The Winter Tree
Sometimes on a photo trip, everything goes exactly according to plan. Other times, things go a little bit sideways.
On this recent photo trip up on the Blue Ridge, Nicole and I were hoping for a repeat of last year’s fall colors. When we got up on the mountain however, we were greeted by predominately green tones, with only sporadic fall colors in spots. The plan had been to photograph at the base of Linville Falls, and then return to the Parkway for photos at sunset. The light at the falls took longer to develop than I had planned, and by the time I had achieved what I was hoping for, we were far behind schedule.
We hastily hurried back up the very rough trail leading back to the visitors center. The whole way, I had been watching the sky, hoping that there would be some cloud cover for the sunset to reflect off of. At this point in the day though, all the clouds in the sky had burned off. I had a few grand vistas that I had preplanned for this evening’s photos, but with perfectly clear skies, I felt most of them would be lacking.
Except for Laurel Knob Overlook. I had mapped this location out with Google maps, and had identified the 2 trees that overlooked the valley. By the time we had reached the car, I had just over 1-hour until sunset, for the 57-minute drive to Laurel Knob.
During the drive we could see how the sunset was going to develop. Despite the lack of clouds, the light haze in the sky promised a colorful show, if we could arrive in time, and if there was any parking left!
As we arrived at the overlook, I was so excited to see the trees, just as I had seen them on google maps, even better, the overlook was empty - not a soul in sight. Nicole on the other hand, didn’t see the beauty in the tree at first. Her reactions was to wonder if we had driven the entire way, for this dead tree. But as the sun dipped down below the horizon, the sky lit up, and the silhouette of the tree was exactly as I had imagined it. I spent the next 40 minutes in bliss, exploring the different angles. The sunset started it’s transition to blue hour, right as I found my final composition. Finally, the light and the composition came together in a way that I couldn’t have planned.
Sometimes on a photo trip, everything goes exactly according to plan. Other times, things go a little bit sideways.
On this recent photo trip up on the Blue Ridge, Nicole and I were hoping for a repeat of last year’s fall colors. When we got up on the mountain however, we were greeted by predominately green tones, with only sporadic fall colors in spots. The plan had been to photograph at the base of Linville Falls, and then return to the Parkway for photos at sunset. The light at the falls took longer to develop than I had planned, and by the time I had achieved what I was hoping for, we were far behind schedule.
We hastily hurried back up the very rough trail leading back to the visitors center. The whole way, I had been watching the sky, hoping that there would be some cloud cover for the sunset to reflect off of. At this point in the day though, all the clouds in the sky had burned off. I had a few grand vistas that I had preplanned for this evening’s photos, but with perfectly clear skies, I felt most of them would be lacking.
Except for Laurel Knob Overlook. I had mapped this location out with Google maps, and had identified the 2 trees that overlooked the valley. By the time we had reached the car, I had just over 1-hour until sunset, for the 57-minute drive to Laurel Knob.
During the drive we could see how the sunset was going to develop. Despite the lack of clouds, the light haze in the sky promised a colorful show, if we could arrive in time, and if there was any parking left!
As we arrived at the overlook, I was so excited to see the trees, just as I had seen them on google maps, even better, the overlook was empty - not a soul in sight. Nicole on the other hand, didn’t see the beauty in the tree at first. Her reactions was to wonder if we had driven the entire way, for this dead tree. But as the sun dipped down below the horizon, the sky lit up, and the silhouette of the tree was exactly as I had imagined it. I spent the next 40 minutes in bliss, exploring the different angles. The sunset started it’s transition to blue hour, right as I found my final composition. Finally, the light and the composition came together in a way that I couldn’t have planned.
Sometimes on a photo trip, everything goes exactly according to plan. Other times, things go a little bit sideways.
On this recent photo trip up on the Blue Ridge, Nicole and I were hoping for a repeat of last year’s fall colors. When we got up on the mountain however, we were greeted by predominately green tones, with only sporadic fall colors in spots. The plan had been to photograph at the base of Linville Falls, and then return to the Parkway for photos at sunset. The light at the falls took longer to develop than I had planned, and by the time I had achieved what I was hoping for, we were far behind schedule.
We hastily hurried back up the very rough trail leading back to the visitors center. The whole way, I had been watching the sky, hoping that there would be some cloud cover for the sunset to reflect off of. At this point in the day though, all the clouds in the sky had burned off. I had a few grand vistas that I had preplanned for this evening’s photos, but with perfectly clear skies, I felt most of them would be lacking.
Except for Laurel Knob Overlook. I had mapped this location out with Google maps, and had identified the 2 trees that overlooked the valley. By the time we had reached the car, I had just over 1-hour until sunset, for the 57-minute drive to Laurel Knob.
During the drive we could see how the sunset was going to develop. Despite the lack of clouds, the light haze in the sky promised a colorful show, if we could arrive in time, and if there was any parking left!
As we arrived at the overlook, I was so excited to see the trees, just as I had seen them on google maps, even better, the overlook was empty - not a soul in sight. Nicole on the other hand, didn’t see the beauty in the tree at first. Her reactions was to wonder if we had driven the entire way, for this dead tree. But as the sun dipped down below the horizon, the sky lit up, and the silhouette of the tree was exactly as I had imagined it. I spent the next 40 minutes in bliss, exploring the different angles. The sunset started it’s transition to blue hour, right as I found my final composition. Finally, the light and the composition came together in a way that I couldn’t have planned.