Renzatic on 23/5/2009 at 19:13
Quote Posted by BrokenArts
I do have some pictures, they are ok, just of my daughter going to her first dance, all dressed up.
Hey, candids are always good. I say post them up if you can. :)
Quote Posted by Tocky
You don't have to exactly sneak up on Cades Cove Renz. I don't know, maybe there are still places like that accessible only by trail but I wouldn't count on it. Even the empty 1800s cabins east of all the development have a paved road and have become part of the park although the road is so narrow along the mountain it HAS to be one way. They are, however, all authentic and a peek into a harsh and scenic past.
Holy shit, man. How do you know this stuff? Here soon, I'm gonna start asking you for advice on where to go. :P
There's actually two abandoned towns I was gonna hit up. The first, Elkmont proper, is westish of Cades Cove if I've got my geography correct. Supposedly it's the more derelict of the two, a bit harder to reach, and has a more colorful history. Something about a murder/suicide involving a preacher and his family. The usual stuff you hear around here. Dunno if it's true or not, but the picture I saw of the old chapel is convincing enough for me to try it out.
Too bad I have to wait til at least tomorrow to go. Half the people I intended on suckering into going didn't want to because it looks like it's gonna rain out (wah), and the other went to play paintball. So here I am, stuck at the house, all roaring for adventure and nowhere to go. Life is unbearably tragic sometimes.
But at least I can comment on pictures. Ulukai's Morning and Jay's Angry Eyeball Rock are my favorite out of the bunch. Morning is like a picture I've always wanted to take. Nice diffuse fog, soft lighting, just an excellent picture all around. I'm just too lazy to get up that early to take one. Eyeball Rock is awesome all around. It has a quality about it that strikes me more off a painting than a photo. All of them are excellent, and I want to see MORE DAMNIT! Keep em coming. :D
Lastly, I've got this one shot here I wanted to post up awhile back lying around. I never committed it to my Flickr page because it didn't quite come out the way I was hoping. Still, it's a good picture for the atmosphere, if not the asthetics, so I'll show it off. (
http://users.chartertn.net/greymatt/backyard.jpg) Creepy Backyard. Taken from the sale old house I got the window from.
Gray on 25/5/2009 at 00:51
Pictures of pandas painting pictures of penguins?
Tocky on 25/5/2009 at 05:32
WTF is that thing on the right in Alum bluff creek? I've not noticed that before. There wasn't a soul on the trail at an hour before sundown. Not that it exactly looks like a person, I mean sorta like somebody bending down with a too rounded ass but not quite. I hiked for miles to the caves in silent lonely and came back in pitch with no flashlight. WTH?
Almost looks buggish. See, if I had better equipment instead of whatever I remember to take or pick up on the way I could tell. You folks have such clarity. Ohgod it's a metaphor for my life or something right? Nah screwit. I'm okay. What the hell is that thing?
Wait a damn minute. What is the thing on the left? It also looks like somebody bending over. Is that even Alum bluff creek? Goshdamnit. Gnomes? The rocks weren't that big in comparison to what looks like arms. Is something blue on it's head? Why would somebody wear a tobagan in July? A cap surely. Nope, not Alum bluff creek. Can't be. Must have gotten mixed in. Sorry folks but it could be anywhere along the blueridge.
edit: Oh and the bear aint mean. That's Mildred. If you look close there is a food pellet going in her mouth. It's at Grandfather mountain zoo.
Renzatic on 25/5/2009 at 06:54
SCARY MYSTERY! All good art has it, so you can now safely say your pictures are art. Good job. And if you still refuse to take em as such...well hell, I liked em. That's good enough for me.
There were a few in there I really liked. The Cold Mountain shot is beautiful. The go-kart shot, cuz I like go-carts but was horribly deprived of one as a kid (stirs up deep painful memories, like all good art should). I also liked the Saminsedge shot, for the obvious reasons, and the fact it's a good portrait. Also, the Lookout mountain shot. Was that taken at Point Park? I think I've been at that exact same rock before.
Anyway, I didn't get to go to Elkmont today. Everyone bailed yet again because it was rainy out, and it pissed me off cuz it cleared up later in the day exactly like I said it would. So here I was, stuck in town itching for something to do. I ended up going to the mall. The one fun thing to do when I don't have anything else planned and everyone just wants to sit inside and watch movies all day. Good thing I took the backroads going there, because I found this nice old house along the way.
(
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3337/3561344011_b128ca5c61_o.jpg) Old house
(
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3007/3562238952_028dfe89e6_o.jpg) Back of old house.
One picture in particular struck me as strange. I was goofing around with the camera settings to see if I'd end up with anything interesting (tech talk: I was fucking around with the aperture). The little brick building behind the house looked good enough to waste a shot on, so I fired away. The picture on the camera looked like crap. Out of focus, bland colors, all that good bad stuff. What I got when I got home and checked it out on the big screen was...well, if any of you remember the intro credits to Tales from the Darkside, it kinda strikes me as looking a bit similar to that. Eerie as hell.
(
http://users.chartertn.net/greymatt/strange.jpg) Weird
I wish I could say my expertise with the camera and sharp eye was responsible for that. But I can't. Happened totally by accident. Makes me want to spend more time goofing around with the features on my overly expensive camera so I can get a shot like this again, though.
snowcap21 on 25/5/2009 at 08:43
Gnomes! I wouldn't have noticed them if you hadn't pointed them out, but now it's kind of obvious. Also really liked the go-cart shot and samsnowsmile, because of the happy childhood feeling and the fitting composition. boatwatin is also nice to look at, peaceful but on the other hand with a interesting potential dynamic due to the placement of all people on the left side which contrasts with the expected movement towards the boat/lake.
Wall of Metal is great, those metal structures are fascinating in themselves and the hugeness and steepness are almost shocking. Maybe I'd make it smaller to give even more importance to the vertical dimension.
Tocky on 26/5/2009 at 01:23
I thought so too at first snowcap. A towering over humanity thing. But having the wideness of it gives a sense of it going on forever. Plus the cars give a sense of the metal beginning with a car and ending with one.
And I understand about Tales from the darkside. The leaves become translucent in low light black and white. Keep playing with it. Test angles of light late or early. It takes a certain eye but lots of film. I don't have your eye plain and simple. I might take some of the old house my black nanny used to live in where I frog gigged to show you though. It has a dogtrot. Are you southern enough to know what that is?
And here is my grannys place between occupants. I thought it would fall in but my cousin started bracing it against collapse. The room on the far right is the spooky one I've spoken of if you recall the thread.
(
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv174/NGCalfee/grandmashouse_.jpg)
One other thing. Today is memorial day. I would post a thread but I don't want the asshole comments against soldiers it would engender. They gave all. I am humbled by that. I've loved a few dearly. Heres to them.
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http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv174/NGCalfee/Arlingtonstones.jpg)
One other thing. I understand sargent York. I understand him in my bones. Do yourself a favor some day and read the real story. It is way more amazing than the Hollywood version.
Ulukai on 26/5/2009 at 10:02
First thing that occurred to be was that it could be Prypiat if all the trees died, the windows were smashed and twenty years went by undisturbed.
