the camera though, I wanted to try shooting the barn once again. I've shot this thing in pretty much all seasons and in all conditions. There wasn't anything overly special about it today though. The lighting was flat by this point, and there was a bit of cloud interest above. The only thing that really stood out was the barn itself. I decided to include the fence in my composition as a leading line and a bit of foreground interest. I really wasn't all that excited about how the picture was coming together, but pressed on regardless. When I got home and started to process it, I wanted to include it in my day's collection, but it just wasn't really speaking to me. The barn wasn't standing out at all in the field when I did my normal edit on the image. I started to think about what I could do to really make it pop and decided that by reducing the vibrancy of the image I could dial in the saturation on the red siding and really get it come together as an image. When I was done, I was actually rather impressed with how it came out. While not an award winning picture, it does capture the essence of how I saw the barn at the time of capture. There is enough blue to balance out the red, and the green is rendered almost neutral with this edit keeping the attention in the image where it needs to be.
Sidewinder
I did move on down the road and ended up a little ways further up the Parkway near the Thunder Hill Overlook. This is one of my perennial favorites for sunrise, but I have shot here at all different times of day. As I came around the corner, I noticed that the clouds were looking pretty good here and decided to pull off to the side of the road. I went ahead and fitted my 16-35mm lens along with the Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer since I was planning on shooting at an angle to the sun. I started out working some compositions of a section right next to the MST, but wasn't really liking how the lighting was working out. I decided that while I was waiting for the lighting to chance, I would go ahead and shoot the Parkway headed towards the main overlook. I used the Parkway as a nice swooping leading line cradling the fenced field, and ultimately sending your eyes to the mountains range in the distance. To be completely transparent about this image, I have flipped it left to right to allow the eyes to read it better. I don't really count this as image manipulation as it doesn't change the content, only the direction.
High Country Clouds
While I was shooting the road I noticed that the behind me, the clouds were really looking crazy beautiful. I changed my position and framed up another image that took full advantage of the clouds. I used the Parkway once again to be the leading line which carries the eyes through the frame. These clouds really didn't need much help, but I liked effect the road added. Again, when I was processing it, I decided to flip the image left to right to improve readability since our eyes are designed to enter a page on the left and carry through to the right.
Dreaming in Color
With the clouds really coming to life, I decided that it would be a good idea to try my original shot once again. The clouds really made the image completely different from what it had looked like previously. The lighting was a little better on the landscape as well. It turned out that this final image was the one that I ended up being the most happy with. Shortly after this shot, the sky turned mostly overcast as had happened down the road. It was time to load up and head back to the house since it was about to be noon. I got everything packed away and I started heading North once again looking for 421. As luck would have it though, I passed by one of my favorite locations and the lighting looked really good. Yeah, I had to get turned around to give it a try once again. This is another location I have shot in pretty much all seasons and in all types of lighting. Some I have liked better than others, so there was no reason not to give this a try again today.
Dreaming Field
The clouds were looking great overhead so I wanted to make sure I was going to be able to capture a good chunk of the sky. I went ahead and fitted my 16-35mm lens along with the Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer. I started to work my way up and down the road in an attempt to find the right spot. The weeds growing at the fence made for a very difficult time getting the right composition. There were only a few places that I could shoot from without getting tall weeds in the frame. Fortunately, the clouds lasted a good bit of time and allowed me to get several different variations on this image. At the end of this series of shots I really did call it a day. I went home with a total of 193 new frames shot. I was really thinking I had done more like 130 or so. I really am having a hard time estimating my shutter clicks on these treks. It took me about five hours to cull the images and then edit the remaining 33 images. When it was all said and done, I had found 21 images that I liked enough to keep in my collection. The rest of them went out with yesterday's trash. Since it is so late already, I will be waiting until tomorrow to figure out which images are going in the gallery, and to start posting to social media. At least the biggest parts of the Trek are done. I have been going strong since 3am this morning. I have put in 20 hours or work, driven over 250 miles, and still have a bit more to do tomorrow. The life of an artist, it is a labor of love.
