Not that it’s just a Smokies thing, but in thinking about telling that story, I wanted blurred water. We all know the song, “Smoke on the Water.” If you’ve not been to the Smokies, you might not know that water is everywhere! It’s a prominent feature that truly helps define The Smokies as The Smokies, the water itself and its effect on all the foliage. So in photographing the water, I think in telling the story, The Smokies has to be in the photo, all of it.
So with that in mind, there is only one of these three images that to me, says “water in The Smokies.” While all three were shot in The Smokies, at the same locale at the same time, only one says Smokies. Now does that make a difference? No, not when it comes to taking purty pics. But to me in wanting to be a storyteller, it does. Two of the photos could have been shot anywhere and they say that visually.
The photos were taken simply with the Df / 14-24AFS / 70-180mic with no filters, just slow shutters speeds and something new. But the gear or technique isn’t what’s really important here. I feel passionately it’s the story that needs to be told. Cause blurry water is blurry water and can be shot anywhere and for the most part, look like its from anywhere. But once you complicate it by adding place, telling the story of where that water is, that’s when the photo comes to life. And as the week continued, we found better locations to accomplish this storytelling. Those really are the successes but I had to build to it. mtc