Storm Clouds Over Great Falls Maryland

Storm Clouds Over Great Falls Maryland

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The photo trip started with a trip to the Virginia side of the Great Falls gorge.  I underestimated the amount of traffic travelling from my home in Timonium down to Great Falls.  Considering we are talking about I-95 and the Capitol Beltway I should have planned better. But finally I made it and the photography began.

This was before the new superintendent took over and started enforcing the "nobody out on the rocks" policy.  I had a great time getting up close to the falls.  About 5:30pm I noticed it looked like storm clouds where moving in.  I decided that I wanted to be on the Maryland side of the Falls hoping to see some nice sunset light on the incoming clouds.  I hopped in the car and sped back into traffic.

I made it to the Maryland side parking lot just as it was getting dark from the storm clouds.  The sun was about 45 minutes from setting.  I jumped out of the car and grabbed my gear and headed for the Maryland overlook.  I crossed over the C&O Canal by the old tavern.  I could hear the occasional rumble of thunder off in the distance as I reached the boardwalk out to the overlook.  I started walking faster hoping to get some pictures before the skies opened up.  Eventually I reached the overlook and was greeted by these orange pink skies with real rough looking storm clouds.  Now I could actually see the lightning off in the distance.  Specifically there were several bolts that were visible just off the right hand side of the above image.

I chose to shoot the scene with a wide angle lens at 16mm.  I set my shutter speed to 1 second hoping to get some movement in the clouds but it didn't work out quite right.  And later I decided that I liked this image better than the longer exposure.  I think the rough landscape meshed well with the harshness of the clouds.  I love the orange pink sky color, it goes well with the natural color of the rocks.  And the touch of fall colors just makes the boundary between sky and gorge pop.

The rain held up till after dark and I was already back in my car by that point.  All in all the weather really was on my side that night.  Sometimes you just get lucky with the weather.

Blackwater Falls in Autumn

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Having just been to Blackwater Falls State Park a week prior and not getting anything good due to rain I doubted I would go back anytime soon.  Blackwater is about 3 1/2 hours from my home in Timonium, Maryland.  However, I found myself only an hour from Blackwater with about 2 hours of daylight left.  I pointed the car towards the park and drove.

Upon arrival I had about 1 hour of daylight left.  My first stop was Elakala Falls.  After getting some nice shots down in the gorge I climbed out and raced back to the car.  I then drove to the other side of the park to the Blackwater Falls parking.  Normally I hate going where I am supposed to go, in this case a well built boardwalk leading to the falls.  However, many signs made it clear that on the boardwalk I had to stay.  This limited the creativity of the shot that I could get.  Lucky for me I was there near the peak of the autumn colors so I could creatively compose to capture color.  At this point the light was fading fast allowing for a nice long shutter speed.  I took a few shots and then scurried back up the 214 stairs back to the parking lot, arriving just before complete darkness.  Then for the 3 1/2 hour drive home...

When processing I had to work the balance between getting a bright crisp image and not blowing out the highlights in the falls.  I also paid special attention to bringing out the color in the foreground leaves.  I love the way the oranges and greens contrast with the crisp white water of the falls.  I am quite pleased with how this end up coming out.  It was completely worth the drive and blew the other photoshoot of the day out of the water!

Hello World!

It is 2:07am, this is the time that I work best.  We have been going crazy working on our inventories for upcoming art shows.  It is both exciting and exhausting.  I set up this blog to help tell the story behind my photography.  Stay tuned for updates!