Transylvania County

I’ve been quite busy with issues that keep me close to home of late. One of those things is the Alpha Marriage Course that my wife and I have helped produce at our church… we’re amid the fifth round of eight-weeks each that we do twice a year. The course is free to those who attend each Thursday. We provide great meals, child care, and a wonderful ambiance to go with the program… but that takes an incredible amount of teamwork and dedication to produce each week. I’ve determined to make it up to the mountains, however, to see them dressed in their October finest, so I’m working around that hectic schedule.

Thursdays during AMC find me on my feet most all day long until the last of cleanup around 9 o’clock later that evening… Friday’s are recovery days. I spent Friday making plans for a photography foray into the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina… a problem beyond a commitment to the program occurred to make a mess of things this year: Hurricane Nate. Sunday and part of Monday were to be a washout in the mountains, so I decided to head to the high southerly portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Pisgah on Saturday for an eyes-on survey before committing to a couple of nights in the region. Nate, now downgraded to a tropical storm, had also degraded visibility there as the high mountains reached up into the outer bands… I did get a glimpse of color in some places, though the parkway was closed at Black Balsam Road in anticipation of high winds and rain creating havoc with rockslides and trees… better safe than sorry. Though it was approaching sunset, I worked my way down Highway 276 toward Pisgah Forrest and beyond to DuPont State Park for the possibility of a waterfall shot or two before returning home… I’m glad I did, as I walked off with something nice and I can concentrate on other places in the region this Monday evening through Wednesday. This was taken as it was darkening... but it was absolutely windless and the darkness allowed for a 20-second exposure, which flattened out the turbulent water for some great reflections.

Nate did do some damage in western North Carolina, with a confirmed tornado in Caldwell County. Tragically, a Morganton firefighter was killed instantly when he was struck by a car while clearing storm debris from Highway 70. Please remember his family in prayer. Apart from that, it appears the Blue Ridge Parkway has opened all but a few spots, mostly appearing to be a couple overlooks… I’ll know for sure later today.

Sunday was spent doing some prep work for Thursday’s meal… it’s baked ziti this week, with Caprese salad and tiramisu for dessert. It helps to get ahead of the game, although remnants of Nate should make for some great sky scenics along the high regions of the parkway and that calls to me. Thursday is slated to be a “bright and beautiful cloudless day”, which as you may know is anything but beautiful to the photographer, so I won’t be missing much on my return to duties in Durham.

I’m going to try for the Linville Gorge region next week… who’s going to be there?

This gives a more intimate perspective of White Owl Falls than my previous post. Unlike many waterfalls throughout the Blue Ridge, it’s small, yet delicate and lacey, which works well for a shot like this. The rock ledge is perfectly shaped to spread the water out across the entire face of it and down 16-feet in a myriad of cascades. While not as high or powerful as many in this watershed, it’s every bit as beautiful as any of them. Photography on a rainy day only makes it better.

Here’s the total description from the previous post, well worth the time to read: Hidden Beauty. I hadn't been to White Owl Falls for many years before this autumn. That tree trunk left of the falls is the reason why. Fallen from a storm years ago, I found my way down here shortly afterward to find that intact tree occluding the face of the falls, hiding its beauty... but that's not what makes it hidden.

Heading south on North Carolina Highway 281 (Whitewater Road) toward South Carolina, there’s a pulloff on the right that fits perhaps a few cars just past Brewer Road. It’s a short hike from there though not exactly an easy one. The hike gets interesting just beyond the beginning of the guardrail across from the pulloff… there’s no definitive trail from that point. There is a concrete chute, however, that indicates you’re in the right place. Follow that chute down from the road, and be careful, as it can be slippery, and you don’t want to shoot out of the chute! Continue in the same direction paralleling the road, not further down. This seems to confuse a lot of folks, yet the faint trail becomes more evident as you move along it, as does the roar of the falls.

I wore my high Bogs boots on this hike, as I planned to work out every composition I could eke out of White Owl. Fortunately, Thompson River here isn’t quite like the Hudson River, other than the fact it’s wet and it’s a river… I can traipse around the falls in my Bogs without getting my feet wet. It was fascinating to me to be standing amid such beauty while hearing cars whizzing by overhead, with drivers and passengers oblivious to this scene.

The camera got a good workout there and I had other waterfalls to get to in my limited time there in the Blue Ridge. Yet, having packed the camera for the hike out, I just had to sit there and enjoy the reverie of this hidden beauty.

The State Funeral of President George H. W. Bush (41) just ended and the theme of “hidden beauty” throughout it struck me. There are problems here in America, but at times like this, it's evident decency is still the core value of Americans. I teared up along with President George W. Bush (43) as he eulogized his dad… the things he related to his dad spoke volumes about my dad as well, whose funeral I had eulogized a year and a half ago. That was one of the hardest things I have ever done, and I broke down as well… my heart went out immediately to 43 when he choked up, as that’s not weakness... it’s humanity at its best. The issues he stated of note: “He looked for the goodness in others, and he usually found it.” “He put character before pedigree." And, “Hatred corrodes the container it’s carried in.” Would it be too much to ask for Christmas that we all embody these things?

“Talking to myself and feeling old Sometimes I'd like to quit, nothing ever seems to fit Hanging around, nothing to do but frown Rainy days and Mondays always get me down”

If you know those lyrics, you’re doing the same as me… dating yourself. Rainy Days and Mondays was the Carpenters fourth number 1 song for the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart and went as far as #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1971. I was a sophomore in high school at the time and though this was far from a favorite song for me, I loved Karen Carpenter… from afar (read last post).

Life’s experience has led me to deeper more tangible loves since then. One of them is realizing that rainy days are the absolute most wonderful days to shoot waterfalls that have a canopy to keep the sky out of the frame. It just so happens I managed this image on both a rainy day and a Monday. Apologies to the Carpenters (Karen has long since passed), but bonus for this shot!

This is aptly named Triple Falls at DuPont State Park near Brevard here in North Carolina. Autumn color this year in the high regions of the Blue Ridge was not its best throughout the season. I cruised the high ridge just to observe and found the sleepy forest there nodding its head to the winter. The lower elevations, though, were quite surprising, as evidenced here. I had rain gear as I hiked the trail up. I was stoked by the by both the vividness of the forest and the bit of mist kicked up by both the falls from the Little River and the rain. I wasn't disappointed once I reached the top.

That said, I was partway into my shoot here when another fella dragged himself up the trail. The first thing he did was grumble about the conditions that I thought were terrific. His argument was that the mist would take away from the sharpness of his pictures. That's not obvious here to me. I didn't argue with him. He just harrumphed at my obvious joy and hiked on. I wished him happy shooting, which elicited another harrumph! I couldn't help thinking he must have been listening to the Carpenters on the way to DuPont. I hid my grin from him to keep from ruffling him any further as I joyfully applied my reverie to this scene... I hope it's obvious.

This is Courthouse Falls off Courthouse Creek, descending to Courthouse Valley in the region of the Devil's Courthouse of North Carolina. I know, that's a whole lot of "courthouse", but don't be fooled... this is a place steeped in Cherokee lore, and the tale concerning a giant "devil" creature holding court is legendary. Tsul 'Kalu (literally meaning "he has them slanting", with the assumption it refers to his eyes), also known as Jutaculla, is a renowned figure in Cherokee mythology who plays the role of "the great lord of the game". He was often invoked in hunting rites and rituals. Tsul 'Kalu is also believed by some to be the Cherokee version of bigfoot, as he seems to share several physical and behavioral traits with how the creature is thought to be. The tale of Tsul 'Kalu is one of the best known of Cherokee legends, and it centers around this place. The Devil's Courthouse is an actual place, a mountain located at milepost 422.4 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Supposedly, deep within the mountain is a cave where Jutaculla lives and dances. He holds court along its rocky ridges. As in all devil-like creatures of lore, he seems quite sinister, but in reality, he's somewhat of a sweetheart... I should know. He let me off with a warning for speeding on Forest Road 140. Could've been worse.

This is likely the best color I've ever seen at DuPont State Park. It was cool and rainy with a heavy overcast sky when I hiked the park a couple of weeks back... like an Irish summer! It was a delightful day to shoot waterfalls.

We've been beyond busy over the last month. That spilled over yesterday into Thanksgiving preparations for dinner with friends and family, a true blessing to be thankful for. I hope your Thanksgiving Day was every bit as good!

I once had a discussion with a fellow photographer who claimed be a “purist” in his craft as “Ansel Adams was a purist.” This guy didn’t have a whole lot going on defining his approach to photography, as Ansel Adams was anything but a purist. He was an artist who burned and dodged like a madman in the darkroom to get the outcome he envisioned.

While it’s good to have “vision”, the landscape photographer often needs to dig down deeper for just a little more. In my few days in the Pisgah region of the Blue Ridge last week, I discovered that members of a camera club were staying at the same hotel I was. On a particularly cloudy morning (which translates to fog as these mountains are high enough to reach into clouds), they stood in the parking lot in debate as to what they should do. That’s one reason I don’t do “camera clubs”… too many opinions will no doubt skew outcomes. I would say that not every such “outcome” is likely bad, but these folks should have been better prepared regardless of the conditions. I knew the weather conditions days in advance. I also knew that conditions in these mountains can be iffy. Overcast days are not what one hopes for if they’re vision is for the perfect mountain sunrise, yet they are just right for waterfalls… and fog can be a bonus in that effort! That’s what’s great about the Pisgah region… it has high ridges and waterfalls within short drives of each other. When one situation doesn’t work out, you can switch it up quickly if you know the area.

Their group was gathered outside the main entrance underneath the awning, so they couldn’t help but notice me walking through with my camera gear over my shoulder. “Where are you going”, one of them asked me. I told them somewhere within 10 miles south on the parkway from 276. “What are you after”, someone else asked. I told them, “The same thing you’re after… all the shots. But if you don’t leave soon after me, I’m going to get all your shots, too!”

I appreciate Ansel Adams, especially of how he elevated photography as art. That’s what I’m attempting to do, too. I have incorporated his maxim for photography into my own approach, “f/8 and being there.” For those who do not understand, “f/8” is a sharp focal stop on large format camera lenses… that means that you need to understand your equipment to compose a meaningful image. The other half of that maxim, “being there”, is self-evident. The camera is a great motivator for “being there”… but plan ahead!

By the way, open blue skies make for blah sunrises, too… but there are workarounds. This was taken the following day a few miles further down the Blue Ridge Parkway than the previous day and a little ways down Highway 215 toward Rosman to where Courthouse Valley opens up… the far high peak is the Devil’s Courthouse. That "Devil" was the slant-eyed giant Judaculla of Cherokee lore, who "holds court" on hapless souls up there. I've hiked up there dozens of times, yet I have never run across him... must have been his day off each time. The likely reason I've never run into him is this very image which proves I'm anything but "hapless".

The Blue Ridge Parkway is on the far side of that ridge. While many were on the parkway that morning with cameras pointing into the rising sun with no clouds to reflect color, I chose this location to let the sun backlight the ridges, the near one giving me the color that the sky lacked. As I’m standing on the edge of a steep rocky cliff here, I got my shots and pushed on to Courthouse Falls. That waterfall isn’t affected by direct sunlight until midmorning, so I got a twofer that day. “Being there” can be tough sometimes, but oh what a blessing it can be!

I hadn't been to White Owl Falls for many years before this autumn. That tree trunk left of the falls is the reason why. Fallen from a storm years ago, I found my way down here shortly afterward to find that intact tree occluding the face of the falls, hiding its beauty... but that's not what makes it hidden.

Heading south on North Carolina Highway 281 (Whitewater Road) toward South Carolina, there’s a pulloff on the right that fits perhaps a few cars just past Brewer Road. It’s a short hike from there though not exactly an easy one. The hike gets interesting just beyond the beginning of the guardrail across from the pulloff… there’s no definitive trail from that point. There is a concrete chute, however, that indicates you’re in the right place. Follow that chute down from the road, and be careful, as it can be slippery, and you don’t want to shoot out of the chute! Continue in the same direction paralleling the road, not further down. This seems to confuse a lot of folks, yet the faint trail becomes more evident as you move along it, as does the roar of the falls.

I wore my high Bogs boots on this hike, as I planned to work out every composition I could eke out of White Owl. Fortunately, Thompson River here isn’t quite like the Hudson River, other than the fact it’s wet and it’s a river… I can traipse around the falls in my Bogs without getting my feet wet. It was fascinating to me to be standing amid such beauty while hearing cars whizzing by overhead, with drivers and passengers oblivious to this scene.

The camera got a good workout there and I had other waterfalls to get to in my limited time there in the Blue Ridge. Yet, having packed the camera for the hike out, I just had to sit there and enjoy the reverie of this hidden beauty.

The State Funeral of President George H. W. Bush (41) just ended and the theme of “hidden beauty” throughout it struck me. There are problems here in America, but at times like this, it's evident decency is still the core value of Americans. I teared up along with President George W. Bush (43) as he eulogized his dad… the things he related to his dad spoke volumes about my dad as well, whose funeral I had eulogized a year and a half ago. That was one of the hardest things I have ever done, and I broke down as well… my heart went out immediately to 43 when he choked up, as that’s not weakness... it’s humanity at its best. The issues he stated of note: “He looked for the goodness in others, and he usually found it.” “He put character before pedigree." And, “Hatred corrodes the container it’s carried in.” Would it be too much to ask for Christmas that we all embody these things?

Photobombed by a nuclear bomb! Well, essentially, that’s what a star is. I don’t often shoot straight into the sun, though backlighting here by brilliant morning sunshine put some defining touches to a Blue Ridge landscape… just seemed the right thing to do.

This is from the Courthouse Valley Overlook at milepost 423.5 along the Blue Ridge Parkway. At an elevation of 5362 feet (1634 meters), it provides a great place to look down on the sun.

I had nose surgery last week, septoplasty with turbinate reduction... long story short, straightening up a few foibles of a misspent youth! As with most any surgery, I can’t do things that usually make me, well, me for a while. The point of the surgery was to make me better and already I’ve noticed my sense of smell and taste have been joyfully magnified. To continue down that path, I’ve been minding both my doctor and my nurse wife. While recovering, I've been going over some images I've overlooked. It seems to be time well spent… and it’s a tangible way to bring back memories.

Have you ever known folks to say, “It’s just another day”? On days like this, I’m up and out at 0’dark-thirty and sprinting toward a predetermined spot to plant my tripod mounted camera… I don’t do that because I’m principled as a photographer, but rather because I’m excited about the question of possibilities. The answer to that question is the same as so many others, yes, no, indifferent… you must be there to know for sure. A morning like this sets the tone for the rest of the day, a search for acceptable compositions for the camera, then a scramble for a predetermined spot for sunset. It’s no less than a hunt, and images like this are the trophies.

Waiting for the sun to rise, my mind often goes back to an old Dan Fogelberg song, To the Morning, from the album Home Free of 1972. The lyrics of the song might seem unremarkable, but the song is intended as an allegory comparing life with the evolution of day to night back to day… there’s a sweetness to it. What is remarkable to me is the music… if a day, from sunrise to sunset could be set to music, this could well fit it. Find the link to the song below.

To the Morning

Watching the sun Watching it come Watching it come up over the rooftops.

Cloudy and warm Maybe a storm You can never quite tell From the morning.

Chorus And it's going to be a day There is really no way to say no To the morning.

Yes, it's going to be a day There is really nothing left to Say but Come on morning.

Waiting for mail Maybe a tale From an old friend Or even a lover.

Sometimes there's none But we have fun Thinking of all who might Have written.

And maybe there are seasons And maybe they change And maybe to love is not so strange.

The sounds of the day They hurry away Now they are gone until tomorrow.

When day will break And you will wake And you will rake your hands Across your eyes And realize

That it's going to be a day There is really no way to say no To the morning.

Yes, it's going to be a day There is really nothing left to say but Come on morning.

vimeo.com/296287879

Have you heard of Arthur "Weegee" Fellig? He was a New York based freelance press photographer during the 1930s and 1940s who was known for consistently sharp and amazing photos. In the days before point-and-shoot technology, he had to have a foundational understanding between a lens' focal stop and the speed of the shutter... autofocus didn't exist either, but he had enough of an idea of camera physics to assure a great image every time he snapped an image. When asked of his secret to such great photography, his answer was, "Simple. f/8 and be there." As Shakespeare pointed out, “Brevity is the soul of wit.” There’s a whole lot packed in that brief statement.

While that answer may seem a bit cryptic, the philosophy behind it should be easily recognized by any photographer worth their salt. f/8 is a sharp and relatively fast lens aperture. On a fixed focused 35mm lens as was fitted to many a press camera back in the day, sharp focus was determined by a properly set lens stop… f/8 would bring anything from around 19 feet to infinity into focus. Essentially, “f/8” means that you should know your equipment, but what about the back half of that maxim? Weegee knew. As legend tells it, Arthur Fellig earned the nickname Weegee during his early career as a photographer in New York City. His apparent sixth sense for crime often led him to a scene well ahead of the police. Observers likened this sense, actually derived from tuning his radio to the police frequency, to the Ouija board, the popular fortune-telling game. Spelling it phonetically, Fellig took Weegee as his professional name… and it was the very definition of “be there.”

I don’t have a Ouija board, so to “be there” at specific camera subjects in the fickle weather of the Blue Ridge Mountains can be somewhat of a gamble on wasted time... as far as photography goes, that is. It's never truly a waste of time to hike these mountains. Fall of 2014 in the Blue Ridge was a cascade of one open blue-sky day after another, making good landscape photography a challenge. As I just happened to be near Rainbow Falls one late afternoon, so I headed to Gorges State Park here in North Carolina. It’s about a 4-mile roundtrip hike to the falls, with plenty to take note of along the way. The Horsepasture River plunges 150 feet at Rainbow Falls, so it’s a bit of a climb at the end of the hike there. As water crashes over the rock face of the enclosed area of the waterfall, it creates both wind and spray. That wind drives the spray up, and if the sun’s in the right spot, it creates a rainbow over the falls.

The problem this day was that I’d gotten there too late in the day for a rainbow… the sun was setting at the top of the ridge making light too contrastive for any good composition there. I just enjoyed the moment at the falls and rested a bit for the return without taking the camera out of the backpack… but I was thinking of some of the places I’d taken note of earlier. This image was taken a short way past the climb up to the falls, with the sun still parked on the ridge. The only place in direct sunlight here was the autumn forest canopy overhead… but it was reflecting beautifully in the river! In this place, there was little to no wind, so it could work out for a long exposure. I needed a long exposure to smooth out the rough water to pick up the color of both the canopy and the blue sky on the water. After a little rock hopping, I found the spot I wanted… “be there” accomplished. With the help of a neutral density filter and an aperture 2-stops open from full stop for sharpness and a 6-second exposure, “f/8” accomplished, obviously for a fine watercolor. “f/8 and be there” may be an old adage, but it still stands.