I heard it before I saw it. It was the day we were to drive through the Great Smokies, and I woke to the familiar sound of rain. And it wasn’t just a drizzle, it was a downpour. What was to be a day of hiking and enjoying the great outdoors was quickly turning into a day of just…driving.
Then, miraculously, as we drove into the park, the rain began to clear. Even though it was still cloudy, we were graced with the occasional ray of sunshine. The downpour made the trails a little too muddy for hiking, but the clouds made it a great day to take photos of running water. My sadness about the rain quickly turned into excitement. Excitement because I was going to have the chance to experiment with my tripod.
I just have a cheap, really light tripod that I bought many years ago when I knew even less about photography than I do now. Even though I’ve had the tripod for a while, I’ve rarely had the opportunity to use it. And now, empowered with my tripod, I became so obsessed with photographing water that we spent nearly our whole day taking photos…of the same stream! Every time I thought we could move on, I had to see what would happen if I held the shutter open just a little longer, or if I bumped up my f-stop just a little more. I was so engrossed that we almost didn’t make it to Memphis in time to grub on some Corky’s. I know! But notice I said almost. Of course I got my Corky’s!
I really do wish we had had more time to enjoy the Great Smokies. But the lure of BBQ pork ribs was just too great.
Some of my favorites from the day:
This is what I thought our whole day was going to be like. And that’s what I felt like. A boiled peanut.
But…ta-da! No more rain!
I’m sure we spent well over an hour here. It was so gorgeous that I just did not want to leave. And I was having too much fun with my tripod.
