October 2011 – Denise Bush's Photo Blog

Waterfalls & Light

West Virginia Waterfalls – Part I
I was pleasantly surprised with my results from a visit to Elakala Falls in Blackwater State Park. We went on a sunny morning and found several photographer’s already there, including some people from my camera club. I like to provide a sense of place when available and think including the bridge helps to set the falls apart from others. It was a little steep and slippery getting to the bottom but I’m glad I made the effort. I confess that I was a little skeptical going in since the sun was quite bright which usually produces too much glare and contrast on waterfalls. Luckily the light was such that most of the falls were in the shade or filtered by the trees. For the most part, waterfalls photograph better in diffused light. Compare the Blackwater Falls in this post with one shot 2 days earlier with brighter light, shown in the previous post titled, ‘Familiar Places’.

Elakala Fall I — 'Elakala Falls I' © Denise Bush

'Blackwater Falls in Autumn' © Denise Bush

Horizontal or Vertical?

West Virginia Waterfalls – Part II
Here’s more West Virginia waterfalls. With these I couldn’t decide whether I liked the horizontal or vertical version better. I tend to shoot vertically quite often and think it’s a good idea to remember to look for a composition both ways when possible. Which do you prefer?

Blackwater Falls, West Virginia — 'Blackwater Falls I' © Denise Bush

Familiar Places

I have been to the Canaan Valley area of West Virginia twice before. Our second full day brought us to some familiar places including a distant view of Blackwater Falls, Lindy Point and Harper’s barn. This year the autumn foliage was a little late and not quite as colorful as on a trip four years prior. Of course going back to a place the photographer always hopes for something better than the images that came before. I am unsure as to whether this actually happened unless I compare the images side by side but I will say I enjoyed being there whatever the case may be. We photographed several other locations throughout the day, including Elakala Falls, and I’ll be including some of those images in upcoming posts.

'Distant Blackwater Falls' © Denise Bush

Seneca Rocks, West Virginia

The first day of my trip to West Virginia was spent in the Seneca Rocks area. A great group of friends and I arrived at Seneca Rocks in the dark and fog to search the grounds and find our way to a good spot for first light. The light came on slow and soft. I swear I heard coyotes in the distance. At times the rocks were just a faint outline behind the drifting fog. We explored an old homestead on the site and I discovered a few ‘found still-lifes’. After a home-style breakfast we explored the area and wound our way up to Spruce Knob, the highest point in WV. We went on a tour of a cave and made a few other stops throughout the day. My friends and I returned to Seneca Rocks before sunset expecting to witness the face of the rocks lighting up with the warm light of the setting sun. To our delighted surprise we learned moonrise was in alignment with the rocks. It first appeared on the right of the rocks when some kindred photographer’s tipped us off that it would soon be appearing in the notch! We shot until we were sure we had the captures we wanted and ended our first day a happy group of photographers!

'Foggy Sunrise, Seneca Rocks' © Denise Bush

'Moonrise Over Seneca Rocks' © Denise Bush

Friends in High Places

Here are a couple of images shot shortly after sunrise at Bear Rocks, Dolly Sods, WV on October 10th. I posted these on Facebook and thought I might as well post them here too. As I said on Facebook, the shot of my friend, Dave titled ‘OMG!’ repeatedly gave me the chills while processing it. I still can’t look at it without cringing! We had a beautiful sunrise and shared the rocks with Joe Rossbach’s workshop group. It was nice running into him as well as some other members of my camera club who were there on different trips. I’ll be processing and posting some other images from the trip soon.