Lake Jocassee
(Devil's Fork State Park)
Lake Jocassee is located in Devil's Fork State Park in Oconee County, South Carolina. It is a 7,500 arce, over 300 ft deep reservoir created in 1973 for hydroelectric power. It remains mostly undeveloped with four mountain streams and several waterfalls feading into the lake. The clear, cold water of the lake is a sight to see especially during the Spring and Summer.
A deep history follows the state park as the name has Cherokee origin meaning "Place of the Lost One". This describes a legend where a girl walked across the water to meet her lover of an enemy tribe. The valley was home to the Cherokee for a long time until they were forced out by General Andrew Pickens in 1785. A town was placed in the Jocassee valley which was ultimately submerged in 1973 by Duke Power (Now Duke Energy) in order to create a way for hydroelectric power.
Nevertheless, Lake Jocasssee is home to many different species of plants and animals alike. The rare Oconee Bell grows along the shore. The tall mountains surrounding the valley give homes to many different wildlife. Fish such as trout, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, and spotted bass are all found within the lake's cold waters. The park offers swimming, kayaking, boat tours, scubadiving, fishing, and more to all of its visitors. Overall, the state park has something for everyone to enjoy.
Why Here? Why These Tutorials?
Lake Jocassee has quickly become one of my favorite places to visit ever since my brother-in-law, Clay Prudhomme and sister, Meghan Prudhomme took me to visit a year ago. It is truly a breathtaking place to visit with the huge mountains, beautiful scenery, and clear waters.
We visited the park again a weekend ago. I knew before we even got to the park that I wanted to use it for my Learn & Explore project. Additionally, nature photography is something I have wanted to get more interested in. The last time I came to Jocassee, I did not have the equipment or the knowledge to take good pictures. This time, I do.
I choose four different tutorials. Photography: First Steps is a 37 minute course. The Art of Photo Composition is 43 minutes. Landscape Photography: Waterfalls is 32 minutes. Learning Lighting: Natural Light is 40 minutes.
The first tutorial goes in depth into basic usage of a camera, shooting skills, and editing skills. This is all very important knowledge that I have to keep in mind as I am still learning my own camera. The second tutorial went into composition which taught me different types of framing and actions to take to get a better picture than just raising the camera and clicking the button.
The third tutorial went into photographing waterfalls. This was very interesting to me as Lake Jocassee has many different waterfalls that I took pictures of. The fourth tutorial went into taking photos in natural light which is esstenial to know when doing photography outside.
Learning Nature Photography
With each tutorial in mind, I set off to take as many pictures as I could as best as I could. I wanted to practice a lot and the only way to do that is to take pictures.
With Clay as a guide through Lake Jocassee, I was able to visit so many breathtaking areas of the park. We visited many waterfalls, went on a few hikes to get to the waterfalls, and boated around to different parts of the huge lake.
Nature photography was a lot of fun to do. It challenged me to be more careful with my shots and with my editing. I had to learn how to frame for a landscape and different masking techniques with editing. There is still a lot I have to learn with this branch of photography, but it was very enjoyable to see my hard work come to life.
Highlights
Waterfall Photography
This was a wonderful challenge to take! The tutorial on waterfalls was a lot of help during this shoot. This particular picture was taken by overexposing the shot and keeping my hands extremely still in order to get the waterfall to look how it does in the photo. A trick taught to me by Clay Prudhomme.
Natural Lighting Photography
Natural lighting is something I had to combat with everytime I raised my camera to take a picture. The slightest movement of the camera can instantly change the exposure making your picture either be underexposed or overexposed. I had to manually adjust my camera in order to deal with the natural lighting. The tutorial helped alot with giving me insight to how to work with natural lighting instead of fighting aganist it.
My Process
I created a shoot plan before I left for Lake Jocassee. I knew I wanted to get photos of the natural scenery and waterfalls. I also wanted to get a shot of any fish or wildlife I would happen to see on my adventure as well. Other than that, I went with the flow, remembering what the tutorials taught, and started to do what felt right in the moment to take a picture of. While I had others with me, all of my pictures and editing was done by myself.
I use Adobe Lightroom for all of my editing. I find it the easiest to use with organizing and editing. My main idea for the editing of this photos was to enhance the greenery and make it seem vibrant and alive.
All information about Lake Jocassee and the Devil's Fork State Park taken from the State Park Website.