Appalachia in June (2018)

The Appalachian Mountains inspire me like few locations that I have visited. These mountains formed roughly 480 million years ago. Compare this to the 55-80 million years formation age of the Rocky Mountains and you start to get a sense for how much longer these mountains have been around. Even where the peaks are high, the movement between them is undulating and curved, suggesting a sense of tranquility that you just don’t find in a lot of places.

The first image that I’d like to share from my most recent trip this past June is one that I almost didn’t get. I had driven down to the Blue Ridge Parkway to photograph sunset and the weather was definitely all over the place. The clouds were rolling in and rain was coming. The westerly facing overlooks were clouded over with no color showing through at all and the only place where there was any sense of mystique was on the easterly facing overlooks. I made a black and white image at one of the easterly facing overlooks and then packed everything up as it started to rain. I then started to drive around to see if there was anywhere else that I may be able to make any more images that night. I stumbled upon an opening in the clouds at Deerlick Gap Overlook and could not believe my luck! I set up quickly and was able to make this image of the sunset:

To me, the moodiness of this sunset and the way the colors light up the mountains really speaks to the tranquility of these mountains.

Another one of my favorite things about this region is the sheer number and variety of waterfalls that there are to explore and photograph. I started the trip with one of the more difficult falls that I have ever tried to photograph. I still have not found a great place to capture this waterfall from and I suspect that more time is needed to explore this one and see what other vantages there are. I present an image from the waterfall on Whiteoak Creek:

Because of the difficulty that I have had in getting a larger vantage, I focused on a small section of the falls and used some front standard tilt to help emphasize the falls themselves and the almost dream like state my mind can go into while visiting waterfalls at times.

That evening, the conditions for sunset looked good again and I must say that at the Big Laurel Gap Overlook on the Parkway, I was not disapointed:

The next day and night were mostly rained out, but the following day yielded conditions worth pursuing photography again. I ended up at the Black Mountains Overlook for this evening’s outing (Sunrises in this area were around 6 am and sunset around 9pm, so I didn’t quite make any sunrises).

This image is from quite a bit before the sun actually set. I have some undeveloped color film from this trip that I think covers the rest of this event. One of the fun things about shooting film is that now I really don’t remember what’s on those sheets, so it will be interesting to develop them and recover the memories!

I find this type of landscape photography to be both exciting and calming all at the same time. Exciting in that you get to chase the light and spend your time wondering if amazing conditions are going to occur, but calming in getting to watch the beauty of these events unfold. To watch the sun go down or come up as it has done so many times before. To be out there, sometimes by yourself, soaking it all in. That’s exciting and calming. A wonderful mix.

The last full day of my trip I went out on a mission to get a shot of Linville Falls that would incorporate as much of the plunge basin and the rocky outcropping that the Linville River tumbles through as it heads into that basin. I’ve explored Linville Falls extensively, but I had always passed up the “Plunge Basin Overlook” on the way down to the Linville River to actually go explore the basin itself. After this trip, I now realize that I have been missing out on one of the more exciting overlook views of Linville Falls. Here is the image that I made:

I’m quite happy with how this one turned out and really surprised that I have passed by this overlook so many times before!

Finally, I’d like to close this post with one last image that imparts the feeling of what it’s like to travel on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I don’t remember which night of the trip I made this image, but I do remember that I was driving around looking for a particular overlook and the westerly facing overlooks weren’t working, but this easterly facing one was quite nice.