Last night (01/10/2004) the temp dropped to 4 degree F
(-10 degree celsius). Really cold for Virginia. Today I went to
Crabtree Waterfall, thinking I could see the frozen waterfalls. I like that crystal shinning stuff.
It was really cold, and I had only a thin jacket (just not used to put on a big jacket in Virginia!), I spent about 3 hours along the river at the bottom of the falls. There isn't any road in good days, let alone in this weather. The pebbles were not very visible under the snow and was slippery. A heavy tripod, a camera bag (few lenses in the bag) and a camera made fumbling along the river diffcult. After all, I got some very good photos. Purity is all I was looking for.
Hiking up the mountain was even more difficult. I was alone when I got there (The whole park had no other cars). The whole trail is about 3 miles long. I got to the half way and suddenly thought what if I run into a bear? He must be very hungry these days and would definitely take me as a hamburger. I had to give up with that fear. (It is getting a little dark anyway, and it was really cold in the mountain. I had a bare hand to hold the metal tripod.)
The birds were caught on my way to the falls. The lens I used was 75-300mm IS. The birds were wary, as always in nature. I could not get close enough and they DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE POSES! I had to stand still in the bitterly cold winter for half hour to get few shots. All images were cropped from the original and then resized. Nevertheless, some are still pretty good.
