Burgess Falls The Painter - My Last Stop In Tennessee

A part of photography is being in the right place at the right time. A much larger part of photography is making whatever time you've got the right time. It's well-known to photographers that the best time to take pictures of bodies of water is usually early in the morning, late at night, or on moderately cloudy days. Because water is reflective, taking pictures of it with the sun high in the air above it will result in overexposure of the water and underexposure of everything else, making high quality landscape photography nearly impossible.

Standard shot of Burgess Falls

I got my first view of Burgess Falls at about 11:15 on an almost cloudless day - basically the worst possible waterfall photography conditions. And yet I got a great photo shoot out of it. I'm very proud of myself, especially since I haven't been completely satisfied with how my shots have come out in the last couple of shoots. And now I am here to present you with the results. Enjoy!

Burgess Falls is 136 feet tall and is the third of three waterfalls in rapid succession in the Burgess River. Burgess Falls was fortunate enough to be in the shade, having carved out a magnificent amphitheater in the limestone, but the surroundings were too bright to photograph together with the shady falls, as the photo to the left demonstrates.

The flow was particularly high. Normally Burgess Falls looks like an El Capitan-shaped peninsula with a smooth green-water top and cascades trickling down either side. Not when I saw it. It was roaring gushed over the intricate rock shapes I expected to see and the resulting mist drenched me.

The water level I expected to see in Burgess Falls. I got this photo from the internet.

Despite Burgess Falls' power, it still possessed grace. The streaks of water looked like paint strokes and the shapes of the unique rock formations beneath the sheet of white water were still evident. I felt that Burgess was an artistic falls.

Burgess Falls Negative - Looks like a demon mask worn during carnival in Venice

I haven't done much stream-wading photography, so I gave it a shot a little above Burgess Falls. The river widened significantly and by the trail there was less than an inch of water, so there was no danger at all. I'm not crazy enough to do something dangerous in search of a good shot. I know I can get the good shots without the danger. All that happened here was the sole of my shoe getting a little wet.

Another stream wading shot

The limestone walls of the amphitheater that Burgess Falls has carved for itself. If you look close (or on the larger version by clicking on it), you can see tree roots poking through the stone walls, as if they had been separated from the bare trees below and were reaching out towards them.

Winter trees watch as a bush tries to withstand the violent pull of water just before the edge of 20-30 foot Upper Burgess Falls

An eddie forms at the base of Upper Burgess Falls in the caramel-tinted water.

Withstand!

At the base of Burgess Falls. The a pool of water reflects the waterfall, which looks more like an iceberg at this angle. To get to the base I had to traverse a column of mist. Thankfully it wasn't a cloudy day or else I would have never dried!

Middle Burgess Falls. Note the awful contrast because the sun was shining on the falls directly from my right.

Another standard shot of Burgess Falls, but because of the sun on the limestone walls both colors and contrast are not particularly good.

A small cascade makes its way to Burgess River to eventually jump over Burgess Falls. Another example of stream wading.

The water strokes of Burgess Falls combined with the light shining through trees above create all sorts of wild shapes. Some of them look like phantoms to me.

Another Burgess Falls Negative.

You can see the mist droplets on my camera lens in my second iceberg composition.

You can almost hear the roar of the falls.

The base of Upper Burgess Falls again. Doesn't it look like a root beer float?

A man lives in Burgess Falls! Can you see him? His face is in the upper middle-right of the shot. This photo, as does the one at the beginning of this post, once again hi-lights how the streaks of water look like bristles of a paintbrush, and with its paintbrush Burgess Falls creates textures.