Week 14 – #9. Close Up/Macro

This beautiful rose was basking in the afternoon light along the banks of the Tennessee River and was perfect for a “close up/macro” shot.

 

Week 16 – #31. Shot With Flash/Speedlight

I have always been intrigued with the Walnut Street Bridge in Chattanooga, TN. Built in 1890, it was apparently the first non-military highway bridge across the Tennessee River. On a daily and nightly basis, it is now enjoyed as a walking bridge by thousands of Chattanooga natives and visitors. This photo was “shot with flash/speedlight” off camera with a red gel which turned the white railings red. My camera was set for a slow shutter speed; I placed a red gel on the flash and as the shutter remained open, I pressed the flash “test” button firing the flash multiple times as I walked along the rail. Although I also shot the scene with both a purple and blue gel, I liked the way it looked with the red gel best.

Week 22 – #35. On The River

Chattanooga endured an excessive amount of rain during December, 2015 and it isn’t often that you see all of the Chickamauga Dam spillways open. On this evening just after 7:00 p.m., I was “on the river” with my camera and captured a long exposure which gave the turbulent waters beneath the dam a smooth, silky look. Alongside the river beginning at the Chickamauga Dam and stretching ten miles to downtown Chattanooga is a lighted and landscaped walkway dotted with picnic tables, fishing piers and public art, an example of which you’ll see in my photo.

Week 13 – #10. Dawn’s Light

I don’t normally get up early enough to see the “dawn’s light” but last Saturday morning, Mike yelled, “Get up and get your camera.” I have lived in my house on Signal Mountain since 1984 and never have I seen such a glorious sunrise. The sky was brilliant red when he awakened me but by the time I dressed, got out on the deck and set the camera, it had lessened somewhat.

Week 11 – #17. Gate

I love exploring areas where I have never been and finding pieces of history. Early one August morning while in Chattanooga surrounded by thick fog, I was on Skull Island on the banks of the Tennessee River and discovered an old family cemetery surrounded by a broken down fence and a rusty, deteriorating gate. Barely visible on the gate was the name, Eva Norman. As I wandered around in the ankle-thick overgrowth, I found her headstone on which was etched her birth as 05/28/1854 and death as 10/31/1895. In researching the cemetery, I learned that it was relocated to Skull Island prior to TVA flooding its location in preparation for construction of the Chickamauga Dam. Many headstones contained birth/death dates in the 1800’s but many had not stood the test of time and the names and dates had disappeared long ago. I can only hope that one day a member of the Norman family will appear and give the cemetery back its dignity.

Week 6 – #38. Powerful

Construction began in 1969 on the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, a nuclear power plant located 20 miles north of Chattanooga, abutting Chickamauga Lake, on the Tennessee River. The facility is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). It is the most productive of TVA’s four nuclear plants and the second most powerful electric plant in the entire TVA system.

Sequoyah was Cherokee, reportedly born in Tuskegee, a town at the confluence of the Tellico River and Little Tennessee River, upriver of the nuclear power plant. He is known for creating the Cherokee syllabary circa 1820. Many Cherokee sites were flooded during the TVA’s construction of Tellico Dam (1967-1979). Naming the site after a local Native American Indian was considered a small political token to the Cherokee in compensation for the dam-flooding and destruction of their historic sites that TVA required to control flooding on the Tennessee River. REF: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoyah_Nuclear_Generating_Station

Week 39 – #9. Drops of Water

Definition of Fog: (noun) many small drops of water floating in the air above the ground, the sea, etc.

I feel fortunate to be able to call both Florida and Tennessee home. When I depart Florida for my Tennessee home, I can’t help but feel somewhat sad to leave the beautiful beaches and weather behind. When I reach my home in Tennessee, however, I am always happy when I look out my window and see the beautiful mountains and river, no matter what the weather is like. On this particular day, I stood on the deck and watched the boats as they made their way up and down the river as the heavy fog dissipated and it made me realize how much beauty is in the world.

Week 20 – #22. It’s A Mystery

There is something mystical, almost spooky, about foggy days along the riverfront. I love bridges, especially those with so much history like those which cross the Tennessee River in downtown Chattanooga. While there, I enjoy joining others who walk, run and bike across them. Early one foggy morning, I grabbed my camera and headed to the bridges in hopes of capturing a few mystical, foggy photos. There was nobody on the Market Street Bridge except me surrounded by thick fog and the sounds of boat horns – an eerie feeling. But wait! Who is that? She was not there when I took the photo yet when I processed it, she is there. Who is she? Why is she in my photo? Where is she going? If I were Stephen King writing a mystery novel, I would know the answers but at the moment, “It’s A Mystery.”

Week 15 – #35. Rocky Waterscapes

I had a tough time deciding whether this photo fit the theme “Rocky Waterscapes,” but after several reviews of the photo, I decided it did for four reasons. (1) There is water; (2) there are definitely rocks/riprap along the Tennessee River shoreline; (3) the piers which support the Walnut Street Bridge are stones from the old Stone Fort Land Company; and (4) heck, I was on vacation but got up before sunrise this particular morning so I could take this photo of the heavy fog!

Week 14 – #6. Bridge

I consider myself very fortunate to be able to call two beautiful cities “home.” Last week, I posted a long exposure of my Sarasota home city framed with the beautiful Ringling Bridge. This week, I want to introduce you to a long exposure of my Chattanooga home city framed with not one bridge but three, the Walnut Street Bridge, the Market Street Bridge and, in the far distance, the Olgiati Bridge. Chattanooga has a fourth bridge downtown, the Veteran’s Bridge, but it is just to the left and out of the frame of this photo. The red streak is a result of the long exposure as a riverboat made its way slowly up the river.