Plaasabilities

"Come" West Prong Little Pigeon River, Sugarlands.  Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved On a sunny winter afternoon, I wandered where a path followed The river, cold and clear, As it descended from sugared mountains Towards the tourist-trap filled town. Some come seeking 'shine and souvenirs in crowded shops and clogged streets. I come seeking solace and solitude among the towering trees and water crashing over rounded rocks. Thirsty pilgrims journeying To the promised land. While promises of dubious worth are fast fleeting, The river remains steadfast -- Flowing through flood or snow Or drought of fall. Eternal water for the soul. And I come. I have been looking though my photos files for the year and selecting those that speak to me most for a year-in-review feature on my Facebook page. The problem is I'm finding more unedited images that i now have the skills to refine so I...

 I was digging around in the corners of bookcases, old files, and boxes last night in hope of locating my favorite cheesecake recipe. I did not find the recipe but I located many other "lost" things, including a sizable stash of family photos. I had removed these photos from their acid-laden toxic albums, protected them with archival papers, and slipped them into protective sleeves for safe-keeping. I promptly forgot where they were, but they were "safe." When mother passed away in August I was encouraged to gather photos for a video to be shown during the viewing. Knowing my mother wouldn't like such a display and not having the time nor energy to locate the photos, scan the slides, and give them to the funeral director in a few short days, I didn't do it. I had a few weeks more to gather images to be turned into a photobook, a part of the "package" they assured me, but I just couldn't deal with it. The old photos remained in their scatter...

"Dome's Eye View" Rime ice clings to trees on the slopes of Mt. Collins, Sugarland Mountain, and Mt. Le Conte as inversion clouds cover the valleys north and west of Clingmans Dome. Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved “Sometimes all it takes is a tiny shift of perspective to see something familiar in a totally new light.”  Dan Brown ,  The Lost Symbol I learned a great deal about weather during the years I lived in Salt Lake City. In particular, I learned about temperature inversions -- a situation when atmospheric conditions keep clouds (and smog and pollution and germs) trapped in the valley between mountain ranges and clear, blue skies aloft. It's the one time when it's colder down in the valley than it is at the top of the mountain. After listening to local weather reports, I knew yesterday would be a perfect set-up for an inversion and blue skies at Clingmans Dome.  Most days the valley fog rises up, s...

Middlin' Middle Prong Little River, Tremont Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved Nothing Gold Can Stay Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. Robert Frost, 1923 As a nature lover and photographer I eagerly await the first hints of buds emerging from the trees in early spring. I adore the bright, cheery green trees in the Smokies in April. That green evolves to a deep, velvety hue as summer progresses then, before you know it, hints of gold show up in early September. It's just a tease, of course, as the richest red and golds won't show up until late October. It's futile to wish those rich hues would remain. Fall always has it's way as wind, rain, and snow turn the golds to brown and down, down, down they come. Gone. The gold is gone. The leaves ar...

Blue Ridges A dark, cloudy evening at the Caney Fork Overlook, Blue Ridge Parkway MM 428 ©2013 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved I guess it had to happen some day, but now it is official -- I am a photographer. For many months my dear friends and family members have been encouraging me to take the big step and move beyond the ranks of casual amateur to a serious photographer. To say I was reluctant would be an understatement, but I have heard your cheerleading and am taking the plunge. From now on this blog will be the home of Plaasabilities Photography, where I will share my images and my adventures. I will post my best images on my newly developed artist page on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/plaasabilities I'm also in the process of setting up a gallery and retail page at Fine Art America. You'll be able to browse my images, vote for my work in periodic contests, and customize purchases to meet your specific desires. it will be a few days before I have my FAA page...