We ended up with something like a foot of fresh powder on the ground in the Buffalo River area today, as much as 18" in some spots, especially a little farther south. Most of the highways were cleared off by noon, although for some very strange reason Hwy. 16 between Edwards Junction and Deer was not cleared at all. In fact there was one spot on that stretch of highway with a snow drift that was up to TOP of the DOOR on our car! Bill Dark can confirm as he had to pull a guy out of this very drift a few hours before we came through. I've never seen anything quite like that on the road, even in the dead of winter in Colorado or Wyoming. Overall it was amazing how great the road crews did though - it is only recently that you could even get a road grader in the Fallsville area within a week of a heavy snowfall, much less the very next morning. The side roads were a different matter, and anything but extra-high clearance vehicles scraped bottom all the way - the ruts were a foot deep or deeper. It was a lot of fun!
Anyway, it was a great day to be out and about making photographs, although I must say that some of the more famous locations were so populated with photographers that you could not swing a dead skunk without hitting one - holy cow, don't you guys have jobs!? In the good old days the only folks out on days like this were the old grizzled photogs, or those of us young whipper-snappers who did not know any better. But now everyone was out with camera and tripod, and I bet a lot of you guys got some terrific photos too. There were so many photographers at Falling Water Falls that I didn't even bother, although there were some nice images to be had downstream.
I did a quick early trip over to Hawksbill Crag this morning and made a wide shot with my special "100 megapixel" camera rig, then shot a few pattern shots. I've not looked at other shots from today, but here are those two from first thing this morning.
Hey Tom, I can do 38" tall panels by 72" wide, so 18 feet wide, not counting spaces! But I would have to rez up a little bit for that...
Hey John, you should see that puzzle at 100% - it seems to almost be lifesize, although I've only got a 30" monitor so can't see too much of it at once, but it is fun to scroll around. This medium-format back that I am shooting these days really does have a different look to it than 35mm, more of a 3D quality to the image. I guess in film terms it is more like an 8/10 contact print in the wet darkroom as opposed to a 35mm enlargement.
The only problem with a scene like the puzzle is that I shot 35-40 frames of it, each time doing something a little bit different, but it would take me a week and a bottle of whiskey before I could ever figure out which one was the "best" of the lot, and even then my choice might be suspect after looking at all of those branches. So what I do is normally try to improve my vision and technique with each scene that I take, which means the ones I shot at the end would be my best (lighting and wind being equal) . So all I basically ignore all but the last few shots for any given scene and that allows me to make a quicker edit to find the very best shot...
Posted by Tim Buchanan on March 8, 2008 at 8:43 AM
Fantastic images - can't wait to see more. Who knows - with the rate digital photography is progressing we may be shooting 3D shots sometime in the future.
Tim,
The puzzle shot may not require booze. It kind of makes you drunk just looking at it. I can only imagine how it looks at full res. Beautiful stuff. We finally got some snow here. I'm locking in the hubs and heading out.
The Hawksbill shot is stunning.
Great Hawksbill shot.....I don't think I could drink enough to put together a puzzle made from that other shot. But then, it might be the only way I would try it. The puzzle shot reminds me of the paintings with the birch trees in the snow with the horses hidden in the mix.
Posted by Randy Wilson on March 8, 2008 at 7:46 PM
I think you can put away the rocks, Tim. No one can touch that.
I sure wouldn't want to drink a bottle of whiskey before I went to the crag Friday morning, although I know a couple of guys that might...Where is everybody? I figured there would be at least a few folks out taking in the view.
No one else made it to the Crag on Friday but there were some there on Saturday. As you know the roads were really not all that bad - I guess other folks have JOBS maybe. I'm really glad I made that trip, and not just for the photos, but it was one of the most enjoyable snow hikes I've made in a good long while. Almost needed snowshoes, although they would have been tough to deal with down near the edge.
No one else made it to the Crag on Friday but there were some there on Saturday. As you know the roads were really not all that bad - I guess other folks have JOBS maybe. I'm in a phase of not having people in that scene at the moment so it all worked out fine for me.
I'm really glad I made that trip, and not just for the photos - it was one of the most enjoyable snow hikes I've made in a good long while. Almost needed snowshoes, although they would have been tough to deal with down near the edge.
Posted by Randy Wilson on March 9, 2008 at 2:17 PM
I tried to make it up Cave Mountain Friday morning but couldn't. The little blue Mazda has pretty good clearance for a car, but the tires are aren't worth a flying flip on anything but dry pavement. I thought about trying to come in from Red Star but set out in other directions instead and never made it back that way, darn it. Maybe there's a Subaru Forester somewhere in my future.
Discussion
11 repliesAnyway, it was a great day to be out and about making photographs, although I must say that some of the more famous locations were so populated with photographers that you could not swing a dead skunk without hitting one - holy cow, don't you guys have jobs!? In the good old days the only folks out on days like this were the old grizzled photogs, or those of us young whipper-snappers who did not know any better. But now everyone was out with camera and tripod, and I bet a lot of you guys got some terrific photos too. There were so many photographers at Falling Water Falls that I didn't even bother, although there were some nice images to be had downstream.
I did a quick early trip over to Hawksbill Crag this morning and made a wide shot with my special "100 megapixel" camera rig, then shot a few pattern shots. I've not looked at other shots from today, but here are those two from first thing this morning.
Hawksbill Crag at 100 megapixel
Puzzle Pic (only 39mp)
Hey John, you should see that puzzle at 100% - it seems to almost be lifesize, although I've only got a 30" monitor so can't see too much of it at once, but it is fun to scroll around. This medium-format back that I am shooting these days really does have a different look to it than 35mm, more of a 3D quality to the image. I guess in film terms it is more like an 8/10 contact print in the wet darkroom as opposed to a 35mm enlargement.
The only problem with a scene like the puzzle is that I shot 35-40 frames of it, each time doing something a little bit different, but it would take me a week and a bottle of whiskey before I could ever figure out which one was the "best" of the lot, and even then my choice might be suspect after looking at all of those branches. So what I do is normally try to improve my vision and technique with each scene that I take, which means the ones I shot at the end would be my best (lighting and wind being equal) . So all I basically ignore all but the last few shots for any given scene and that allows me to make a quicker edit to find the very best shot...
The puzzle shot may not require booze. It kind of makes you drunk just looking at it. I can only imagine how it looks at full res. Beautiful stuff. We finally got some snow here. I'm locking in the hubs and heading out.
The Hawksbill shot is stunning.
I'm really glad I made that trip, and not just for the photos - it was one of the most enjoyable snow hikes I've made in a good long while. Almost needed snowshoes, although they would have been tough to deal with down near the edge.