I woke earlier than anyone else in the house yesterday. I was watching the fog drift across the lake and thought I would go see what I could find. After having so much fun getting some macro photos the other evening, I decided I would try to get a few shots of dew covered spider webs. Unfortunately, I did not find any webs that would work. I was able to find a few leaves with dew though.
I was working on photos the other evening when my youngest came into the house telling me to get my camera and follow her. Of course I had to follow. When I got outside, she grabbed a bubble wand and began making bubbles. It was fun to spend a little while learning how to get these things up close.
I was able to make it by Frozen Head State Park before it closed this last week. I am sure that the waterfalls are much more spectacular when the water is flowing faster. Of the two I visited, one was just a small trickle and the other was not much better than that. I will keep it on the list for a possible visit after a good month of rain. I did run across this little pool on the hike.
I was hiking along the trail, if it can be called that, to Laurel Falls in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park several weeks ago. I was so focused on the beautiful falls and vast vistas, that I almost missed this. It was getting close to sunset on the way back to the car and the light coming through the trees further up the mountain looked like a gentle fog rolling in. I know it was just my imagination, but it seemed like the mountain wanted to transport us to a different place. It made for a good photo opportunity though.
After getting to downtown Knoxville early and then waiting around for the sunset, no trip would be complete without some after sunset adventuring. Just a few minutes after sunset, I was still sitting on the Gay Street Bridge. I noticed the lights along the bridge coming on. I made it back to Volunteer Landing and the sun had gone down quite a bit. I set up for this shot of Gay Street Bridge with all the lights.
Further down Laurel Road from the Cascades, you pass through this tunnel. Although it is not right at the entrance to Cades Cove, it’s like traveling through time when you pass through the tunnel. Just after this is the entrance to the valley that is Cades Cove and a protected valley frozen in time for all to see.
I took a walkabout for a few hours in downtown Knoxville last night. I had been monitoring the clouds for most of the day and thought the sunset would look pretty good coming across the river. I made it a good bit earlier than planned and walked along the river. I ran across the Three Rivers Rambler train stop and a parked train. I could not pass up the reflection of the bridge. I can definitely see spending more time downtown in Knoxville Tennessee.
This weekend, I decided to practice some studio photography. Back in July, I purchased a set of wireless hot shoe flash triggers. I already have a Nikon Speedlight and a Versalight studio light. However, getting them to sync with the speedlight on the camera and as the trigger for the Versalight was near impossible. Now with the flash triggers, they work perfectly. This shot was just with the speedlight. I did get to practice some product photography also. Those are for a future time though.
Sunsets have been mediocre wherever I have been for the past couple months. I was fortunate enough to get these few clouds just at sunset. However, the rest of the sky was perfectly clear. I am hoping that since fall is officially here, a little afternoon / evening cloudiness is the norm. Otherwise, I am going to have to work on the sunrise timeline.
When I am out photographing the countryside, I am usually driving and don’t get out of the car except for photos. It seems that one of the easiest foreground elements to find in this area are gates. So that started me looking for gates a long time ago. They have so much character and each one, even though they may be of the same manufacture, is quite unique.
