Table Rock at sunrise
To those who celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a great holiday. And if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a good weekend anyway!
The week before Thanksgiving I flew to South Carolina. A couple of people who had previously taken my Spring Digital Camera Workshop got some of their friends together and invited me to come to their home and teach a workshop.
I’d never been to this part of the country before, and found it to be quite beautiful. This region, in the mountains along the border between North Carolina and South Carolina, is home to a great concentration of waterfalls. Of course I live near another great waterfall area, Yosemite, but the character of the falls is quite different in each place. Yosemite is known for its big, thundering, dramatic, vertical drops like Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Fall. The Carolina waterfalls are smaller, and usually slide down less-than-vertical rock faces, but they have braids and channels that lend themselves to slow shutter speeds and more intimate compositions, and in their own way they’re equally photogenic.
And even though the fall foliage was past peak, we found some great color in spots. The oaks, in particular, dotted the lower-elevation hills with red. This region must have been spectacular earlier in the fall. I’d love to return in October, or in spring when the dogwoods and rhododendrons bloom.
Here are a few of my favorite images from the trip. If you’ve visited this area before I’d love to see your photos, so feel free to post a link in the comments.
—Michael Frye
Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He is the author and photographer of The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, Yosemite Meditations, and Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters, plus the eBook Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom. He has written numerous magazine articles on the art and technique of photography, and his images have been published in over thirty countries around the world. Michael has lived either in or near Yosemite National Park since 1983, currently residing just outside the park in Mariposa, California.
Trees and mist at Pinnacle Lake, Table Rock State Park
Misty hills near Whitewater Falls
Clearing storm over Lake Jocassee
Red oaks from Caesar's Head State Park
Upper Triple Falls, Dupont State Forest
Sunbeams on Twin Falls
Eastatoe Falls
Misty road lined with maples
Workshop students in the fog
Enjoy seeing a bit of the South…lovely
Michael, great images as always. My son has moved close to this area and we are planning a spring trip. Thanks for some ideas on photo outings. Dale
Dale, spring should be great, so I hope you get a chance to get out and take some photos.
Beautiful Michael, especially the photo of Eastatoe Falls.
Thanks Kelly! I like that one too – one of those instances where all the elements came together.
nice work michael, here’s a few of mine from the american south last fall. russ
http://bit.ly/i3rIyw
Nice Russ – a different take from my images for sure. Thanks for sharing!
Michael,
You nailed it in your own inimitable style! Your talent travels well, I see. Lovely to see new landscapes through your practiced eye.
Edie
Thanks Edie!
Michael
I hope you come back again. The mountains of TN, NC, SC and GA are beautiful. The fall is a special time in these hills. It’s different from Yosemite, Sequoia and the other western mountains. They are all beautiful and each should be enjoyed.
I’d like to come back Richard!
I am a sucker for misty scenes. I really love the way the low clouds and the lines of the hills make a zigzag pattern in that second image. Even though there are only a few trees left with leaves, the color is brilliant!
So much fun to see what this part of the country has to offer.
Thanks Vivienne! I’m fond of that one too.
Michael, I grew up in this area of SC and NC. I have taken many photos at Table Rock, Caesar’s Head, Cashiers, NC, and Highlands, NC. I now live in the Atlanta area. I am glad that you had the opportunity to see my part of the country. I am an amateur photographer and a facebook friend of yours. I post many photos on facebook because I like to get feedback from professional photographers. I love your photos! I spent my career teaching business education classes to high school and technical school students. Now that I am retired, I can pursue my passion–nature photography!
Thanks Patsy – I’m glad I got a chance to visit your part of the country too, it’s quite beautiful.
You are totally awesome! We spent the first 30 or so years of our lives in the Virginia area even living need the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Your photos are as spectacular as the ones you take in Yosemite. Thank you for such a beautiful present.
Thanks very much Ina!
I live an 1.5 East of Skyline Drive here are some shots that I have taken of the falls and few other subjects. You really do have a great touch, love the misty road and Eastatoe Falls!
Thanks Jamie! I don’t see any photos or a link though… would like to see them.
Simply magic!! You find beauty no matter where you and your camera go 🙂
I live a little bit south of there, but still part of the same temperate rain forest, so there are still plenty of waterfalls around. Here’s a few of mine. http://www.invisiblegreen.com/tags/waterfalls
Oh, and as long as you’re waiting for the trees to bloom, you should check out the mountain laurel too: http://www.invisiblegreen.com/mountain-laurel-blooms-ix
Nice waterfall images Marcus! I especially like the third one, wpid6876-0463. Do you mind telling me where MJT_67091 was made? Looks like a great spot (maybe the same fall?).
Oh how I wish I had known you would be in my ‘neck of the woods’. It would have been my great honor to have taken you to lunch and picked your brain for some tips on your amazing photography!!!! 🙂 NC and SC indeed have some beautiful scenery and your artistry of
it is just amazing. Please consider a visit along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the fall. It is gorgeous. I took a few in October and the colors during that time are spectacular!
Ah well, maybe next time Pam! If I come back I’ll let you know.
Thanks very much for all the comments everyone! It was nice to see some new territory, and I’m glad y’all like the photos. 🙂
Thanks for sharing with us your spectacular photos.I love them all and in particular the misty road and the the last one waterfalls.
Thanks very much Maria!
Good to have you back East! It’s a gentler and more subtle landscape but there is some great beauty to be had, especially in the fall. I like Eastatoe Falls, and Misty Road is classic in many ways. I just posted to my website journal a collection of images from Shenandoah taken over 16 days that culminated in a surprise snow even as fall’s colors tried to hold on. But in putting this together what I found is that while we do have some pretty good colors at times, you much more frequently have really sweet light, that along with your more dramatic scale, frequently takes your vistas and scenic panormamas to a special level.
Thanks Ed – it was nice to be back east, and to see some new and beautiful territory. I agree that the western states have more dramatic landscapes, but I’m not sure that the light is better. You have more clouds back east, and clouds make things more interesting! Anyway, I took a look at your Shenandoah images – nice stuff!
http://gallery.me.com/scowcroftstudios
Thanks for sharing Jamie – you found some nice color in the Prince William Forest!
Thanks Michael
Hi Michael,
WE have not met but I hope to take one of your workshops in the next year or so. I was introduced to you via Guy Tal. I have taken three workshops from Guy and he is amazing in so many ways. I just purchased your latest ebook about LR 5 and workflow.
I was quite blown away a few minutes ago when I read the title that you had visited SC.
I grew up in the foothills of The Blue Ridge Mountains in a very small town called Pickens. I spent much of my childhood going to and hanging out at Table Rock and Jocassee! Wow, what a throw back! Your photos really did the area justice. It is very beautiful there and I miss the landscape and the ocean! I am looking forward to taking a workshop focusing on the Smoky Mountains! It is one of my favorite places ever. I still have vivid dreams about it.
I live in Colorado and have for 30+ years. I look forward to meeting you and taking a workshop from you!
Best,
Cynthia Groo
Thanks for your comments Cynthia, and I’m glad these photos could bring back some good memories for you! We drove near Pickens, but didn’t actually pass through it on our travels. I hope to see you in a workshop sometime.