Location: Mt. Pisgah Parking Area.
When the skies are gloomy down in the North Carolina mountains, you’ll more than likely find me standing in a forest stream or at the base of a waterfall. But after a day of waterfalling I like to at least try and catch some kind of a sunset on my way back to the hotel. No matter how thick the clouds are, you can almost always count on something unfolding that will make for a nice shot, whether the sun shows itself or not. On this evening, I stopped off at the parking area for the Mt. Pisgah trailhead on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I like this spot because it’s easy and gives nice westward views of Cold Mountain and Mt. Pisgah in the same shot, if you choose to frame it that way. While standing there behind my camera and tripod, I was joined by a man and wife who had just driven down the parkway from Asheville in hopes of catching a sunset as well. Well as it turned out, we never did see the sun, but I wasn’t that disappointed, since there was constant low hanging cloud cover blowing through the area, creating all kinds of interest for a nice photograph. I even saw some color off in the sky as the thick clouds would part for a minute or two. As the couple started to back out of the parking lot, I overheard the husband say to his wife, ” Well we drove all that way for nothing!” It just goes to show, beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.
Camera: Nikon D-90
Lens: NIKKOR 10–24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED
Focal Length: 14mm
ISO: 400
Shutter: 2 seconds and 1/2 second
Aperture: F/11
Filters: circular polarizer
Exposure: Manual
How I Got This Shot: I set the camera on a tripod in manual mode and took two exposures, one on the foreground and one on the sky. I combined them using Photomatix software in exposure fusion mode.
For More Information
- Additional photographs by Jeff Burcher Photography
- Categories where this photo is found: Fall Color, Mountain Horizons, Sunrises & Sunsets