A few Saturday's ago
the girls and I were finally able to align our schedules so that we could make
a trip to the Great Smoky National Park.
The Park always makes for a great "day-cation" and while I'm
working on a photo project there we're always looking for the opportunity to
return.
In the essence of
time we decided to go to Cataloochee which is on the SE portion of the park and
only about an hours drive for us. Not
only is there wonderful history at Cataloochee but it's also were the park service
started the reintroduction of Elk. It's
always a pleasure to see the Elk each time we visit. There is a great abundance of turkey and
we've seen a bear or two off in the distance during warmer months.
There are a couple
of home sites that are still on my list to visit in Cataloochee and with this
trip I was going to have the opportunity to visit one of them; The Woody House, an original log cabin that
was converted to a multi room house between 1901 and 1910, by Steve Woody. The walk to the Woody house is 1 mile from
the trail head which is located at the end of the last open valley and very
scenic, with 4 sawn log bridge crossings.
After
our visit to the Woody House, I wanted to shoot some detail images and the
large barn across from the Palmer House was just the place. It was late in
the afternoon and about 30 degrees so there were very few people around, except
for one couple who appeared to be picnicking on the second level loft of the
barn. They looked quizzically at me as I
walked around the barn staring at the sawn log siding. It seemed an odd moment so I asked how they
were doing and mentioned they must be cold, without much of a reply. I did find some interesting details to
photograph and after a while the couple appeared close to me looking even more
curious than when we first saw each other.
I had my camera set on a tripod and positioned about a foot from the
side of the barn. They watched as I took
a few shots and as I was about move my position the man approached and asked
"You take pictures of wood? Why" in a European accent. As I tried to explain the project I'm working
on, the concept of detail work, textures, their puzzled looks became more and
more glazed over. So I hit the preview
button on my camera to show them the last few images, as they saw a couple of
images they looked at each other in surprise then looked at me and said
"Oh my God, those are so beautiful!".
They said something to each other and then walked away.
I must say it made
me chuckle inside.
Cheers,
Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment