November 15, 2008

Photo Challenge: Water

Time for the latest Brenda Photo Challenge! The subject is Water, picked by the current challenge hostess, Maria of Let the Good Times Roll.

Tennessee is renowned for all of its waterways and, most notably, the Tennessee River. Beginning in 1933, Tennessee Valley Authority (my former employer) built dams to tame the river and its tributaries for flood control and to also bring electricity to the rural Appalachian region. Since water is such a vital part of the Tennessee landscape and history, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight some scenes from my state.

Lakeside Splendor – We decided to go for a drive and stroll last week to enjoy the end of the fall season. One of the places we visited was Concord Park, which lies off the shore of Fort Loudoun Lake. We like to visit this park because it has a lovely, paved walking trail and it is only about 8 miles from our home. We took many photographs during our stroll, and I was fortunate to catch a good frame of this beautiful old dogwood tree. The scarlet leaves sparkled in the afternoon sunlight. The picture was taken with a polarizing filter at f/8 and 1/50 second.

this old dogwood sentinel stands watch at the lake's edge of the park
Water Served on the Rocks – We have taken several day trips over to Tellico Plains to travel on the Cherohala Skyway Road into North Carolina. Right outside of Tellico Plains is the Bald River Falls, tucked into the Cherokee National Forest. We parked the truck and walked back to the bridge to take pictures of this spectacular 100’ waterfall. The camera settings for the first photo were f/11 and 1/200 second, and f/11 and 1/80 second for the close-up photo.

this overall view was taken from the roadway bridge

zooming in close about midway down, you can see large mossy-covered boulders peeking out from the cascading water
Even Pond Scum Can Be Pretty - Remember the pictures I shared recently of Evins Mill, located outside of Smithville? Here is a view taken from the footbridge, looking straight down into the pond. I love the texture and colors in this composition. The photo was taken at f/5.6 and 1/400 second.

I caught this grouping of leaves and algae before it tumbled over the concrete dam

17 comments:

  1. I love your pictures. I am putting that waterfall on my list of places to visit. So pretty!

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  2. ....I'm just going to slink back under my rock after seeing these....Hahahahaa....These are Beautiful Sweetie!!! Great job!hughugs

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  3. WOW!!! You outdid yourself. These are soo beautiful. Love those waterfall pictures!

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  4. Beautiful pictures, Donna. You guys sure live in a beautiful part of our country!

    Great job!

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  5. Amazing photos. I love the waterfall one. You did a great job on the challenge.

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  6. Great post, and you photos are fabulous. The dogwood tree is outstanding, but I think my fave is the waterfall.

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  7. You certainly have beautiful terrain in your part of the country and so close to home...that is wonderful and it's good you get out and enjoy it...I really like the photo taken from the footbridge...one would never know that was pond scum!

    Donna send me an email if you want to do the ornament exchange early and I will provide you with an address (even if it's my own for lack of participation thus far...ha!)...oh, and be sure to mention if you have a color preference or would like to be surprised ~



    have a wonderful weekend ~

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  8. Hi Donna,
    These are all so pretty. I love the first one wiht the colors and water, it looks like a place you could sit and read a book all day. And the waterfalls is beautiful. Pond scum can be interesting, that's really cool. Great photos!

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  9. Donna, your photos are exceptionally beautiful! I love the waterfall best, but the dogwood tree with its red leaves is also great!
    Thank you for your nice comment,
    have a nice weekend, Maria

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  10. Beautiful! Love the second waterfall picture the best I think. Just the closeness and detail of it are striking to me. Good job!

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  11. Wow - I can't decide which is my favorite! My pictures seem so plain compared to yours.

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  12. I loved all of your pictures. I would like to visit this place one day. It's awesome.

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  13. Thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement! It looks like the waterfall is the clear winner in this batch! It is a beautiful spot, so it was easy for picture-taking.

    I hope that this will help inspire you to come to TN sometime and see the gorgeous countryside!

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  14. They are all such lovely photos. I think that the waterfalls are beautiful and the pond scum makes me want to wrinkle my toes up.

    Sharon

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  15. Isn't it amazing what an undertaking building all those dams was? Maybe if we put people to work rebuilding all the infrastructure throughout the U.S. we could pull ourselves out of this recession.
    I loved the falls, but I will take a pass on the pond scum being beautiful. Give me those beautiful red leaves any day!!!

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  16. Great pictures. I love the waterfall.

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  17. Hey, Donna--

    Drop by my place to pick up an award.

    And I like your new header pic!!

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Marty, here! Donna loves comments, and I faithfully pass them on to her. Thank you so much for visiting!