Through My Lens

“Beauty Spot” is located in the Unaka Mountain range, on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina. It’s one of the best places in eastern U.S. to see a sunset.

Taken from “Pleasant Garden” on Unaka Mountain, Tennessee.

The Mill Mountain Star, overlooking the beautiful city of Roanoke, Virginia is the world’s largest free-standing illuminated star. Roanoke, which is nicknamed the “Star City”, was my home for four years after I graduated college. I would have loved to have taken this photo at night, but I didn’t have the opportunity. Maybe I can return soon to try to get that shot.

More snow and cold weather outside today, so I thought I’d post something warm and cheerful. This rose was one of a dozen given to my wife from my little boy.

Photo details: Nikon D80, Tamron 90mm macro, f/8.0, 1/80 sec. shutter, 400 ISO, in manual mode. I shot this in the studio with a single softbox about one foot away from the rose. I was lazy and shot it hand-held instead of using a tripod.

This little lone Daffodil is the first flower (growing outside) that I’ve seen so far in 2009. Spring is finally upon us… and I’m ready for it!

This old railroad trestle crossing the Doe River has definitely seen its better days. Most of the crossties have fallen away making it unsafe to walk across, but I felt it made for an interesting photograph. This was the end of the “road” for my Doe River hike, and will be the final photo of the series that I’ve posted this week.

I made a steep climb down into the gorge to get a shot of this small waterfall on the Doe River. I didn’t have my tripod but I closed the aperture down to f/22, leaned back on a big rock, and rested the camera on my knee to get a longer exposure. One fifth of a second was enough to yield a slight blurred effect, while also giving a frothy look to the water below the falls.

This tunnel is the portal into the Doe River Gorge… with the landscape immediately changing from an expansive valley to steep cliffs and deep ravines. This was once the passageway into the narrow gorge for the old ET&WNC Railroad built in the 1880’s, which carried Iron Ore from Cranberry, NC to Johnson City, TN. To learn more about this interesting rail line, also known as “The Tweetsie”, click here.

We’re continuing to head upstream on the Doe River this week…

This beautiful valley is located just outside of Hampton, Tennessee, near the gateway to the Doe River Gorge. Tomorrow, we’ll follow the old railroad line along the river, into the high cliffs of the gorge.

The Elizabethton Covered Bridge spanning the Doe River.

This historic landmark, built in 1882, is one of the most photographed structures in east Tennessee.

This spot is far downstream on the Doe River, almost to the point where it empties into the Watauga River. In the next few days, I’ll continue with photographs traveling upstream on the Doe River… into the Doe River Gorge.