The Roaring Fork River's Beauty

There just is nothing more beautiful and serene than watching the water fall over the rocks and boulders along the Roaring Fork River in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I captured this image two years ago, but never shared it. I happened across it in my archives and thought, well, why not. Hope you are having a good week. I must say Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Jose and now Hurricane Maria. Let's pray this is all for this hurricane season. I pray for all of those devastated by these terrible storms. It will take many many years for some to recover and rebuild. ENJOY!

Mushrooms, Toadtools & Fungi

Bracket Fungi, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail

As I drove the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail in early August, I stopped repeatedly along this one lane winding road to capture the flora and fauna I saw along the ground and in the trees. Mushrooms, Toadstools and Fungi were thriving all along this route due to the especially rainy past few weeks. No doubt fuel for these species.

Large Mushroom, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail

The Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail winds its way around the mountainside. On this section of the tour, there is a major drop off on the left and on the right your car is literally hugging the side of the mountain. You can basically open your right side windows and take photos of the ground cover. These large Mushrooms were growing right up next to the mountainside in a clump.

Black Tooth Fungi, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail

This Black Tooth Fungi was growing around some moss along the road. It was so perfectly formed and had such a nice white ring around the edge. What a vivid black hue.

Toadstool, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail

Keep in mind the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a temperate rain forest, as is all of the Southern Appalachian Mountains of southwestern North Carolina and southeastern Tennessee. The Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trails takes visitors through one of the wettest areas of the park. Evidence of the rain forest climate is especially evident in this area with moss covered rocks and boulders in and around the river itself. Conditions you won't find as plentiful in other areas of the Smokies. Perhaps this is why this area of the park was spared during the wildfires last year. A wonderful weekend is coming up with sunshine aplenty. Back soon. ENJOY!

Waterfall, Roaring Fork River

Sitting half way back along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, tucked neatly out of most visitors' sight, you will find this quaint waterfall. The water rushes down around the boulders and rocks as it makes its way to other tributaries.

If you look closely, you will find it. If you listen closely, you will hear it. ENJOY!

Through the Woods

As I embarked upon a drive, while in the Great Smoky Mountains recently, I knew I would encounter scenes.
Scenes such as this, where the forest meets the floor, and the winding road through the woods,
gave way to the beauty of Fall. Along such a drive one finds oneself feeling small.
Small in a world filled with only the woods, the wind, the light. ENJOY!

Linking to Sunlit Sundays

Waterfall, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail

Driving the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail requires one thing. Roll down your car windows and take in all of the sights and sounds as you drive the route. The sound of the water rushing down the huge boulders in this area of the park is unparalleled. When you first enter the route, you immediately feel an intensity of being deep in the forest. As you make your way along the route, you hear it. The water moving fast crashing over the boulders as it makes its way downstream. And then there is this. The closeness that envelopes you of being in the very depths of the forest, the rushing river a mere few feet away. Step outside of your car and you immediately feel it.

While there are areas of the park like Newfound Gap, for example, that you visit to view the grandeur of the mountains, with the Roaring Fork, it's the intensity of the closeness of it all. To make this area even more enticing, you access this route right in the heart of the small town of Gatlinburg. Once you reach Gatlinburg, you are right outside of the national park. Getting to various destinations can be time consuming. It is at least an hour to Cade's Cove, or thirty minutes to Newfound Gap, with another fifteen minutes up to Clingman's Dome, add to that another thirty minutes to reach Cherokee, the opposite side of the park. So driving the Roaring Fork is a fantastic alternative when you have just reached your park destination. Can you tell I love this drive.

For those who left me comments about photographing water, I wanted to mention that I did some post processing on this image and retouched out a small branch taking away from the composition. I did some post processing adjusting the shadows, the contrast, the sharpness and more in Adobe Lightroom. I did all of this because the waterfall was near perfect and I didn't want to ditch it. The reason this image was difficult to photograph was the sun was shining right on the waterfall and the rocks all around the waterfall were in dark dark light. And I chose not to set the aperture manually and only adjust the shutter speed.

I am no expert, but if you decide to photograph waterfalls, keep in mind composition first, light second, water third. Then comes looking at how the camera is capturing the flow of the water. Enlarge the waterfall itself on your camera right on the spot and verify how the camera is capturing the flow of water. After practice, this whole process gets easier. Then you can look for better compositions and how best to frame the waterfalls before capturing the image. You must use your manual function and set the aperture and adjust the shutter speed on these types of images always. Whether you use one or both is dictated by the light level.

A tall waterfall in the open with a high light level will probably require setting the aperture and adjusting the shutter speed. There are exceptions. Take a look at this image I captured in the Smokies here, Mingo Falls. The waterfall is in a higher light level setting. But because the waterfall sits between two very tall mountainsides and the rocks are absorbing most of the light that is reflected I only had to adjust the shutter speed. I didn't have to set the aperture. A few test shots will help you determine whether one or both adjustments will be needed.  This process is a lot of work, but the reward far outweighs that. Good luck. ENJOY!

Rushing Waters, Roaring Fork

Last year when I visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, there had been a storm the morning I drove in leaving all of the rivers overflowing. The same thing occurred on this trip earlier this week as well. Both last year and this year there were opportunities in every bend of the road to photograph the beautiful cascading waters in the various rivers that grace the park.

As you drive the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, you will discover that the majority of the rocks are covered in moss. This particular river is also narrow, with foliage growing over the side of the river and hanging over it as well, providing low light for taking photos. This is one of the images I captured along the drive. I like the bright light in the foreground. As I spent some time photographing water in various areas of the park, I was reminded just how difficult each setting can be. Getting the right composition with just the right amount of sunlight while getting the feel of the water just right is difficult. I would have to say I enjoy photographing the Roaring Fork more than any of the other rivers in the park. I have found less light is easier to work with. I have more images to share from my trip so I will be back soon. ENJOY!

Ol' Dodge

Here's another image of that ol' jalopy I took as I exited the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park while visiting back in May. This just may be one of the coolest old dilapidated Dodge trucks out there. ENJOY!

The Outhouse

At the end of the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park sits a very old mill and a tiny gift shop. Next to the shop sits this old outhouse, which to my surprise, was still in use. No, I didn't go in. I just opted to shut the door to take this photo. In this day of modern technology, it's nice to know some things sustain the test of time.

Before I leave you, if you check the weather in my sidebar, you'll find a red bar across today. The high is supposed to be in the mid 90's. I won't be venturing out today. Yesterday we had an ozone action day, so no outdoor activity. Tomorrow it's a repeat of today. I guess I'll be posting more images from my recent outing. Stay cool America and especially those Indy car drivers 100 miles up the highway. ENJOY!

Roaring Fork, Great Smoky Mountains National Park!

Take your laptop to a quiet corner of your world or sit quietly at your computer, alone in the room. Take in every element of these images. Look into them. Soak them up. Now, close your eyes. Listen to your breathing. In and out. In and out.

Now picture yourself standing beside this remote mountain stream with the water rushing past you. Can you hear it? Quietly roaring right past you as you stand alongside the stream. Listen. Just picture it rushing by and listen.

You just experienced the exact feeling I felt, as I stood next to this beautiful mountain stream late last Spring, and listened to the water rush by me as I set up my tripod to shoot this image. How I would love to be back there right now with you taking it all in. We'd pack a picnic lunch so we could sit right next to the stream and watch the water pour over the rocks and listen to the roar of the stream as it fell downward into the valley. That's what it's like along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. You're deep inside the forest. Just you and mother nature all around you.

And I can hardly wait to be back there. I see a visit in my future. Hope your week is going well. ENJOY!

PHOTOGRAPHER'S NOTE: The effect I added to these photos is call 'Comic Book' and is available on Picasa. Try it sometime. It seemed utterly perfect for these images. Aren't they just surreal.

Splish Splash!

Have a great weekend everyone. Stay safe east coast. I'm rooting for you. ENJOY!

Roaring Fork, GSMNP

From the archives I pulled this image I captured several years ago during a July visit to the Smokies. I love the Roaring Fork Driving Tour. This tour gives you an intimate look at the Smokie Mountains that you wouldn't see otherwise. And most of the way you needn't leave your car. But I would advise you to do just that. Get out, walk around. Especially as you near the end of the drive, you'll pass over the Roaring Fork several times and there are great photographs all around you. It's been a fairly rainy week and a very misty rain kind of day. Hope you have sunshine and blue skies wherever you may be. ENJOY!

Grotto Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

A beautiful waterfall, Grotto Falls, is located off of the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail and is a 2.4 mile hike roundtrip. It isn't a difficult hike, but you will gain 2100 feet in elevation in your hike to the falls. Little did I know on my hike that the bear droppings I discovered along the path were very, very fresh. The folks who arrived sometime after I reached the falls asked if I'd seen the bear and her cubs. I hadn't and apparently I had just passed right after the bears had. They watched the mother and her cubs for quite a while. Sorry I missed that.

In case you didn't know, this is the only waterfall in the park where visitors can walk "behind" the falls which I did and found it was pretty cool. Not one of my favorite photographs in my travels to the Smokies, but I did want to share it. Having taken many photographs over the years at the park, I will occasionally share them on my blog, if you'll forgive me for not being the best photographer in the world. I love to get comments on my posts. So feel free.

MY EQUIPMENT:
Pentax K1000 35mm camera (it is a strictly manual camera)
Fuji Film Velvia 100F slide film
Vivitar 200 telephoto lens and a Pentax 320 zoom
Bogen Manfrotto Tripod
Note: I seldom use filters and rarely retouch my photographs. I shoot the light.

MY BACKGROUND: I am self taught meaning I taught myself light and composition by studying James Archambeault, a Kentucky landscape photographer, and John Shaw, a well known American landscape photographer. And, of course, reading many, many books and manuals on photography.