The Old Watch

Standing firm against blasting winds, driving rain, and the ravages of time, the old fire watch tower still stands. Though unmanned, replaced by clever devices of the modern age, this old tower speaks volumes. Not only to the ingenuity, but the beauty of the architecture, for such a utilitarian structure to blend such things together is a mystery in of itself. This old tower on Wayah bald watches still, stands firm still, a testament to those who game before, the old watch.

This stonework tower once stood three stories tall, a full glass watch for rangers built into the top for the rangers stationed there. It once had a 360 degree view from Wayah bald, but due to fires, and other maladies that transpired over the years it has become a shorter, but no less beautiful place to visit. Though recovering from a fire not long ago, the tower is still one of my favorite places to visit within the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Capturing, then editing this photo was quite the endeavor. This is a focus stacked image, though I only needed a few frames to full capture the scene, the winds were driving on this day. There is a slight ghosting effect you can see in the taller grass, something I can live with personally. The real difficult part was sequencing the photos to catch the light as I wanted it. The clouds were unforgiving this day, and while it’s only a few quick captures, the reality is, it took almost an hour to get the sequence of photos I needed to build the photo you see here,

Until Next Time!

Aperture: f8
ISO: 400
SS: 1/200th
Focal: 66mm

Fujinon 50-140mm