During a stay in a rental house near Lake Cumberland in Kentucky, I took a walk down a steep, narrow road to scout the local area. According to my map, there should be a portion of the lake within walking distance and I hoped to find a great scenic area to photograph.
As I hiked down the steep roadway, I began to think how glad I was not to be carrying heavy camera gear, since I could tell that the walk back up the steep incline would be strenuous.
There were woods on both sides of the roadway with a steep drop off into a drainage on one side. As I walked along, looking for anything worthy of a photograph, I began to notice that the deep ravine had been used as a local dumping place for old appliances and automobile tires. A practice, which I hope is now abandoned. This drainage goes directly into Lake Cumberland and the pollution from those dumped items cannot be good for the health of the lake or those using it for recreation and as a water source. Unfortunately, I know there must be many such dumping areas around this lake.
At a sharp curve in the paved road, I could see evidence of vehicle traffic continuing through the wooded area, so I left the paved roadway and walked along that path. At the end of that beaten path was a circular area that had obviously been used as a campsite.
There was a faint foot path from the campsite downhill through the woods. I followed that steeply dipping path and came to an area where I could see a wide open area, where I had hoped to find a Lake. What I actually found was an overflow area for the lake, a broad muddy valley with a narrow stream of water cutting through it, with more evidence of dumped items, a large tractor tire, an automobile tire and widely scattered containers. This was very disappointing, as I wanted to see a big body of water with interesting surroundings.
Nevertheless, I made a few iPhone photos with trees and rock outcrops in the foreground, hoping to be able to make something look interesting. Nothing I did worked, until I looked down near where I stood on a rocky ledge at the edge of the overflow area. There I saw gnarly roots, leaves and exposed rocks from which I got this image.
If this were a little later in the fall, the leaves would have been more colorful and made for a more interesting photo, but I still like the pattern of the roots, the color and texture of the roots and the color in the exposed rock near the upper left side.
Sometimes we just need to look down and around to find an interesting photographic composition.
Click on the image to view a better image on my Flickr page.
I hope you are all staying safe and well in the Cove-19 Pandemic,
Ken
It is sad that we humans are so irresponsible to dump trash. I find it here at our lake as well. It was so bad one time that I had to call the city to pick it up as there was so much that it required a garbage truck. We must do better!
Yes, you are so correct. I know that in country areas it can be difficult to have trash removal services, at least from years ago; but today there is no excuse for such dumping and littering.