Beautiful Day; Bad Water!

Richmond, Virginia skyline from the middle of the James River. A gorgeous day to photograph but some
very bad water for any activities. (click to enlarge)
Fujifilm X=T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 17mm; 1/2 sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200 (10-stop ND filter)

Last Saturday while out "Photo Walking" around Richmond, Virginia with a good photographer friend, we wandered over to the James River, a 348 mile waterway which has its origin in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and finds its terminus in the Hampton Roads near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.  Hampton Roads is the name of the large body of water in southeastern Virginia consisting of the confluence of the James River, the Elizabeth Rivers (three branches), Nansemond River and Chesapeake Bay.  It is where the famous Civil War ironclad ship battle between the Union's Monitor and the Confederate's CSS Virginia, commonly misnamed the Merrimack, was fought.  

After a number of days of rain, the water in the James River was running high, looking nasty and had taken on a rust color from kicking up and transporting much of the red, iron rich soil of central Virginia.  

Bad water near the shoreline; Stay Out! (click to enlarge)
X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 51mm; 1/25th sec. @ f/16; ISO 200

We walked out into the middle of the river on a pedestrian walkway to make a few images.  Later, my friend, made a series of 8 really interesting images of a group of white water rafters, obviously not ready for the change in river currents caused by the flooding, being dumped into the water.  If you are interested in seeing them, you can find them on his blog, "Two Lane Touring," which can be found here. (As far as we know, all are okay.)

In the Richmond area, the James River has many small rapids and is typically used for swimming, kayaking and other like types of water activities.  Normally, the water is much more docile than this.  Downstream from this point, the river flattens and widens as ocean-going vessels can quite easily travel from its mouth all the way to Richmond.

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Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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