Look Around

Thursday Colors

I just finished a five day landscape photography workshop in the Smokies.   I was lucky enough to be one of over 200 photographers who registered in the first few days and got in.   The instructors at this workshop were the Who's Who of landscape, nature and outdoor photography.  Best of all, I got to catch up with some great friends from around the country and make some new friends.

Fall is my favorite season, but the beautiful part doesn't last nearly long enough. The colors went from brilliant on Wednesday to just about gone by Sunday.

Thursday

After a couple days of rain most of the leaves were on the ground by Sunday.   The hill sides were no longer brilliant with the reds, yellows and oranges.   The only greens left were the evergreens.

When all the conference programs were over and the car packed up to drive home, I decided to take two more hours and make one more trip down the road past the Tremont Institute hoping to make some photos of the stream with fall colors.  After driving  a couple miles down the road I pulled off at a spot that looked promising for photos of the white water flowing around boulders in the stream.   What I found was I wasn't able to make any photos of the water that were worth posting.   The sky was overcast but bright, making a glare on the surface of the water that I was not able to work around.  It was looking like this last trip was a bust and I should head home.

After I gave up on the water photos I stood on the creek side for a few minutes and looked around.   It wasn't looking promising, until I looked down.

Morning Rain on Leaves

The ground was covered with fallen leaves.  Some of them still had water drops from last night's rain storm.   The same overcast sky that made photographing the stream difficult made perfect considiotns for photographing the fallen leaves.  I was so excited I started taking photos with my 70-200mm zoom lens, which is not really the right lens for close up photography but it certainly worked in this situation.

Maidenhair Fern and Maple Leaf

I walked back across the road to car to switch to my macro lens and discovered a spring wildflower blooming right next to the car!   What a treat to find this beauty this time of year.

Sweet White Violet

There were unlimited photo opportunities with the leaves, moss, and other objects covering the ground .  These last three photos were taken within 10 feet of the car.

Reds and Greens

What looked like a bust turned out to be filled with beautiful subjects that tell a story about the fall season.  I was blessed because I slowed down, stopped and looked around.   If I had only looked for what I expected to find I would have missed out.  

Life is like that.  We have expectations and when life doesn't meet our expectations we are disappointed, unhappy or even depressed or angry.   If we just open our eyes and look around we will find God has blessed us in ways we didn't even imagine before.   Stop and look around, even if it's just around your feet.

Patience

This has been a good weekend.   I got to spend most of it with June and taking pictures.

On Saturday June and I spent a few hours taking sunrise photos in downtown Kingsport, eating breakfast at The Bagel Exchange, and then making photos of the pianos that have been painted and placed around downtown.

Downtown is not a place I would have thought to go for sunrise.  We were there to drop my car off for service while we photographed the pianos.  Wanting to get close to the front of the line we dropped the car off before sunrise.  It was too early to eat so we wandered around trying to find a good vantage spot to see the sunrise.

The sunrise colors were spectacular and we did find some nice shots before breakfast.

The pianos turned out to be more fun that I ever imagined.  I made a lot of shots and spent most of Saturday editing.

I'm planning to take my favorite piano photos and make a slide show.  For now, here's a couple for you to preview.

I almost missed the photo below.  We had seen this piano earlier and passed it up because we were on our way to breakfast.  It was much later when June reminded me we hadn't gone back to this one.   I wasn't real excited because I hadn't seen any compelling compositions the first time around.  It was still a beautiful morning and we were enjoying our time too much to cut it short so why not walk back and see if there were any shots hiding there.

What a shot we found!   The glass panels reflected the brightly painted piano, creating what I call a Pianorama.   This was a fun photo to make.  The hardest thing was finding a composition where I wasn't also reflected in the glass.

Day two of our weekend.   Again we got up before sunrise and this time we headed down the road to Warrior's Path State Park to see if we could catch another sunrise and fall colors.   No sunrise today, but the overcast skies made the fall colors pop right out of the photo.

There were many photo opportunities, such as the Blue Heron across the lake posing among the fall colors.

Near the end of our morning in the park the smooth reflections in the lake were disturbed by a couple fishermen in a big hurry to get to their favorite spot in the lake.   Because I was set up to take long exposure landscape shots from a tripod I wasn't set up to photograph a fast moving boat.  I did the best I could in a couple seconds and got an OK shot.  

I little later another boater arrived and unloaded his boat into the lake about 50 years away.   I was hoping he would come across in front of me like the last guy so I set up my camera for an action shot and waited.   He took his time and I about gave up when he started his motor and took off in the opposite direction!  This time I wanted a boat to come by and disturb the smooth surface and he goes the other way.

In the end my patience paid off and I got a different shot that also tells a story.

No matter how much we plan, there are things out of our control and we end up in situations where we didn't expect to be.   Be patient, make the best of it, know that someone else greater than us is in control, and His plans are even better!

Photo Manipulation

Tom Branch Falls

Today I took a hike down along the trails in the Deep Creek area of the Smokies with a good friend and Best Man from our wedding .   It's a place I've only been one other time and the first time I've been there in the fall.   The colors in the southern Smokies around Bryson City, NC were more muted and a little behind where they are on the north and western slopes this year.

As you can see from the photo of Tom Branch Falls, there was still a lot of green in the trees.  We didn't see a lot of golds or reds.  A few more cold nights and sunny days are sure to bring out those colors.

Even when we don't get the colors, light, or other conditions we are hoping for, there are always other ways to manipulate the photo.

I'm not talking about editing the photo and changing the green leaves to gold.  I'm talking about using compositions  that manipulate what the photo says.

Juney Whank Falls

The Park Service has built a nice bridge right next to Juney Whank Falls that allows the hiker or photographer to get close to the falls.  The yellow and red leaves stuck to the rock face caught my attention. Instead of taking a picture of the entire falls, I chose to zoom in on a small section with those leaves and some white water.  I think this photo has an autumn feel with the little color that there is.


Another opportunity to manipulate the mood through composition is the picture of this small rock in a stream.

Streams of Gold

I got this color by getting down low on the edge of the creek and getting in the right position to get the reflections I wanted.  In this case the reflections in the stream were of trees on the opposite bank that were lit by the early morning sunlight, giving it a golden tint.

No need to manipulate a photo in software.  You can change the story the photo tells by paying trying compositions that are different from the obvious, getting the right angle, paying attention to the light and getting a bit creative.  

Trust in the LORD with all your heart.

The photo for October on my 2014 calendar is from Unaka Mountain Road in the Cherokee National Forest and Unicoi County in Tennessee.  This 12 mile long road windes its way over and around the mountain.   According to Encylopedia Briticanica the Cherokee Indians named the mountains Unaka (“White”), probably in reference to a persistent white haze or to some white rock formations.

On this day the colors were anything but white.   Fall was ablaze with warm yellows, oranges, and red interspersed with some green leaves trying to hang on for a few more days.  You can tell by the leaves on the road that the fall days were growing short and soon the mountain would again be white with the first snows of winter.

I used one of the most powerful shapes in my composition.  The s-curve is a great graphic element that adds interest and pulls the viewer into the photo.  In this case I had the road start in a corner and avoided putting it dead center in my photo, which is a sure way to create a photographic dud in landscape photography.   One thing I wish I had tried was to climb on top of the car, which would give me a better view of the s-curve.  I always come up with great ideas for improving a photo long after I took it.  I guess that's the way I learn.  It sure takes a long time that way.

Exchange Place

The small photo on the calendar page was taken just a few miles from our house at Exchange Place.   It is a great place to wander around and shoot, particularly in the fall.  On this day I had to place to myself and spent a couple hours wandering around and poking my head in any open building looking for a photo that would tell the story of Exchange Place in the Fall.

Once you're on Unaka Mountain Road you have very few decisions to make.  There are only a handful of short side roads, but they all lead to dead ends.  You either have to continue to the end or turn around and go back.  It makes navigating the mountain easy.

Life is not always so simple.  Every day we are faced with multiple decisions that have to be made.  Some are small, yet others are significant and can have a major life impact.  We find ourselves struggling to gather information, study all the angles, and make our decision.   That's the hard way.  If we listen to Solomon's wisdom, don't try to figure it all out on our own, but trust the Lord  he will show us which path to take.   We don't have to know it all.  We have someone on our side who already knows it all and will show us the way to go.  All we have to do is listen and trust.

It's time to be thinking about a calendar for 2015.  I've place an order for the first batch of 2015 calendars.  If you want one just drop me an email to r.siggins@charter.net.   They're only $15, all the profit goes to Hope Haven Ministries, and I'll even ship to you.

Tanawa Trail Footbridge - The September 2014 Calendar Photo

The Tanawa Trail is a 13 1/2 mile hiking trail in the North Carolina mountains that parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway near Grandfather Mountain.  This footbridge is easily accessible from one of the many trail access points along the parkway.  It's been some time since I made this photo, but I think this is on the section of the Tanawa trail that goes to Rough Ridge.

Tanawa is the Cherokee name for fabulous hawk or eagle.  On this day the scene was a fabulous painters pallet of warm fall colors.  To the east the sky was becoming overcast which obscured the grand vistas, but created really nice conditions for taking photographs in the woods.  

There are any number of ways to photograph this bridge.   If you do a google search for Rough Ridge Bridge and look at the images you will see the compositions others have come up with.  I like this angle because it shows off the beautiful arch of the bridge and the stone column in the center.   In the fall the creek is reduced to a small trickle, which shows up as a black section under the bridge.  For the photographers who are interested in the more technical points this was taken with a full frame DSLR, 17mm, f/22.  This image is an HDR image created from three different exposures to capture the brightest and darkest parts of the scene.

This photo brings to mind quiet walks to peaceful places.   The busyness of life can wear us down and we need to get away to these quiet places to recharge.   Luke recorded that Jesus would slip away to a quiet place to pray.   What better place to pray than in the midst of God's creation with no distractions to compete for our attention.

I'll be selling the 2015 edition of my calendar this fall.  For information see the previous blog post - http://thesiggins.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-polls-are-open-its-time-to-vote-for.html  Stay tuned for more information on how to order a calendar.

Some Seasons Just Don't Last Long Enough

I'm blessed to be able to live in a part of the country that has four seasons.   Although some of my friends and family in Florida may not think so, even winter is a welcome change from the monotony of tropical living.

My favorite seasons are Spring and Fall.   The freshness of Spring with all the wildflowers blooming all around just makes me feel good.   Walking though the woods surrounded by flower and brilliant new green growth can recharge the deadest personal battery.   With the many different varieties of plants and flowers Spring can last for many weeks.

Fall is a different story.  Once the leaves start to turn it's not long before they go from brilliant to gone.   Often I only get one good weekend to get out and shoot fall colors before the yellows, reds, and oranges are  brown and down.  This fall I had a free day to go out and shoot and I chose to head up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and see what I could find.

On the way from Kingsport to the Parkway I got to Lake Watauga at sunrise.  I was the only person out there that morning.   I don't think anyone even drove by while I was there enjoying the peaceful morning on the lake.   The "golden hour" light gave the clouds a nice pink color.

After a stop in Boone NC for a Hardee's biscuit I stopped at the Moses Cone Mansion on the Blue Ridge Parkway.   My favorite shot of that stop was looking out from a walkway tunnel under the parkway.   I went for that shot because of the fall colors and blue sky but was given a bonus when a girl rode by in her equestrian riding outfit.   I should have stayed in the tunnel and took some more shots but I didn't want to spook the horse in the tunnel.   I wish I had that opportunity again.

A little ways up the road was a small pond surrounded by fall colors. There was little to no wind but the skies were starting to cloud up, which made the colors really pop, but was a preview of the rest of my day.

Soon after leaving the pond the clouds rolled in and descended on the Parkway eliminating any chance of the grand vista with blue sky shots.   I stopped and hiked up the Rough Ridge Trail which is a great trail.  The fall colors were still pretty nice but the clouds were still with me.   I made the best of the overcast conditions by taking several pictures under the trees with no sky, including this one that looks like Elves and Hobbits should be walking by, and a great arched bridge where trolls could be hiding.

I did take one shot of the Blue Ridge Mountains from near the top of Rough Ridge.   Nice fall colors but wouldn't it look great with a blue sky and white puffy clouds?

It was the best day for fall color photography I had this year.  Six days later everything was past peak and done for the year.   Now we've had an early winter with more than a foot of snow in the mountains.   This time I was at Hilton Head and missed the whole thing.   My son got great pictures from Roan Mountain, which makes me wish for more snow.  The good thing is winter lasts much longer and I'll have more opportunities to get out and shoot some in the snow before we start over again with spring in 2013.

These photos can be ordered from my website under the Blue Ridge Gallery.

Are you ready for Winter?

It snowed in Kingsport Tennessee today!   The temps were still in the 40's so no one was worried about accumulation on the roads.  Snowing before Thanksgiving is a bit early for us but it does remind me that winter is not to far off.

Ready for Winter?

Seems like just a couple weeks ago we were enjoying the fall colors.  Recently I put together a calendar with some of my favorite photos from the past year.  Here's the calendar page for November 2012.

I really like the quote I found for this photo.   I can look at this photo and remember what autumn was like just a few weeks ago.  Fall just does not last long enough.

Right now we are in that in between time where the fall colors are gone and everything is either brown or grey.   In a few weeks we may have some snow accumulation, which can be a beautiful time to go out and enjoy God's gift of snow.   I can hardly wait.

If you are interested in buying a copy of my calendar you can send me an email at r.siggins@charter.net.   The calendars are $15 each and all the profit goes to Hope Haven Ministries of Kingsport.  You can see some of the photos used in the calendar by clicking here

Sunrise and Sunset

Fall in the Southern Appalachian Mountains is a beautiful time.  God paints the hills with blazing oranges, yellows and golds with some greens left in for good measure.   It's a great time for outdoor photography, but it is way too short.  Seems like just a few weeks between when the trees start to change and the ground is covered with fallen leaves and the colors fade.   This year has been no different.  I started October out with a trip to Greyson Highlands State Park, then followed it with a trip to West Virginia, a couple trips to Bays Mountain Park in Kingsport, Tennessee and finally a weekend photography workshop in Max Patch North Carolina.  All this was over a period of 24 days.  Whew! 

All these outings have resulted in lots of photos in the post-processing backlog.   I'm working through them, but not necessarily in the order I took them.   I'll be posting some photos from those trips and am starting with some of the last ones I took.

Eight members of the Eastman Camera Club spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday in a photography workshop in Max Patch, North Carolina.   Lori Kincaid was a fantastic instructor and we all had a blast. I learned several new photo skills in the workshop and I can't wait to try them out.  Max Patch is a naturally occurring bald mountain on the North Carolina - Tennessee boarder with 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains.   We got up very early on Saturday morning to drive down to the Max Patch bald for the sunrise.  We were treated to clear cloudless skies and a full moon setting over the mountain ranges.  I learned about the Belt of Venus, which is the band of red, pink or purple above the dark blue. The dark blue is the earth's shadow.

That evening we were treated to a beautiful sunset from Lori's rental place, which is where we were based for the weekend.   She has the most beautiful setting for a home I have ever seen.     I got the sunset and maple tree shots from her place on Saturday night.

On Sunday morning we got up, walked just a few feet from her place and were able to shoot the sunrise over Mount Mitchell and other near by peaks.



As we watched, the sky got more and more dramatic as the sun lit the underside of the clouds with brilliant reds.  

This is a great place to photograph to fall colors and beautiful sunrise and sunsets.   I'm already planning to go back in the spring!

What does a landscape photographer do on a foggy morning?

On an early fall morning I got up way before sunrise to go down to Warriors Path State Park to get some sunrise shots. You never know what you will find after you get up and head out. Sometimes your rewarded with a beautiful sunrise (I've been blessed with several) but sometimes you get clouds or even worse - fog. The hard part of getting up and driving out there is past so I might as well make the best of it.

A foggy morning can result in some erie pictures and some that are very interesting. You wont get a brilliant sky, or beautiful warm colors of the early morning sun, but sometimes you get rewarded with something like the photo here. You can browse to a large image by clicking here.

The soft lighting of overcast days can eliminate unwanted shadows, cut down on nasty glare, and make the colors really pop. Cloudy and rainy days are some of the best times to shoot landscapes. Just avoid the ugly sky and focus on the intimate details. Watch for those opportunites to get that picture that's different from the ones everyone else shoots on the pretty days.

The End of Fall

I've been out on more trips to more places this fall than any other year. I've been blessed with some beautiful fall colors. The leaves are pretty much down now and the color gone here in the Tri-Cities but I did capture some pictures over the past two weeks and posted them at Fall Colors 2009

I hope you enjoy this and the other pictures from this fall.

Dupont State Forest

The Eastman Camera Club took a day trip to Dupont State Forest in Oct. for the fall color and waterfalls. The fall colors were not as bright as we had hoped but the waterfalls were very full! It was overcast all day, which is good for taking waterfall pictures in the middle of the day. The pictures are available in the Dupont State Forest 2009 album.

The Friends of Dupont provided shuttle bus rides between the falls and a lake. They also do this for spring wildflowers on Mother's Day Weekend. We're already planning on going back.

Blue Ridge Parkway Fall Colors

June and I spent three days on the parkway in October, one of which was a nice sunny day. The other two were pretty much washouts. We stayed at an excellent B&B in Black Mountain, NC called The Arbor House. The first few pictures are taken from the back of the B&B looking out over Lake Tomahawk with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background. The rest of the photos were taken between Black Mountain and Blowing Rock.

The fall colors varied from brilliant to just about gone. There had been an unusual amount of rain leading up to that time, which knocked down many of the leaves. You'll see from the photos that there were still a lot left.

The photos are in the Blue Ridge Parkway 2009 album. I hope you enjoy.

Rocky Fork Wilderness

June and I hiked into the Rocky Fork Wilderness on Saturday and loved it. It's a beautiful place that was saved from developers in 2008. Here's some info on the acquisition Rocky Fork Acquisition

We went hoping to catch some early fall color but the leaves have not started to turn yet. We've had a couple cool nights so it won't be long.

Here's some photos from that trip.
Rocky Fork

Tips for Fall Photography

Fall is here! The brilliant yellows, reds, greens and clear blue skies are combining to form beautiful scenes that you'll want to capture before they're gone. We live a great area for fall colors, but they won't last much longer. It's impossible to predict, but based on past seasons you can expect the following:

• October 3-14: Head to the high elevations above 5,000 feet to find the most color this early.

• October 11-21: Color will increase in elevations above 4,000 feet.

• October 18-27: Many of our surrounding mountains show plenty of color, especially in the 3,000-4,000 foot elevation range.

• October 24-November 3: The color in the Tri-Cites should be the brightest this week,

• October 27-November 7: Most of the leaves may be down and the color faded by this time. You'll need to head south and stay in the lower elevations to find much color this late.

Here's some tips to get the most out of those fall pictures:

1. Plan to shoot around the golden hours, which are the hours just before and after sunrise and sunset. This is true year round, but when the sun is low it will add a golden hue to those fall reds and yellows.

2. Use a tripod if you have one. If you're shooting in the golden hours you may end up with a long shutter speed. If you don't have a tripod place your camera on a steady object such as a car, rock, or fence post. Don't let camera shake ruin your shot.

3. Use a polarizing filter. This will cut any haze and give the leaves a rich saturated color.

4. Underexpose slightly. This will give your photo dark richer colors. Don't over do it. See the histogram post for more information on adjusting exposure.

5. Look for contrasting colors such as red/green, blue/yellow. A yellow tree on a blue sky or red leaves on green grass can make a very interesting shot.

6. Don't be afraid of a little rain. Overcast days are great for bringing out colors, eliminating harsh shadows, and creating some cool effects. Try to avoid including gray skies in your photo. They're not very interesting.

7. Give nature a boost. You can warm up a photo by slightly increasing the color temperature using Photoshop, Lightroom or other photo editing software. You can get a similar effect by changing the camera white balance to cloudy.

Of course the most important thing is to get out and shoot, shoot, shoot. The leaves won't wait.