Monolith - Looking Glass Rock North Carolina Blue Ridge Parkway Scenic Landscape

Amazing light filtering through the clouds and settling on the valley below as a passing storm breaks up over the iconic Looking Glass Rock along the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina. Looking Glass Rock is a solid granite pluton monolith which originally formed from a large bubble of magma deep under the earths surface, which was eventually lifted up from below during the creation of the mountains. As the mountains slowly erode away, these massive pluton monoliths are harder than the surrounding terrain and are therefore left exposed.

On this particular morning, this was supposed to just be a quick stop for a shot as I was passing by on my way to find better conditions. It had been raining fairly heavily under rather boring gray skies and my plan was to drive west to find the edge of the storm, which wasn't supposed to end until hours later, and hopefully find some sweet light to work with. Things didn't turn out that way, and thank goodness I stopped here to grab a quick shot before heading further down the road. Just minutes after stopping and starting to shoot, the sky started breaking open in places and raining down this beautiful light all over the valley in front of me. It was an extremely difficult scene to shoot as I had to stand on top of my truck to get this perspective over the brightly colored sassafras in the foreground, which meant shooting handheld, in somewhat dark conditions, with a need for an extremely deep depth of field forcing shutter speeds much slower than normal, while it rained all over my lens for pretty much every shot. Almost every frame had big water droplets somewhere, but the scene was so beautifully surreal that I knew I just had to shoot it. In the fifteen minutes or so I was there, the scene changed very rapidly from gray and boring to absolutely beautiful, and then straight to crystal clear blue skies hours ahead of schedule. I never did find another shot that day as the sky was brutally clear and sunny immediately after shooting this scene. No matter how well we research weather patterns, read forecasts, and plan ahead of time, in these mountains sometimes Mother Nature has her own plan, and we are simply lucky to be there as it unfolds in unexpected ways. Hope you enjoy the view!

Single exposure, Nikon D850 w/ 24-70mm f/2.8 and Singh-Ray 3-stop GND

© 2019 Dave Allen Photography, All Rights Reserved. This image may NOT be used for anything without my explicit permission.

Tags:   north carolina mountains nc looking glass rock autumn fall blue ridge parkway foliage stormy asheville brevard october scenic landscape outdoors nature wnc appalachians appalachian explore outdoor photographer usa us interior national park

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Summer Rain - Asheville NC Blue Ridge Parkway Spring Flowers

An awesome summer evening from the Blue Ridge Parkway in the mountains of Western North Carolina, with passing summer rain storms bringing new life to the spring rhododendron flowers in the ancient Appalachian Mountains. I had an amazing sense of peace and well-being while shooting this incredible scene, a feeling that all was right in the world. The smell of the passing rain storms, the dappled light skipping across the mountain ridges, the fresh spring flowers at the peak of their bloom, and the warm rays of sunlight punching through the rain under the dark storm clouds creating the interesting area of hazy light in the back. It isn't often I get to enjoy a scene as rich with great elements as this one was, and it was an evening I'll surely remember for many years to come. Hope you enjoy the view!

Single exposure with a Nikon D800 w/ 17-35mm f/2.8

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© 2015 Dave Allen Photography, All Rights Reserved. This image may NOT be used for anything without my explicit permission.

Tags:   asheville north carolina nc blue ridge parkway spring flowers rain storms landscape stormy appalachia appalachians outdoor outdoor photographer landscape photography mountains blue ridge mountains wnc stormy weather outdoors nature scenic scenery appalachian blue ridge summer june blooms

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Sea water rushing under the Rodanthe Pier at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the Outer Banks NC. The Rodanthe Fishing Pier on a stormy morning didn't produce much in the way of color so I decided it was an excellent candidate for a BW shot. Click the image to view it large! Hope you enjoy it, comments welcome! ;-)

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Single exposure shot with a Nikon D700 and the 17-35mm 2.8 lens and 6-stop ND.

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© 2012 Dave Allen Photography, All Rights Reserved. This image may NOT be used for anything without my explicit permission.

Tags:   rodanthe cape hatteras seashore coast nc outer banks obx fishing pier nikon D700 dave allen north carolina pier flowing water slow bw black and white nature outdoors cloudy stormy sea ocean coastal beach wooden wooden pier hatteras national seashore poles wide wide angle 17-35mm f2.8 fine art movement landscape longexposure motion motionblur photography scenic travel vacation carolina beautiful landscapes art my_gear_and_me_diamond monochrome seascape

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Went out last night to shoot the sunset from the Blue Ridge Parkway. The sunset never happened, but we did get to stop and grab some shots of a passing storm over Asheville, NC.

Shot with a Nikon D300 and the 17-35mm 2.8 lens...

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© 2009 Dave Allen Photography, All Rights Reserved. This image may NOT be used for anything without my explicit permission.

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