Tribute to Cades Cove

You may or may not be aware that Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountain National Park will be closing March 1, 2010 for two months to repave roads and perform other necessary repairs. For many of us it will be a loss to not make our yearly sojourn to this wonderful and beautiful place as spring unfolds it's display of new life, color and God's gift to us. In this light I offer this photographic tribute and a brief history of why this is such a special place.

Surrounded by mountains on all sides, a collection of pastures, fields, mills, barns and an assortment of other old buildings and cabins, Cades Cove is representative of what life in America used to be. The pioneer way of life.

The national park system has undertaken the task of preserving this pioneer way of life in Cades Cove by transforming it into a historic exhibit through the rehabilitation and preservation of log cabins, barns, mills, churches and other structures. Cattle, hay and grain continue to be raised today by farmers and the park service. 

Cohabitating in the Cove is a plethora of wildlife that include deer, bear, wild boar, turkey and coytoe. I would say that the wildlife for many of the Cove's visitors is the main attraction. Without fail a drive around the Loop Road will offer numerous opportunities to view deer grazing, young bucks testing their skill and strength on each other, turkey scratching the ground looking for a tasty morsel.  In the spring and fall, it is not at all uncommon to come up on a bear or as in my case have the bear come up on me while I was photographing one of the cabins. (The below bear photo is the result of that delightful surprise) Early mornings in the Cove often offer a glimpse of a coyote hunting in the open fields.

Wild Turkey scratching for food

 An Alert Doe

                            

A Typical View in the Cove

A adolescent bear out looking for a meal

Earlier I briefly alluded to the pioneer way of life. Any discussion of the Cove would be remiss if it didn't include the settler's of the area. The first white man to permanently settle in the Cove was John Oliver who established residence in 1818.

 

The John Oliver Place

was occupied by the family until the establishment of the park in 1934. I have seen a photograph of this cabin with an old model A  or T Ford (I'm not sure which it was an old Ford of some sort) and laundry hanging out on a clothes line to dry.

However, the first Cades Cove related land grant was given to Hugh Dunlap in 1794 for 5,000 acres. Another grant given in 1796 was to William Crowson. These grants were actually given illegally; for at that time the land belonged to the Cherokee Indians and was not open to white settlement until the treaty of 1819. Settlement began in earnest and in 1821 William Tipton purchased 640 acres from William Crowson. 

One of the out buildings of the Tipton Place

William Tipton eventually ended up owning over 3,000 acres both in the Cove and on the surrounding mountain sides.

 

Dan Lawson Place

As the settlers began pouring into the region, the land was deforested for pastures, orchards and crops were planted. The settlers were surrounded by mountains and Hyatt Lane was the only road out. Hyatt Lane went across the cove to then Cades Cove Rd., now Rich Mountain Rd. To travel to Maryville from Cades Cove was a three day trip on horseback.

Hyatt Lane

Another Road that cuts across the cove is Sparks Lane.

Sparks Lane

The soil in the cove was fertile and farming was prosperous; corn being the main crop. However, it was not practical for the farmers to try to carry the corn over the poor mountain road into Maryville to market. Corn was selling for 6.25 cents a bushel. The farmers instead fed a majority of the corn to livestock which could be driven to the markets.

Corn was also a family staple, often ground in tub mills by individual families until such time when a community became large enough to support a water wheel powered mill. The Cades Cove community was one such community that in fact by 1870 was large enough to support more than one mill. John P. Cable's mill was a dual mill both wood and corn. John P. Cable was also a farmer and it is told that he had a large bell mounted on a pole in front of the mill for customers to ring to bring him in from the fields. The Cable mill is one of the buildings the park service has restored but much of the mill is still original.

Waterwheel of Cable's Mill

There is one other aspect of the cove to cover. Prior to the settlement of the white man the Cherokee Indians lived here. Cades Cove, Abrams Creek and Abrams falls all obtained their name from a well known Cherokee Chief, "Old Abram" who live in the nearby village at Chilhowee. According to local lore Old Abram's wife was named Kate which became Cades or Kate's Cove, in her honor. 

Abrams Falls

That my friends is a brief (too brief to be of any real informational value) history of the cove and my humble attempt to capture and share some of it's beauty. In two short weeks the cove will be closing so that the park service may attend to the maintenance of some of the buildings and rebuild the well travelled Loop Road. Good Bye old friend, until your reawakening in summer. I'm sure I speak for many when I say we will miss you.

Until next time; Have fun with your photography,

Laura

RAW is Good: and I don't mean Sushi!

I was talking with a friend of mine when I had just switched over to digital and was asking about different settings. In particular RAW. I had no idea just coming from shooting film what that meant or why use it. My friend is an excellent photographer and was also at the time taking a course on digital photography. (A real course with homework, text book and real human instructor in a classroom.) She told me that the instructor made them shoot in RAW but she saw no need for it, it simply used up too much room on a memory card and there was no other advantage. In fact she went on to say, "After this course I'm going to shoot only in jpeg.

With that said I promptly set my new digital camera on jpeg and went off to some of the most beautiful places I've ever had the privilege to visit. I shot over 1000 pictures the first week I had the camera. But nothing came out very well and I couldn't seem to be able to edit my shots the way others were. I didn't understand. After my trip, I began to read up. (I wish I had researched while I was still out in the Pacific North West) I did an experiment I set my camera to shoot both Jpeg and RAW. Wow! it didn't take long for me to recognize the difference.

Here is an example of what you can do with a RAW image.

This image was taken at 4:00 or so in the afternoon. I did a couple of things. I shot in in RAW, I used the florescent setting for the white balance to get the blue hue and then I under exposed it. I also shot it with 400 ISO to give it some texture.

When I opened the image in the RAW converter I increased the blacks, a little bit of fill light and saturation. The sky was still pretty bright so I used the brush tool and lowered the exposure on the sky only and here is the resulting shot.

I shot this to use as a background for a composite picture I have in mind. But this shot alone looks pretty good to me and I didn't have to fool with it in photoshop, just the RAW conversion software. If you haven't already........... I would suggest you become familiar with this powerful tool.

Below is the original image without any adjustments in the RAW conversion software. Not so compelling a shot.

Till the next time: Have fun with Photography!

Laura

Creativity

"For some beauty seems but an accident of creation: to Muir it was the very smile of God"

~ John Muir

Yes, this image has been manipulated in Photoshop. However, it is my personal belief that God provided us with the ability to have visions beyond what is simply put before us. We have visions about our future, that we call goals and manipulate to the best of our ability to achieve them. Why can we not have visions about our surroundings and manipulate them digitally to the best of our ability to achieve that vision? I believe that John Muir would have loved the technology we have today. I believe that he most likely would have been on the breaking edge creating visual beauty.

I am still learning to use photoshop and the above photo is a result of some of that learning: playing to learn if you will. I took the photo of the sun hiding behind the clouds coloring them in gold. There was a sliver of grey sky showing and I thought how fun it would be to shoot that and then mirror it in photoshop. A technique I learned last night watching a DVD on creating masterpieces in photoshop by Jim Zuckerman. Now there is a man with vision!

Remember most of all to have fun with your photography.

Color or Composition

In Ketchikan, Alaska there is one of the most colorful streets I've ever seen. Both literally and metaphorically. Creek Street, the row of buildings below that are built on pilings over the water, is not a street but was the "red light district". Dolly's House, the building on the far right of the photo, is today a museum taking you back in time to the days when this row of wooden buildings were all bordellos. They were not shut down until 1953.

"In my photography, color and composition are inseparable. I see color."

~ William Albert Allard

Photography: Pleasure or Embarrassment?

Ketchikan, Alaska

I had been sick for two days when we arrived in Ketchikan. I only took a handful of pictures, all of them using the auto setting and not much thought about composition. I barely made it back to the ship after having only walked around for about an hour. But, I still recall my trip to Alaska with pleasure.

"Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of embarrassment; photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure."    

                                            ~ Tony Benn

Happy New Year!

Today is the beginning of a new year. For many of us we look at this as a time of reflection as well as a time for new beginnings. New years resolutions are traditional and often failed as we fall back into our old routines. I believe this is what happens when we try to force upon ourselves some untimely or unwanted change. Change is uncomfortable, even if it is for the best. We grow complacent and prefer what we know over the unknown.

That being said, I'm not going to make a New Year Resolution. Instead, I'm simply going to continue my journey growing as a photographer and a person. Last month I joined the Knoxville Art and Cultural Alliance which offers numerous opportunities to display my art to a larger audience and to learn from others. I am also putting together a Basic Photography seminar in Johnson City. The date is yet to be determined, but I have already received a wonderful and positive response from people interested in learning photography.

I want to invite  all of you to come and enjoy with me each new dawn and experience through the lens of the camera by following me here and at my web site PhotographybyLauraLee.com.

Happy New Year

2010

Follow your Dreams, your Passion, your Heart

I have long been encouraged by my friends to pursue photography as a means of earning some extra income, and until now I thought they were just being kind. On Tuesday December 8, 2009 I was introduced to the Gray community as a local artist/photographer. It was the first public display of my photographs. I had no idea what to expect, was at times excited, worried, anxious and even scared. What if I invested all this time, energy and money into this and nobody showed up? I would never know until I tried and then I wouldn't always wonder IF!

Tuesday evening turned out to be the night some other events were taking place. Events I had no way of knowing about until people started to e-mail me and let me know. Only slightly daunted, I forged on with my plans. Monday I watched the weather forecast which informed me that Tuesday evening was going to be a frigid, wet and stormy night. Tuesday morning I loaded up my photos and took them to Power's Coffee Express in Gray, where the showing was to be held. I wanted to get set up early so that I wouldn't be trying to carry things into the shop in the storms. It turned out to be very good that I did, by that night it was pouring down rain the wind was blowing a steady 30 MPH with gusts up to 54. The temperature had dropped into the high 30's and I just knew that not a soul would venture out in this. I knew I wouldn't.

But they did, and the show was a success and I learned many lessons that night. I learned that planning and hard work do pay off. I learned that the Lord has blessed me with wonderful and supportive friends. (I keep having to relearn that one. I get complacent and forget). I learned to continue having a positive attitude and forging on, even when things seem to all go wrong. But the best lesson I learned is to follow your heart and your dreams.

Here are some pictures of the show and I must admit I'm still amazed that people were out in that weather looking at my photographs.

Rick and his wife Zella; without their support, encouragement and help I could have never done this. Rick taught me to follow your dreams with passion. Thank you Rick and Zella.

Donna, my biggest fan. It was Donna who first suggested I should sell my photos, and pushed me until I did. Thank you Donna for your friendship and unwavering belief in me.

My first sale, an 16 X 20 framed print of the James Oliver Cabin in Cades Cove, Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee. And so it begins........

Did I really draw a crowd?

As you can see;

Follow your Dreams, your Passion, your Heart and they really Do Come True!

Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Christmas,

Laura