Heading for the Virginia mountains is always fun, as we anticipate what the cascades and wildflowers are doing each year. Since Mother Nature has a mind of her own, she changes the timing of spring to suit her whims.

This year, because of the large snow storms, the cascades were particularly magnificent, but the wildflowers in the gorges were quite late. After all, with all the snow, spring thaw came late. That said, we still found plenty of flowers to photograph.

For this Same Place — Different View, we’ll draw from a few locations we visited with our participants. As some of you already know, we never tell our group what to photograph, but we do help them seek their own vision.

The first morning, we headed to a private gorge where there are dozens and dozens of cascades.

David chose to photograph a small section of cascade isolating a tuffet of grass.

… While John was attracted to the way the flowing water set off some yellow wildflowers.

Scott, on the other hand, was drawn to the diagonal patterns of the water flowing over a rock.

These are examples of cascades in the same area being photographed from totally different viewpoints.

In one of the pretty valleys we visit, farmland and pastoral views are plentiful. It is interesting that in every one of our workshops in this location, several people always feature a certain tree. We don’t point the tree out, but people are always drawn to it.

Helen set her tree off against a soft pallet of spring greens.

Stan decided to go with a stark, dramatic, black-and-white treatment.

As you can see, both chose radically different spots to make their photographs.

The early-morning mists are lovely in these valleys. Swift-moving, they require patience to photograph. An inch or two in the viewfinder can make all the difference in the final photograph.

Walt was attracted to the diagonal line of the fence with the farm and fog in the background.

Marg was more interested in the fog with the fence as the secondary element and used her exposure setting to create drama.

What a difference there is in their two approaches to photographing essentially the exact same scene.

There is no one right way to photograph anything. If there were, it would be pretty boring, as all our images would look the same. The photos above show markedly different views of the same subject, so as you go out photographing, keep that in mind. Try your own Same Place — Different View!

Meanwhile, we are getting ready to head overseas for our European adventures. MooseCat knows something is up, as those funny, rectangular things some out and get filled with familiar items. We’ll miss him, but we’re happy that he and our house sitter get along so well. Once we walk out the door, he’ll be begging for treats and insisting on lots of scratches.

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