506 - Dog Slaughter Falls
Dog Slaughter Falls.
Yes, that is actually what it is called. And rumor has it, these waterfalls I took photos of today have a dark history.
Local historians believe the falls used to be a drowning place for unwanted animals. Not the most appetizing story in the world…
Luckily I didn’t research the history of it until after I got back, or I would have been scared shitless the whole time. And looking back, the name checks out… the waterfalls had a strange ethereal vibe to them I couldn’t quite put my finger on. You’ll see.
It all started on a lone backwoods trail in southern Kentucky. It was a 1.5 mile hike, and when I arrived, two people were walking out. The only two people here. Looks like I’m kicking this trail solo…
One thing I’ve been tackling lately is the idea of exploring solo. Now that I’ve been single for a little under three months now, hiking with myself is becoming the new norm. Prior to the breakup, I would do about 80% of my adventures with my partner.
The first thing I noticed on the trail was the absolutely massive amount of vegetation. The whole pathway followed a stream, and the landscape was so green, it looked like someone ran a paint brush over everything.
I picked a small fern and decided to zoom in. Figured I’d warm up with some macro. Then I noticed it:
“Twirly Friend”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8
[ISO 1000 ~ 17mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/60s]
(Want a Print? Get it here.)
I somehow didn’t even see the snail until I was framing it. That’s how much crazy, organic life was everywhere. It felt like I was on an alien planet- just one of the many perks of hiking solo.
Whenever I’m by myself, I get significantly more immersed in the landscapes. Every little sound, smell, and color seems to pop a bit more. The stimulation is intense, as you feel much more vulnerable to the world around you. No one is there to save you if something goes wrong- its simply a dance between you and mother nature.
And it's a feeling that I’m still warming up to, if I’m being honest. I do miss the companionship of exploring with a partner, but the places my mind has taken me when I’ve been out solo recently have been entrancing.
Sometimes it's exciting. Sometimes it's frightening. Sometimes it's peaceful. But it’s a totally new reality to adjust to. And if you know me, you know I I love lifestyle experiments. I’m excited to see how the repetition of solo exploration changes my mind.
But don’t get me wrong, I don’t plan on becoming a total fucking caveman. I’m actually a highly social person, and I love talking to others- it recharges me. So I’ve spent just about every weekend going out in local cities. Whether it's meeting locals at pubs or hooking up with a couple Tinder hotties, I’ve been keen to keep my social engines cooking.
But let’s get back to the actual story here. I finally arrived at the falls, which as I said earlier, had a dark, dreamy vibe. I believe it was the combination of black rocks, dead trees, and jutting bluffs that made the place so jarring. It could have also been the fact that I was there alone.
As I said before, landscapes can get intense when there’s no distractions.
Here’s a couple of my favorite angles that I snagged. I couldn’t decide which of these I liked best:
“Jarhead”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8
[ISO 100 ~ 17mm ~ f/10 ~ 0.6s]
(Want a Print? Get it here.)
“Mossy Undertones”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8
[ISO 100 ~ 20mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/3s]
(Want a Print? Get it here.)
As you can see, the intensity of the location rubbed off on me when I edited them. I wanted to pull out the darkness element and contrast it with the vibrant green… This is yet another addition to my ever slowly growing collection of horror landscape photography- a concept I’m still fleshing out the details of.
Speaking of Tinder dates, I had an enlightening conversation with another artist about this very topic. She was a print-maker by trade, and I bounced the idea of “horror landscape photography” off her. She gave me the following ideas to pick apart… “Chaotic, Uncomfortable, Disorganized, Oblivion…”
I ended up realizing that in order to connect emotions with nature, a good technique is to write all the emotions you want down, and then to actively search for associations to those words in the field. For example, if I write down “Paranoia,” I could find a pool of water that looks like a dark, endless pit. Then I could edit it to look surreal, which helps take the photo from a place of “reality” to “abstract reality.”
Here’s an example:
“Eternal Pool”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8
[ISO 200 ~ 17mm ~ f/10 ~ 1/3s]
(Want a Print? Get it here.)
Good stuff. Write down emotions, then hunt for replicas in nature.
Anyway, that’s today’s adventure folks. Figuring out how to incorporate certain emotions into certain scenes has been one of the many things I’ve been contemplating on these solo adventures. More good shit to come…
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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