There are more than nine hundred miles of streams in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, making a personal choice for “favorite stretch of water” more than just a little difficult. I do know that very near the top of the list would always be Middle Prong of Little Pigeon River as it flows downstream from the Ramsay Cascades Trail bridge. I can sit on its edge and watch its flow, pondering for hours the amazing boulder field that fills its ancient bed. At certain times of the year, when the sky is not overcast, the very late afternoon light fills the cove hardwood forest upstream and gives the feeling that liquid gold has been poured over the trees. It always gives me a richer sense of what it means to work in the “golden hour,” a peacefulness beyond comprehension. With so many ways to express this single location, I chose a focal length of 27mm, moderately wide-angle, to emphasize the diagonal reverse-C curve of the stream. An aperture of f/16 gave me depth-of-field, and ISO 200 allowed me a shutter speed of 0.8 second, fast enough, here, to retain some texture in the water and slow enough to create sufficient milkiness.
This is breathtaking! I want to be there right now! You described it as calming and that is what you captured. I can feel my blood pressure going down just looking at it. The C curve gives the impression the magic could go on forever and beckons me to follow but the beautiful golden light begs me to stay. It is such a tranquil, spiritual place, I think I’ll stay.
Thanks for sharing.
I’ll be heading to Ricketts Glen SP in north central Penn the first week of June. Twenty one waterfalls and cascades over 5 miles of hiking trails. I hope I get some images as good as yours here. Love the warm & cool tones and how they compliment each other. The low angle of view adds so much detail and interest.
Hi Nancy T. and Mike Di, it’s great to hear from both of you and to have you in this conversation. Nancy T., we certainly agree about the calming effect, and I love your description of the tension between the line of the water and the illumination of the light. Maybe that’s why I love being in this place so much: it resolves that tension and allows me to simply be there and observe. Mike, I hope you have a great trip to Rickett’s Glen. That entire area of Pennsylvania/New York is like waterfall city. We usually go through Scranton on the way to the Adirondacks. Thanks, as always, for your kind words.I do appreciate the warm-cool tonal contrast that this image allowed. Travel safely. And thank you both, again, for your comments and careful observations.