New Fine Art Pictures of Rhoddodendrons, Grist Mill and Mount Rainier
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June and July were busy months, photographically and otherwise. One of the main attractions in the east in June is the Rhododendron bloom in the mountains of North Carolina. In July, we headed back to Washington State and Mount Rainier for some unfinished business there.
On the way to Roan Mountain North Carolina, we made a stop at Babcock State Park in West Virginia to photograph the Glade Creek Grist Mill. Usually, this is done in the Fall, but I wanted to shoot it with a more lush backdrop of green summer trees. We were fortunate enough for it to have been raining all day, giving the trees deep, saturated color. I got wet in the rain, but it was well worth it.
The Rhododendrons were in full bloom at Roan Mountain. There is an ideal spot to photograph sunset from that turned out to be a couple of miles over and up some of the foothills. I wasn’t alone and we all made the hike back to the parking lot in the dark with the help of our headlamps, where my sister and daughter were patiently waiting for me. The results were worth the effort.
Flowers were also blooming in a variety of areas along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I was checking out a trail up the mountain to a viewpoint and came across this wonderful setting of Rhododendrons blooming under a tree. It was totally unexpected, which just made it all the more fun to photograph.
While scouting around the Parkway, we came across this beautiful area of ferns under the trees. I am just a sucker for ferns under trees. We immediately made plans to come back the next morning when the sun would be bursting through the trees behind them. We took a large number of multiple exposure images from various positions, but after all was said and done, this was the blend that worked the best.
Before heading to Mount Rainier after arriving in Seattle, we first headed to an area a couple of miles south of there. For several years, I have been wanting to photograph Lower Lewis River Falls, but just couldn’t get up there from where I was at the time in Oregon.
It’s a short hike to the river, but the trail stops short of the river, about 6 feet above it. There is a rope you can use to repel down to the river at that point. With rubber boots on, we waded out to the middle of the river where you can get close enough to the deep aqua pool at the base of the falls.
We had to keep wiping the spray off the lens between shots, and after taking a bunch of them, this was the one that really conveyed the beauty of the falls.
It was on to Mount Rainier, where I have been wanting to photograph it from the east side at Little Tipsoo Lake. The weather was a challenge, with either the mountain being covered by clouds and not visible or totally clear skies with no clouds.
We would head out at 4am every morning to get there for sunrise, that would be behind us to light up the mountain. After days of zero clouds, they came back, but covered the mountain where you couldn’t see it.
With the heavy cloud cover, we took the chance to drive up to Sunrise Point to see if we could get above them. It was really spectacular. We captured this one image before the clouds moved in and covered the area that was picking up the color from the sunrise. In some ways, it was my favorite of the trip
It was a good couple of trips and I’m pleased with the images. We head for Glacier National Park in a few days. Hopefully, the flowers are in bloom at Logan Pass and we get some good skies. This is another one that has been on the list for a while.
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