The beauty of the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Pounding Mill Overlook, just west of Wagon Road Gap by about 2 miles is well-known to the photographers in Western North Carolina and the Southern Appalachians beyond. The most coveted view from the overlook is looking to the east/southeast across the Pink Beds/Cradle of Forestry area of Pisgah National Forest. Yet, it is quite often worthwhile to go to the western end of the overlook and work looking south and southwest in the general direction of Looking Glass Rock.
Occasionally the reward is a rolling sea of turbulent air, sometimes punctuated with the hidden peaks underneath. It is energy in a swirl of motion lit by a rising sun lighting the tops of the moving clouds.
A focal length of 200mm gave me a somewhat narrowed, but interesting, angle-of-view of the swirling air masses. An aperture of f/11 provided depth-of-field from the camera-to-subject distance of about a mile. This aperture also allowed for a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second at ISO 100. At that speed I could somewhat freeze the motion of the clouds and avoid too much of a sense of blur.
Of course, the Blue Ridge Parkway is one of our most well-known public lands units; but here it merges into another wonderful piece of that common ground, one of the most beautiful national woodlands of our country, Pisgah National Forest. It is a real pleasure to visit this treasure at any time of the year.
Nice! There is always beauty along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The turbulence in this image looks like a wake-up call, but it is probably silent so you would have to already be awake to catch the magic. The peak peeking through on the left looks more like a shark’s fin in a turbulent ocean. It’s a great adventure either way and fun to capture the special moments in nature.
Hey Nancy T. I always look forward to having you join us because I know there will be a good story, whether there are sharks involved or not; and isn’t that the way it usually is with great masses of moving fog: they look like they should be sounding like freight trains rolling by and yet there is mostly only silence. I do very much remember the awe I felt as I watched it all unfold. I hope you are staying safe and well: time to talk soon.
Wow, that is mesmerizing. If that doesn’t look like a stormy ocean, I don’t know what does! Love the contrasts.
Hi Ray; I really appreciate your letting me know about the broken link and your persistence and patience in allowing me to send you a corrected one. One of my very favorite natural conditions is when the sun rises above a widespread fog mass and shines across the tops of the fog, especially if the light is still golden. The real treat on this morning was the obvious turbulence moving across the cloud-tops and creating such a sense of chaotic motion. It was, indeed, mesmerizing; and there I was standing over 4700′ in elevation watching it happen beneath me, or at eye level at best. It’s when one becomes acutely silent and stands in awe of creation. Hope you have been safe and well. When we have a chance, I would love to talk with you about my upcoming adventure, which will involve National Forests across the country.
Don, happy to talk anytime as you begin your big adventure. 202-664-4585
As the Image for the Asking winds down to my departure date on my upcoming adventure, I will recall with considerable fondness the two of you and your steadfast participation in what the Image was designed to be – a place where people who love the medium of photography could come together each week to express their feelings about a single Image: good, bad, or indifferent; hopefully in the service of an expanded sense of artistic design and photographic creativity.
It is also my hope that you will continue to accompany me into this next phase of my own journey, and we will go down that road – as we have on this one – looking for Beauty together.