Troll Bridge

January 2018

"Far to the north, or indeed in any direction, strange mountains and creatures have always lurked- elves, goblins, trolls, and spiders:-we encounter them in dread and wonder."    William Stafford

An extended spell of frigid cold moved over our area. I watched the weather and waited as the intense cold slowly transformed the Hocking Hills into a fairy land of ice. Val and I slipped out early one morning and began capturing these visions. We eventually arrived at the Old Man's Cave and began to hike the gorge trail. We experienced numerous scenes that captured the imagination. 

I hiked down to get a view of the frozen falls underneath an old Conservation Corp bridge. As I began to visualize compositions my perceptions developed of the wonderful rock formations that form the sides of the Old Man's Creek here. Each rock out crop seemed to have its own "creature" manifesting into numerous figures of trolls and goblins. I vaguely remembered back to old stories of these creatures hiding under bridges and exacting tolls for passersby. 

I gathered my gear and began a series of compositions and this particular one was my favorite after reviewing back at the (warm) studio.

Enjoy!

Dusty