I decided on Saturday to escape the hustle and bustle of Nashville and do a day hike at the historic Harpeth River State Park. The specific area is called the Narrows of the Harpeth. I wasn't expecting much, especially since the park closes an hour before sunset making it impossible to do a shoot at magic hour. Nonetheless, it was a nice way to get out of the city for a few hours.
My first stop is a tunnel that was carved by hand in 1818 by workers of Montgomery Bell who was a local industrialist. This provided water to power an iron forge that he had nearby and was considered to be a significant feat of engineering for the time.
Canon 5D MKIII | 70-200 f/2.8L IS II @ 102mm | f/16 | 25 & 90 seconds | ISO L(50) | Hoya 77mm NDx400 HMC | B+W 77mm Circular Polarizer MRC
Multiple lighting conditions with foreground and background focus stacked.
It's unfortunate that so many people breaking the state park rules can take a peaceful day hike and turn it into an annoying day at the community pool. People littering, playing loud music, swimming where they were not supposed to be swimming, climbing all over things, drinking where they were not supposed to be drinking, dogs no on a leash, screaming children, etc. After about an hour of waiting out at the waterfall, I decided to pack it up and hike up to the top of the bluff for a view of the surrounding area.
Canon 5D MKIII | 16-35 f/2.8L III @ 25mm | f/16 | 1/4 second | ISO L(50) | Quantaray 82mm Circular Polarizer
Overall, I think the lighting is decent, but not particularly compelling. The sunrises would be ideal here, as it would be coming up in the top right of the frame according to my SunSeeker app. This was one of the only shots I was able to get before a small group of people hiked up and sat on the rock outcropping in the foreground until the park closed to chain smoke cigarettes and throw the butts off the bluff.
I spoke to a few local photographers that said the crowding by unruly folks has made it a frustrating endeavor for them to shoot here anymore. I wouldn't have thought people would hike up there and sit right in the shot at dawn, but apparently it happens. I still wouldn't mind giving it a go at some point, when I feel like waking up at 3:00am to get over to the Narrows of the Harpeth in time for that.
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