October. Craggy Gardens - About 5800 feet. Just
before sunup. A winter storm is blowing about
40 mph winds, and I am driving up into the
clouds on the Blue Ridge Parkway - The clouds
are so thick, visibility is zero (well, maybe
ten feet). If I stopped, somebody might hit me.
If I drove off the cliff, that would suck....So
- I eventually made it to Craggy Gardens by
following the yellow centerline in the road.
That was all I could see. Freaky. I grabbed my
gear and headed up to the lookout. It was soooo
cold! The clouds were full of moisture, and the
wind was blowing so hard that an ice/snow
mixture was forming on one side of the branches
and blowing off in little chunks. Being from
the south (way south, like the it never snows
part of the south) this was a surreal
experience for me - I was planning on being on
top of this mountain at sunrise and getting a
photograph of the panoramic view. Plans changed
because I couldn't see anything - the path to
the top looked misty and magical - despite the
wind, there was a foggy look to everything -
The light was stating to come up and there were
several great twisted tree trunks right there.
Long exposures with my medium format camera,
slide film. Notice the background trees are in
motion. There was a whole series of shots from
this morning that are unlike most of my work,
because the conditions were so adverse - I was
alternately laughing and fearing for my safety,
because It was basically a blizzard up there,
and I wasn't mush for driving down a mountain
on an icy road. After an hour of shooting, my
hands were too numb to change the film in my
cameras - It was comical - I couldn't load the
film, but there were al these great shots to
take....It was like I was in slow motion. I
somehow was able to change the film. Shortly
after dawn, the blizzard cleared, and I was on
top of the mountain as the clouds cleared, and
I got my panoramic shot. Gorgeous! BUT! This
tree was the best shot of the day.