Almost crossing paths … again

Steven takes in the view
Now that Earl has shown me his not-so-secret waterfall, I am quite attracted to it and will visit it as often as possible. Waterfalls are one of the things that I absolutely love about North Carolina. Not many waterfalls to be had here in the lowcountry, as everything is at sea level, just about.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend, Steven, of Two Black Guys in a Ditch fame, called me and said: “Man! I thought that you told me that we were going to get together when you were in town!”. Well, that was true, but I hadn’t had a lot of time to go shooting, so I decided that we should go out to the Bull Hole, Earl’s stomping ground, and do some shooting. We arranged to meet at Concord Mills Mall at 7:00 AM. A little late for me, but I figured that it would be cloudy and overcast, according to the weather report. Also, I didn’t want it to be too early for Steven!

We met promptly at 7:00 AM and drove over to ‘falls’. When we got out of the car, I could hear the roar of the falls. Steven asked: What’s that sound, is there and expressway near hear? I said, no! That’s the sound of the water! He remarked: No way!

As we approached the end of the short path, all that Steven could say was: Awesome! It truly was awesome. The water was coming over the spillway at full force. Usually, there are rocks that allow you to walk most of the way across the river. Those rocks were not to be seen today! No way! Had you attempted to cross today, there was either a fast-water rescue ‘attempt’ in your future, or death.

I kept expecting to see Earl around, but no dice. This evening I read that he had been there! I’m just not sure when. I have a feeling that we were not too far apart. It would have been very nice to see him!

Steven and I photographed for about 90 minutes, then had a nice breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then headed back to our respective homes; however, before we parted, he asked: Hey, did you bring that lens thing that you were talking about? I thought for a few moments, then remembered: “Oh! The Lensbaby! Yes, I have right here!!!”. I reached into my bag, grabbed it, put it on his camera, showed him how the aperture disks worked, then told him to take it with him and use it for as long as he wants! I meant it too! After looking through it for a while, his only comment was: “This thing is weird!”

We’ll see what he thinks about it, later! I’ll report back on it.