Last week I started my series on the streams in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park during fall colors, and I’m continuing this week with another image I captured this fall. This particular scene is actually just downstream from last week’s image!
As I mentioned last week, one of the things I did a lot this year was shoot with my wide angle lens (14mm), and very low to the water. This allows you to create scenes that “feel” big, but in fact are kind of small. It opens up a new world of possibilities for subjects, because by getting low and close, you’re isolating the subject, and eliminating things that might be boring or otherwise not add to the scene. So, while the entire stream itself might not tell a compelling story, for whatever reason, you may find that one particular rapid, or one particular rock does. This had me looking at specific rocks, or the shape of the water as it flowed over the rocks. For this scene, I really liked the zig-zag the water took around the main rock in the foreground. I also like how the light just softly lit the moss on the rock. Had I stood up and zoomed out, it would have been lost in the bigger scene for sure.
More next week!
–Dan Thompson