A few years ago I captured an image of rhododendrons blooming next to a stream and ended up absolutely loving the image (it’s one of the few images of mine that adorn the walls of our house – I know, everyone is always disappointed to hear that I don’t have tons of my own images all over the house).   As is always the case, even with my favorite images, I see ways I could improve the image had I done something differently or had conditions been different.  In the case of that original image, I wish there had been more water in the stream and that the stream had been a more prominent part of the image.  If you’ve been following along with the blog since then, you’ll know that this has inspired me to try to photograph rhododendrons by the streams again and again.

Well, 2022 had a nice surprise in store as it turns out, and this year the Smokies saw an absolutely incredible blooming season for the rhododendrons!  I ended up going up to the Elkmont area multiple times to photograph the flowering rhodis with the streams and if I’m honest, I was seriously considering giving each of the three images here its own Picture of the Week.  I like them that much.  I’m frankly still not sure I chose the correct one to be featured, because I like them all that well.

In any case, one observation I’ve made over the years is that the rhododendrons are really hard to photograph next to streams for one of two reasons. First, while you see rhodis near streams, they’re generally set far enough back from the edge of the stream that its hard to make a compelling image with them.  Secondly, when the rhodis are next to the stream, the blooms are WAY up high, and you can get to them while standing in the the stream (without lugging along a tall ladder, which I haven’t done… yet).  Well, what I discovered this year is that Jakes Creek in Elkmont is the perfect spot for this because the stream is tiny, and the rhodis push right it on it in certain places.

For this week’s Picture of the Week featured above, I found a bloom that I really like that also happened to be situated right above a nice little cascade that made a bit of an S as it flowed.  Below you’ll find two more similar images, however I’ll call your attention specifically to the last one, which really illustrates how incredible the bloom was.  Look off in the background and you’ll see blooms EVERYWHERE!

Did you happen to see it? I’d love to hear.

More next week!

–Dan Thompson