The "Peaceful" Watauga River

This is a photo of the Watauga River, just a short walk from my house.

On the river there are many places that appear to be just as peaceful as the photo above.

Though the river hosts many places along it that are popular among the college students in the area, it should be noted that the river did not meet the EPA's standard for E-coli as of last July.

The river also has several different places where you can see parts of the past. The photo above shows the remains of the Flat Shoals bridge, which was destroyed during the '40 flood, never to be rebuilt.   

All of that to say, looks can be deceiving. The Watauga River may look in some places just to be a peaceful, boring, fresh water river with little danger...  

But beware of the roaring falls, called the "Foaming Hole" by locals. The inconspicuous falls has claimed a handful of lives because the water creates a suction that can hold a person under the water until they drowned. At least according to the stories I've heard my whole life.

The classic picture of and older picture in the same spot! The picture I'm taking a photo of is from around 2005. While my parents were trying to finish the kitchen mine and my bother's favorite play spots was in the empty cabinets.  

"Brightness in Life"

When I first took this picture it was just one of those being at the right place at the right time with a camera. My real inspiration came later when I wanted to do the style of picture with the gray background and this picture was just perfect.

"Perfect Sleeping Spot"

There was not a lot of what I would call inspiration behind the photo. I had two reasons for taking this picture. (1) I wanted to get a picture with some "color cast" in it. (2) I really just wanted to get a cute picture of my dog (Chief) in his favorite sleeping spot. I think he likes it there because I bother him less when he's up the stairs.

 

"Rose After a Rain"

With some photo there is no need for "inspiration". I take a lot of the nature pictures just because I stumble onto a beautiful scene of nature, such as in this picture.

"Passing the Time"

 

My inspiration for this photo was the simple idea of how much time can pass when a person is enamored with an excellent piece of literature.