Bourbon barrel warehouse

Did I mention that I have been working on a follow up to the successful, "Kentucky Wide"? For the last three years I have been shooting intently and just shipped it off to the printer. I had already done two different bourbon barrel scenes but had the opportunity to shoot at the Wild Turkey Distillery. Missy and I went over there one recent morning and had a great time. Jimmy, the master distiller, accompanied us and he is quite the character! He has been there for over 50 years and come to find out, he and my Dad probably played against each other in a tournament of fast-pitch softball at my hometown of Corinth about 50+ years ago. As you walk in these warehouses the aroma of the "angel's share" is quite evident.

A "wider" view of this scene is in the upcoming book, "Kentucky Wide II", and is due this October.

Waterfalls in the Smokey Mtn National Park

Fortunately, I married someone (pretty wonderful I might add) who likes to travel. She works in the health care industry, so the work schedule and twelve hour shifts are challenging for both of us. So, whenever she gets a block of days off, we try to get away together. We searched online and found a chalet with a beautiful view just outside of Gatlinburg for two nights. It was a very relaxing trip and we did get out twice to photograph some waterfalls. Both of these were accessible and right beside the road. It was such an incredible contrast being in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge beside all the airbrush T-shirt shops and funnel cakes, then driving ten minutes out of town to view such incredible scenery. Meigs Falls is shown at the top while Place of a Thousand Drips is on the bottom. The key to successful waterfall photography is to shoot them when there is no direct sun on them. We lucked out at both of these. Although the bottom photo was created after the sun had set and it was kind of hard to see because it was dark. The exposure was for about 20 seconds. Naturally, a sturdy trip and cable release is required. And, yes, we did eat at least one pancake house while cruising through town!

Locks and Narrowboats

The only thing more nerve-wracking on our Narrowboat trip than passing oncoming boats, going through small tunnels, and of course, aquaducts hundreds of feet above the ground, was going through the locks. These canals were constructed in the 1800s and they put locks in place that you had to navigate through. You have to get out of the boat, use a ratchet kind of tool that every boat has on board and hand crank them. Sounds easy but it is a little tense as you approach them. Fortunately, I got to handle the boat and Missy became a pro at how these things work, getting out and putting some muscle to it. Yeah for women's rights! The photo above shows a boat entering an 8' (deep) lock. Once you pull in, you pull the paddles to enclose you in. Then crank the mechanism to either raise you up or lower you to the level of the direction you are heading. The whole thing works pretty fast but it is a little tricky. You have to keep the nose of the boat almost up against the gate so the boat does not go back and get caught on the cill. So you keep the boat in gear at idle speed part of the time. On the other hand, you don't want to push too hard so as to damage the lock. We were there before school was out so there were not that many boats, but in the summer you could wait quite a while for your turn to get in a lock. All in a day's work, I mean fun!