Dogwood Trees and The Little River
The Great Smoky Mountains
Negative # 743 Neg Format: 5 x 7
While visiting The Great Smoky Mountains with my good friend and fellow photographer Thomas Franks we found ourselves pleased with the weather and the display of the Dogwood blossoms. During previous trips we found it easy to be a week too early or too late, to capture the visual pleasantries of Spring.
On this particular Spring day we were right on time.
While driving along Highway 321 which follows The Little River we were impressed with the size of this Dogwood Tree. My primary concern with making this image was the challenge of securing my tripod on the little space between the road and river’s edge, while cars and trucks would come around the corner at a quick pace. Before I made the effort to get my gear in place I studied the dogwood blossoms to see that the branches and blossoms were lying still enough to be photographed with a long shutter speed. Everything looked still as long as a large truck did not drive by creating a good breeze causing motion from the blossoms.
I selected my 305mm Schneider lens to come in tight on the dogwood, while keeping the movement of the river in the bottom of the frame. I placed the darker shadows on the left side of the image on Zone III (EV of 12.5) and the white blossoms fell on Zone VII (EV of 17)
Selecting an aperture of 32 ½ allowed me to work with a shutter speed of 1/15 second, which created the movement in the river.
I was glad to move the camera and my tripod from the precarious position. But, I am very satisfied with the image and the print possibilities.