Falling for Tennessee – Part 3

Once again, I apologize for not posting. Getting items done for Christmas & Hanukkah giving has been my focus as well as shipping orders and having my own celebrations. Still haven’t been out to shoot, but if the weather cooperates today (Dec 26) I plan to go to my favorite bit of the Prairie River and see what ice formations catch my eye.

No ice in Tennessee. Do they ever have it? I have a photographer friend who loves natural ice photos from me and other folks on NPN because as she puts it, the ice she sees is at the bottom of a glass. LOL. Love that. But ice is a part of life here just north of the 45th parallel and so given that we have almost no snow, that’s all I have to work with.

Anyway, getting on with day 3. Our first stop was Twin Falls and for the life of us we couldn’t figure out why it’s called that. It’s basically one long ledge where two rivers converge. Twin Rivers might have been a better name, but what do I know. There wasn’t a ton of water and I was so bummed I missed this tree at the top in all its fall glory –

Here’s an oblique view of the main cascades which are to the right of the photo directly above. Try as I might, I just couldn’t make a more dead-on composition work despite trying for a half hour or more. What struck me (surprise!, lol) was that bendy tree on the left. It seemed to help frame the water more effectively and maybe there is a hint of originality in this composition. If you google the falls you’ll see the typical view that I just couldn’t make work.

After working this scene for a bit, people followed me and got in the shots so I moved over even more and started picking out slices.

I was particularly intrigued by the very regular ledges that seem to form steps and how gracefully the water flows over them and because the flow was low, the plants seem to have an easier time of it. The spaces showing the rock behind the water helped break up the wall of water and made things more interesting still. Couldn’t decide on a composition so I just played around and had a lot of fun.

Mainly I used the 100-400mm lens and was VERY glad I brought it with me after almost leaving it at home. Phew. This one is a favorite and probably one of the best photos of the year for me in terms of the story it tells and the composition and processing –

While I was absorbed finding and photographing these small details, a visitor flew into our company –

With the naked eye I thought all was well, but when I got the long lens on it, I realized it wasn’t. Some asshole who can’t clean up after himself just made this bird’s life all the more difficult and probably much shorter and definitely more miserable.

While it has intense coloring and could fly, it had to limp and hobble among the rocks and I hope that it didn’t lose the foot to infection or blood loss. That would probably have led to the death of the bird, too. Such an avoidable tragedy. I’ve pulled my share of fishing line and bobbers out of waterways over the years. So many creatures become fatally entangled that it’s shameful to see the careless disregard of not just the animals, but the environment itself. Makes me so mad.

Eventually the bird flew to the opposite side of the river and I moved on, up the bluff to the top with the others. Again I wandered away from them a bit to find this view of an upper fall I wasn’t able to compose well down at the bottom –

Soon after we moved to another part of the park where the photographic opportunities were quite limited, but there was this across the road from the parking lot –

It isn’t a magical playhouse for children, but a pump house for a defunct cotton and wool mill that is just to my left on the same side of the road as the river. Because of the high heat caused in the production of cloth from wool and cotton, fire was a real and deadly hazard. So all mills had to have excellent fire suppression equipment including a pump house and what a delight that the builders had a sense of whimsey and fun. Once the rest of my group wandered out of the space between the hill and the fence, I was able to get this image. I was across the road so to include that fence which, to me, makes a huge contribution to the story of the place. Without it we only have an isolated little building in the middle of nowhere without a a lot of context. Plus I thought the more modern looking staircase had too much visual weight up close. Further back, I think the fairytale aspect of the location comes through much stronger because of the fence and the relative smallness of the stairs and railing. I was the only one who shot this scene this way. Everyone else saw me do it, but no one joined me. Oh well. Maybe I’m the nut. Also put the camera into the Leica Monochrome photo style and tweaked it in post to make it a bit darker and more mysterious.

So that’s day 3 and I’ll put one more post together with the last location and some stuff I shot on our drive to Franklin where we’d spend our last night and have dinner with a good friend who lives there.