Through the Heart of Blue Ridge

“The Blue Ridge”

If your soul gets moved by the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains, then the Blue Ridge Parkway is a must do!  Not to sound cheesy or over dramatic, but I can't tell you how many times the beauty of the parkway almost moved me to tears!  Whether it be an amazing sunrise with the morning mist dancing through the valleys below or the evening sun kissing the Rhododendrons along the road. The beauty and the vastness of the layers of the mountains are just incredible!  The Blue Ridge Parkway got its name because it connects the Shenandoah National Park and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park by traveling down the spine of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains! The Parkway is 469 miles long, and it has the iconic concrete post along the road so you can remember all the beautiful spots along the way.  Jesica and I once borrowed her parents' Tahoe and took it up the Blue Ridge Parkway and slept in the back at various stops along the way.  It's one of our favorite trips that we've ever done!

“Sunrise on Balsam”

One of my best memories is one that almost didn't happen.  It was early summer and the days are really long!  By the time you got up hours before sunrise and finally made it to bed after sunset, there wasn’t much time for sleep!  I had shot sunrise/sunset 3 consecutive days, so I was a little tired.  It was the last day of our trip, and the rain was to be moving into the area at some point.  When I looked at the weather, it said 100% clouds so the plan was to sleep in.  I had forgot to turn off my alarm, so it went off again at 4:30 am.  I turned it off and tried to go to sleep but I couldn't.  I had this sense of missing something and just laid there.  I decided to get up and go anyway!  I stepped out and all I saw was clouds!  I jumped in the car and headed out.  As I was driving I could see a little sliver of light along the eastern horizon!  So, I started to perk up a bit.  I arrived at my location about 45 minutes before the sun was to come up.  I could tell the clouds were amazing but I couldn't tell if the clouds were moving east to close up the horizon or if it was moving west to open it up a little bit more.  I set up my phone to shoot a quick time lapse so I could see the movement.  It was moving west, so I was so happy!  What unfolded that morning was one of those times I was almost moved to tears!  The clouds, the rocks, and all the grass before me were instantly lit up by the morning sun!  I had my composition were I wanted it and I captured the image "Sunrise on the Balsam" which has become my best selling print ever!  So, if you have this image I hope you enjoyed the story!  Since then, this spot is my favorite along the parkway!  I also got the image "Falling on the Balsam" and "Frosted Balsam" from this spot!

“Falling on the Balsam”

    Another memory that I look back on now that stands out is a trip that Jesica and I took to see my brother Steve and his girlfriend Shirley.  My brother is gone now, so this memory is a little more cherished.  He lived close to the parkway near the section of Grandfather Mountain: this section is just mind blowing!  The ruggedness of this area really makes it!  While we were there I planned to visit a waterfall that I'd been looking for for a couple years!  I could never find a name for it or location.  A good buddy of mine who goes by Waterfall Hillbilly was able to hook me up!  The morning we went to the falls, it was raining which is great, but also made the descent very difficult.  This is a dangerous area and since then, they have closed the falls to the public due to safety concerns.   I know it seems you should be able to visit places like this, but the issue is not you getting hurt.  It's the danger the people going after you are put in due to your rescue is the issue!  It wouldn't have been easy to get my big butt out of there! I actually almost got seriously hurt during the descent.  I hopped off a ledge to a small landing area but my pack caught the ledge and pushed me forwards!  Jesica thought I was a goner!  We eventually made it to the falls and I actually said "Wow" outloud!  It was the prettiest falls I've ever seen!  The conditions were perfect! We had fog, a mountain laurel in full bloom, and perfect flow to the falls!  I named this image "Mystical".

“Mystical”

   The one element in photography that is usually involved with my best images from the Blue Ridge parkway is light!  Light is so important in landscape photography!  If you can get good light on the Blue Ridge Parkway I promise you will come home with great images!  Over the years I've been able to catch some of these little moments in time! A few of these moments stand out a little more than others.  One was recently and it was Jesica and I's 10th anniversary!  It all seemed like it wasn't going to work out.  I thought the clouds were going to spoil the evening, but the light broke through and hit the area in front of me which included some beautiful Rhododendrons.  I called this photo "Appalachian Love" obviously!!  Another image that comes to mind is "Autumnal Fire".  Jes has her soap company called Sunrise Wick and Wash, and she delivers it to the Pisgah Inn which is an amazing stop along the parkway.  We planned it so we would be coming back for sunset.  We pulled over at one favorite spots and waited! You could just tell the light was going to be special!  I had my composition set up an hour before sunset.  It included a beautiful Blueberry bush which is the front red one and a Mountain Ash tree  which sets back a little bit to the left.  It has these bright red berries on it.  As the sun moved out of the clouds the light was hitting my front of my lens causing some flares and glare that were taking away from some of the details in the mountains.  So, what I did is I took the image, and then I took a 2nd one where I put my finger in front of my lens and blocked the light from hitting my glass.  This totally got rid of everything and let me get a nice clean image!  The other one that stands out is an image I called "Majestic".  One thing for sure is that what the light was doing in front of me was Majestic!!  Jes and I were high up on the Balsam Range with layers and layers of mountains all around us!  The light was late in the day but not sunset.  The light was breaking through the clouds only hitting certain areas in the distance.  As the light was dancing all around us there was a moment where the light was hitting the ridges of this beautiful section of mountains.  I put on my 70-200 quickly so I could reach out and grab what was happening!  By zooming in, it allowed me to emphasize that moment.   It might not be as dramatic as some of my images but it's one of my recent favorites.

“Autumnal Fire”

  One of these days Jes and I plan to jump in the truck and hitch up our camper to take another journey up the parkway.  I would love to do the whole thing in the fall.  When we are at our store Sunrise Grocery and I'm talking to people; I'm shocked on how many people haven't been on the parkway.  I highly encourage you to pack your bags and do the trip ! It's very interesting to see the different sections because they're very different!  Some of the areas include the Plott Balsam mountains, the Great Balsam Range, and the Black Mountains which includes Mt. Mitchell which is the hightest mountain east of the Mississippi.  I hope you enjoy our journey along the parkway and I'll leave you with several more images from our trips!  Remember if you see something you like head over to my website store page and we can send it right to ya!  Thanks for taking the time to read this and have a good one!

“Blue Ridge Magic”

“Clash of the Titans”

“Parkway Magic”

“Rhode Trip”

“Majestic”

“Falling Leaves”

“Sunset on Pisgah”

“Frosted Balsam”

“Appalachia Love”