I find staring at the motion of rushing water mesmerizing. Add the sound that waterfalls or roaring mountain streams make, and it is very easy to become lost in the experience. For me, that was the case on this mid-October day, as I spent over three hours watching, listening, photographing, and just enjoying Crabtree Falls, located off the Blue Ridge Parkway about 40 miles south of Linville, NC.

In most autumn seasons, the flow of Crabtree Creek is so slight that 70-foot Crabtree Falls looks much more like a wet, lace-covered rock face than an actual waterfall. Autumn 2009 was quite different, in that September and early October doused the northwestern North Carolina mountains with much more rainfall than is the norm. As a result, the volume of the waterfall was much closer to levels typically seen only in spring. I made many photographs of Crabtree Falls this day, employing many different compositions. This one isolates the lower third of the falls, focusing on the graceful patterns inherent in the scene as the water cascades noisily toward the pool at the base of the falls. I decided to include a portion of the rocks and deadfall at the base to provide a context and size reference and to anchor the composition.