From Clingman's Dome

[sapearl]

Earlier this month we made it down to The Nantahala range and Smoky mountains. Here is one shot from Clingman's Dome"

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[Picture North Carolina]

That's a very nice shot, Stuart. But alas, it makes me sad. It's looks worse than the last time I was there. The Woolly Adelgid is devastating everything.

[Cyclop]

Nice B&W of a barren forest.

[sapearl]

Thank you Dan - appreciate the comments.

I wondered what was killing the trees and had assumed it was some sort of moth, bug or caterpiller. I understand the sadness, and it struck me as even more devastating with the gray fog and clouds.

Btw - gorgeous stuff on your site. It's very interesting what you do with localized and spot/flood (?) lighting in some of your shots.

That's a very nice shot, Stuart. But alas, it makes me sad. It's looks worse than the last time I was there. The Woolly Adelgid is devastating everything.

[cgatto]

Sad to hear about the destruction of the forest. On another note, this shot conveys a lot feeling. I like it a lot, very nice.

[sapearl]

Thank you Chris - and all this from an observation ramp that looks like it was built by State Dept. of Transportation.... go figure :rolleyes:.


Sad to hear about the destruction of the forest. On another note, this shot conveys a lot feeling. I like it a lot, very nice.

[Picture North Carolina]

Thank you Dan - appreciate the comments.

I wondered what was killing the trees and had assumed it was some sort of moth, bug or caterpiller. I understand the sadness, and it struck me as even more devastating with the gray fog and clouds.

Btw - gorgeous stuff on your site. It's very interesting what you do with localized and spot/flood (?) lighting in some of your shots.

Thank you, Stuart. Yes, the woolly adelgid is devastating hemlocks on the east coast, but as I understand it, NC is especially hard hit. As you travel thru the blue ridge mountains, along the parkway (especially in the pisgah forest area) you can see entire mountainsides peppered with dead hemlocks. A drive up the road to the top of Mt. Mitchell will just about make you sob as you get near the top. Can't describe the devastation. In some areas it's all dead.

I have read that some predict they could be gone in as little as five years! A forest ranger told me they cannot spray because of pollution to streams and rivers. The only other alternative is to inject trees which, of course, is cost prohibitive.

I did a shoot for a guy whose business is located in the blue ridge mountains. He had two hemlocks on the property and told me he was spending $4,000 per tree per year to keep them alive.

The hemlocks are especially beautiful in the winter with the way they catch the snow and the branches bend.

As photographers, I guess we need to capture what we can while we can. Stuff like this is happening all around. There could be a time when all we have left is pictures!

Edit: Sorry, overlooked your question. Yes, all of the above - different light sources. The one most -often used would be the common variety voice-activated light stand (biped) manually firing from one to three (snooted) 580 EX's ;)

[digidiva]

It's a beautiful image.
Being in the UK I had to Google those 'Wooly' things...Yuck. What a shame it is wiping out such vast tracts of forest!

[Lisa]

Great Image! I remember going up there 17 years ago and it was all green :(

[sapearl]

Well, I didn't mean to bum everybody out with the dying tries - perhaps this one is a little more upbeat. It's probably about an hour SW of Clingman's, on Lake Nantahala which is where we had our rental house. The house came with a pontoon boat which we made good use of:

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[sapearl]

And for those of you who have not already seen it, there's another one in the same series here:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=740263

[Picture North Carolina]

Well, I didn't mean to bum everybody out with the dying tries - perhaps this one is a little more upbeat.

Stuart, I apologize for dragging your thread down.

[sapearl]

No, no - not at all ;). It is a bit of an ominous shot I uploaded, which did elicit the desired effect. I just wanted to throw something a little different in from the same series :D.

Stuart, I apologize for dragging your thread down.

[PiRho]

Amazing shot Stuart! that makes me want to go back! it's been a while (several years) since I was up there!

[shutterbugcrazy]

All the pollution doesn't help either