My Preconceived Notions

Many years ago, after I had been shooting images for a couple of years, I visited Ozone Falls on the Cumberland Plateau. This small state natural area is near where an uncle had lived when I was younger and I had spent a lot of time, so I knew the area. I shot the waterfall and I remember I wasn’t impressed with any of my images, I just didn’t like the compositions and I was convinced, I didn’t like to photograph the waterfall. I didn’t even keep the photos and it’s a nice waterfall! It was just in my head and there was no changing that, so I never shot it again. Last Sunday, I decided that I needed to get out and photograph something, and I decided on Ozone Falls. I had been talking to my friend Rick about it and decided after 20 years it was time to try it again. Even driving there, I had this preconceived notion that it’s not a good waterfall to photograph. After arriving and looking the area over, I did the short but steep hike to the bottom of the falls, dodging fall ice the whole way. After shooting several images at different angles, I wondered down the stream to a spot, where in the summer, I’m sure you can’t view the falls very well for the leaves on the trees. I composed several images and ended my shooting with this one, which I was pleased with. It’s a three image HDR created using Photomatix Software, www.hdrsoft.com and I think it worked out. I’m pleased with this image, as well as, the lesson I learned…be careful of preconceived ideas and be open minded to the photographic possibilities of any area.