"Snow Cap" at Great Falls, MD

This image was captured during a recent trip to Great Falls on the Maryland side of the gorge.  It was a decent day, not too terribly cold, with the sun shining and a few scattered clouds.  This was the first time my dog came along to Great Falls.  There is a "no dogs" policy on the boardwalk to the Falls overlook, but I decided on a weekday I would go ahead and chance breaking the rule.  Turns out the place was mobbed.  Dogs everywhere including on the boardwalk.  In fact, I think I spend more time moving Sparky out of peoples and dogs way then I spent taking pictures.  I finally made it through the gauntlet of people, dogs, and potential images and arrived at the overlook where I was hoping to catch a stunning sunset over the gorge.

I was taking in the falls when this rock caught my eye.  The static nature of the rocks and ice contrasting with the rapid movement of the white water rapid instantly excited my curiosity.  I've always loved the smooth look of water over a long exposure, "cotton candy water" as some photographers refer to it as.  A couple of test exposures showed me I needed to stack a few neutral density filters as well as a polarizer in order to get the effect I was looking for.  As soon as I reviewed the image in the camera monitor I knew I loved this picture.  It portrays both a sense of sorrow and solitude that I have been feeling lately.  In fact, many of my pictures have had that feeling of late.  I can't wait to hear on the blog, facebook page, and at shows to find out if this shot speaks to people the way it speaks to me.

The sunset never evolved.  It was a very plain jane sunset with the clouds not picking up any light.  It also turns out that this time of year the sun is at the wrong angle to catch from that viewpoint.  But the couple images I did get more than make up for the lack of an amazing sunset.  In fact, the "Snow Cap" image much better portrays how I was feeling than any sunset could have done.