The ancient Greek, pre-Socratic philosopher, Heraclitus said, “No man steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” For me this has always been good enough reason to return time and again to the places that have spoken to me photographically; and whether I am the same person, I know for certain that the place is never the same and each time I go I am rewarded with a wonderful new photographic experience. It is exactly this way for a beautiful spot along Middle Prong of Little River about half of a mile from the end of the road at the old ghost town of Tremont. The water is never the same and the forests that surround it are magically different from day-to-day, from the flowers of the dogwood to the colors of autumn.

A focal length of 84mm, short-telephotoland, gave me the angle-of-view, slight compression and magnification I was looking for. An aperture of f/16 provided depth-of-field; and at ISO 100 I had a shutter speed of 1.3 seconds for an overall medium exposure. Note that I was able to achieve depth-of-field with an aperture that saved me 1-stop of shutter speed from f/22. Moving water has a tendency to created its own draft, so the difference between 1.3 seconds and 2.5+ seconds, with patience, allowed me to freeze the motion in the dogwood branch and retain a very low ISO setting. Working readily back and forth among exposure reciprocities is sometimes the difference between an image that succeeds and one that must be re-taken.

There is no more beautiful land on Earth than the land of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in spring. To live and to be able to create Beauty in this land is to be blessed beyond words. May we always walk in the light of this wondrous Beauty.