GOLD RUSH

ISO 400, f/20, 1/2 second, 19mm

  The first stop on our Blue Ridge Parkway tour, well the first stop we got to shoot photos, was at the Lower Falls at Graveyard Fields.
  There are a couple of neat things about shooting these falls that make it terribly unique to any other waterfall that I have shot. First, the .20 mile hike to the falls from the parking area is through a Mountain Laurel & Rhododendron Forest. The path is canopied by Mountain Laurel and it is absolutely beautiful. When we were here in the spring with Richard Bernabe's NC Waterfall Workshop everything was covered in green and Trillium were blooming on the forest floor next to the path. It is quite a gorgeous little hike.
  The second thing about Lower Falls is that the rocks are granite and the moss that grows on them isn't green, it's gold. It makes the waterfall special and unique and incredibly beautiful even though the falls themselves are quite stunning without the golden surroundings.
  The photo above is a composition that I didn't shoot back in the spring. This large rock in the foreground is neatly shaped and actually points to the waterfall in the background. The rocks to the right of it point to the waterfall as well drawing the eye to the waterfall. As if it needed something to draw more attention to it.
  Although fall color was almost gone at the falls, there were still some reds and greens hanging around to add to the right side of the mountain wall next to the falls.