Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Life

Pigeon River and Rocky Waters Inn

It has been an eventful few weeks. We spent a few days in the Gatlinburg, Tennessee
area. It rained for most of the time we where there, so I wasn't able to get out with the camera as much as I would have liked. Hopefully, our next trip will be a full week.

The photograph above is taken from a bridge over the Pigeon River looking toward our hotel. The rooms all have a balcony over the water which was nice to sit out on during the evening. Our son had fun one evening feeding the fish the bread we had brought for sandwiches. The manager said he has seen otters in the river but none of the little critters visited while we were out on the balcony.

After we got back, my new eyeglasses had come in. I have never worn glasses before, but my eyes are starting to turn the corner on the age freeway. I have been having to hold stuff further away to read things and my distance vision had started not to be as crisp as it used to be. Technically I am still 20/20 in one eye and 20/25 in the other which makes it odd to be wearing glasses. However, the glasses are Progressive Bi-focals which are correcting some slight astigmatism which was affecting my distance vision, and correcting the problems I was having reading. I had tried to find reading glasses, but couldn't find any that were weak enough for me. All of the readers were much to strong. These glasses I have seem to be just right ... more expensive of course, but just right. It took me a while to get used to the glasses and since I got them right after the Gatlinburg trip, I waited to work on the photographs until I was comfortable with the glasses.

Finally, during that same time my Hotmail email account had gotten hacked or something. Spam was somehow being sent via my Hotmail Contacts list. If you got any of that spam then I do apologize. I have since managed to change the password on the account and the spam seems to have stopped. I used a couple of anti-virius and anti-malware applications to scan my computer and it seems to be free of junk now. However, I used the opportunity to set-up a new G-Mail account which you can find in the sidebar. To prevent automated spambots from picking up and using the new address, I replaced the @ symbol with "(at)". Make the appropriate substitution if you want to contact me.

Oh, I got an iPad 2 for Father's Day. It has become my main internet surfing and reading device. I have my photographs on it an they look great! I just wish I could organize them better. The new operating system for it that is coming out in September sounds like it might help with that.

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Moody View

Reflections and Ruins

This is another photograph of Lawson's Fork Creek in the Glendale Shoals Preserve in Spartanburg County. It is taken very close to the same place as yesterday's photograph if not the exact same location. I was trying out different compositions with the reflections and the trees. As I was developing the image I started to feel that it needed a more moody treatment and converted it to black and white. I think that it works for it. If you look carefully, you will see a couple of the old mill's chimneys through the trees and their reflections in the water. That is were the "Ruins" in the title came from in my mind.

In order to further accentuate the "moodiness" I made a few other tweaks to the image in development. First, I selectively darkened and brightened areas to try to lead the eye down the rapids. Next I reversed the expected sharpening of the image's elements. By this I mean that I reduced the sharpness of every thing except the water, and then I sharpened the reflections. To me this gives a sense that the reflections might be more "real" than the actual trees and ruins. It does at least seem to help convey the moodiness that I was feeling with the image. Finally, I added a slight vignette along the edges to bring the eye into the image.

Well, that is what I did and why I did them anyway. I hope it worked the way I intended them to.

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I'm back

Down Lawson's Fork Creek

It has been a while hasn't it? I've been dealing with a lot of stuff and hadn't been able to get out with the camera very much. Things have not really settled down, but I am trying to make time for photography again now that the weather is more agreeable. However, it does seem to like to rain on the weekends for some reason.

Earlier this week I went to the Glendale Shoals Preserve. It is a conservation preserve of the Spartanburg Area Conservancy based around the historic Glendale Mills property. Lawson's Fork Creek flows under an iron trussed bridge, over the mill's dam, and over exposed rock below the dam. The preserve has a couple of trails, numerous picnic tables, and some historic kiosks relating the story of Glendale Mills and the area's natural features. I didn't spend very much time there, but I do look forward to going back and exploring it in better detail.

This photograph is Lawson's Fork Creek as it re-enters it's wooded embankments below the shoals before leaving the Preserve.

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Back in town

Riverboat

I've been out of town the past couple of weeks to celebrate my grandmother's 95th birthday. She lives in North Dakota, and we made some sightseeing side trips on the drive up and back.

The photograph above is a riverboat on the Mississippi River near the town of Bellevue, Iowa. I thought the split-toned treatment looked best for this shot compared to the straight color image.

More stuff from the trip to come.

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And here is the rest of it.

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Lawson's Fork Creek

Lawson's Fork Creek

Another image from our outing on the Cottonwood Trail. This is Lawson's Fork Creek which runs along and through the nature preserve. The particular area is surrounded by residential neighborhoods. There is also a Duke Power right-of-way on the property.

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Girl and Niagara Rapids

Overlooking the Rapids

I am not much of a people photographer. Taking a stranger's photograph still feels to be a bit invasive to me. However, when I saw this little girl clinging to the fence looking out in to the churning Niagara River's Class 6 rapids, I knew it was a photograph I had to take. The contrast of her small size against the roiling waters was very compelling to me. It was taken at the last observation platform on the Niagara White Water Walk while we were sitting down for a brief rest.

Sometimes a photograph smacks you in the head until you realize that it is there.

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Niagara White Water Walk

Class 6 Rapids

After we had finished the Maid of the Mist ride and eaten lunch, we took the People Mover bus to the Niagara White Water Walk. The White Water Walk is a set of boardwalks and observation decks that allow you to view and get close to the Class 6 Rapids that are downstream from the Maid of the Mist pool and the Falls proper. Class 6 Rapids are the the highest classification of rapids and is generally considered unnavigable. Below these rapids you would encounter the Niagara Whirlpool which makes any attempt to travel down this portion of the river even more dangerous.

More after the jump.

To get down to the boardwalk, you will ride in a small elevator that was built into the cliff in the 1930s. Then you walk through a small tunnel through the cliff and exit onto an observation deck. A boardwalk from this deck follows the river for a comfortable walking distance. There are a couple more observation decks along the boardwalk that get you very close to the river itself.

The power of the rapids is quite evident as you watch it rush past you. The constantly undulating surface seems vicious if one was to fall in to it. Rocks and boulders can be seen fighting for their position against the relentless surge of water. The faces of the gorge that that tower over you serve as stark reminders that even the very stone can not resist the water's constant scouring. However, along the shorelines are small flowers and a lush forest that proclaim that live goes on even in the face of such violent turbulence.

It is a place of beautiful extremes. Nature's fury and it's nurturing in such close proximity. We enjoyed our time here. Plus, the light was nice for once as well.

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The Maid of the Mist

Approaching the Falls

We rode the Maid of the Mist while in Niagara Falls. There are several boats that leave on a staggered schedule. They pass by the American and Bridal Veil Falls. The highlight of the ride is a close approach to the the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. This is why you are supplied with a raincoat. Once you are at the base of the falls you will get soaked. Not wet, but soaked from head to toe. The roar of the water crashing into the pool is quite loud as well. The force of the air being displaced by the water is strong enough to push you around if you aren't steadied. While you can "experience" Niagara's fury this way, you can't really see much of the falls themselves. They are hidden by the mist into an almost whiteout condition. Still you do feel the falls all around you.

More after the jump.

After reading that, you might be wondering how I kept my camera dry. I used an Optech Rainsleeve to protect my camera while on the Maid of the Mists boat. Actually, I used it whenever I was near the falls or was concerned about rain. The Rainsleeves are not very expensive and you get two in a pack. They are not intended for long-term, heavy duty use. However, they are very portable and easy to use. Perfect for stuffing into a corner of a camera bag for those times where you find yourself in a wet environment. While they are meant to be used on a tripod, I did not have any trouble adjusting them to hand held use. They definitely protected my camera from the worse that Niagara could throw at my camera save an actual trip over the falls. Even in that extreme case, I would be more worried about the fall than getting wet.

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Canadian Horseshoe Falls

The Horseshoe Falls

Here is a view of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. The photograph was taken from the top of the observation deck at the Maid of the Mist pavilion. You can see a couple of the Maid of the Mist boats below. From this observation deck you get a great view of both sets of falls.

Stay tuned for another photograph tomorrow.

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Niagara Gorge

Niagara Gorge

We hiked down into the Niagara River Gorge one day. It is a few miles downstream from the falls, but the water is still quite rough. Not too far from this location is the Niagara River Whirlpool. It is just upstream and out of the frame near the upper right corner of the picture.

More after the jump.

This was one of the days that we had nice weather while out and about. The hike down into the Gorge was not that bad. We made sure to take the less steep and less slippery trails. We made it all of the way down to a lagoon on the river's edge. That lagoon must be a popular place as there were a couple of other families down there when we arrived.

The hike back up the Gorge's wall was more strenuous though. Going up is always harder than going down. For some reason our hikes usually end with the going-up part for the end after we have already spent so much energy. On the way up we took a few more breaks than on the way down. Plus, we each had water bottles to keep ourselves hydrated. Luckily, most of the climb was shaded by the forest on the Gorge's walls. Only the very last part was in the direct sun. Still, we all had a fun time and saw a part of the Niagara River a lot of tourists don't get to experience. That is a big plus when you have a local to guide your around.

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