Submitter's name:	Walt Wayman
Title:	Come on down!
Gear used:	OM-3, Motor Drive 1, 28mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss Jena lens
Diaphragm:	f/5.6
Shutter speed:	1/60.
Film used:	Kodachrome 64
Technical information:	Exposure was determined by a single spot reading on the clouds. The shot was hurriedly taken hand-held out the driver’s window of a Toyota 4Runner, locked in 4WD, still in gear, with the engine running and a foot firmly on the brake pedal, because the mostly non-existent road at this point was starting steeply downhill. (Yes, some SUVs really do leave the pavement.) The Grateful Dead’s "American Beauty" album was in the CD player, and my co-pilot wife was tracking us on the laptop computer with the GPS thingy.
Subject information:	Doing some late-February boondocking and camping in the Cherokee National Forest area of the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, while exploring an old, nearly impassible logging road not on any map, this scene suddenly appeared, then just as quickly disappeared. I had the OM-3 stashed in a padded box I keep on the floor just in front of the driver’s seat to hold a camera (or two) for quick access, so a quick stop, grab and shoot was all there was time for.
Here you can leave some comments about this picture. Please fill out all the fields before submitting the form. Once you're done filling out the form, click the "Leave comments" button, after which you can see your comments down below.
Your name:
Your e-mail:
Comments:

Comment left by: Olaf Greve (no e-mail specified)

I like this a lot. The further each mountain is located in the back, the vaguer they get. Then, those sunrays are icing on the cake.

Comment left by: C.H.Ling (chling@glink.net.hk)

A nice shot, but the low contrast reduced the impact of this photo.

Comment left by: Adam Bolt (boldbolty@iprimus.com.au)

I think they call these God's Fingers, this shot makes me go "WOW". I tend to disagree on the contrast, the shot could loose detail, so if any contrast added I would make it minimal.

Comment left by: bbbean (bbbean@beancotton.com)

To tell the ttruth, it looks more like a '74 Ford Bronco and "Workingman's Dead", but why notpick? Nice shot, very dramatic sky, good use of foreground detail.

Comment left by: Chris Barker (imagopus@threeshoes.co.uk)

Lovely tones. I would reduce the foreground with cropping to put more emphasis on the those tones - the trees to the distant hills. Gorgeous!

Comment left by: Winsor (wincros@earthlink.net)

Knockout!

Comment left by: Mike Cormier (no e-mail specified)

Despite the sombre and moody color scheme, this photo just keeps drawing me in...

Comment left by: siddiq (no e-mail specified)

does anyone else immediately thing "fellowship of the rings" when they see this shot??

Comment left by: Stephen Scharf (scharfsj@ix.netcom.com)

Gorgeous. Awesome. I love it just as it is....

Comment left by: Wayne Harridge (no e-mail specified)

The trees are magic

Comment left by: Gary Edwards (no e-mail specified)

Ah, yes, the trees are the best part. . .

Comment left by: Moose (dreammoose@attbi.com)

Really lovely, a glorious gift to you and us. I find the slightly out of focus stuff in the foreground distracting, but would rather have it than lose the shot. And you can't crop it out without losing too much wonderful tree detail. If I had this picture, I would try selecting the foreground snow stuff and lowering it's brightness - like a cloud was over it. Might or might not improve the image.

Comment left by: Joel Wilcox (no e-mail specified)

Very dramatic!

Comment left by: John A. Lind (no e-mail specified)

One expects to see a massively enormous spacecraft to suddenly descend through the clouds . . . as if the light beams which almost form a perfect triangle are its spotlights. Excellent "grab shot" and dramatic. Kudos for seeing, visualizing and stopping to snatch it before it vaporized. At first I though it was a B/W and then noted the subtle color to it; the contrasty monochrome aspect adds power to the feeling of deep Winter. Very interesting snow/ice/frost on the otherwise barren trees. I like how you "grounded" and provided an anchor point for the viewer with a small portion of foreground in the lower left.

Comment left by: Scott Gomez (no e-mail specified)

The subtle colors make this shot. Very evocative of the Smokies to me, from fondly remembered trips in the past.

Comment left by: Donald MacDonald (no e-mail specified)

This is an awesome effect, ironically you usually get it on not-so-good days in the mountains. You've caught it really well. Again, a wee tweak in the Levels makes the trees just that little bit better. Gorgeous.

Comment left by: The photographer himself (no e-mail specified)

I agree that a tweak or two here and there improve this picture. Actually, it can be made a lot better, and I have the print to prove it. But this is a straight scan, with only the removal of a dust speck or two and a wee bit of cropping. I still tend to think computer wizzardry and trickery is somehow cheating. I suppose I'll have to get over that.

Comment left by: Mickey Trageser (no e-mail specified)

I love the lightness of the foreground trees against the dark hills. The light shafts are dreamy. I see a lot of thirds put to work here. A fine image.

[Previous]

[Return to index]

[Next]