Fall 2025 in The Great Smoky Mountains

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I’ve returned from another fall trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and it was everything I could have hoped for. One year ago I was asked to help with instruction at the photography workshops put on in the Spring and Fall each year by the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont (GSMIT). This Fall was my third time helping out at the workshops and was a turning point in several ways.

Meigs Falls

Getting my Mojo Back

I got to Townsend almost a week before the workshop started so I could spend some time photographing the park and scouting locations for the workshop. I had booked an AirBnB in town which I was sharing with a friend from the Photography Club of Greater Cincinnati. We went out the next day to see what was available and ran into another friend shooting Meigs Falls off of Little River Rd. We stopped and chatted for a bit while shooting the scene above.

The colors in the foliage were close to peak and the weather was cooperative with overcast and rainy skies throwing nice even soft light over the park. Absolutely perfect conditions for photographing waterfalls. I hadn’t held my camera for a landscape photo in months and it felt good to know I had a good one in the bag just an hour or so after setting out that morning.

West Prong - Little River

The next few days were an exercise in dodging the heavy rains, dodging traffic and immersing myself back into photography. Summer is usually a slow photography season for me but I was a little disappointed that a trip to Ireland in August hadn’t really produced any “keepers” and I felt like I just needed to practice A LOT. As we explored the park we went to Kuwohi, Cades Cove and Elkmont. The photo above was taken at a spot I had found a few years ago while attending the GSMIT workshop as a participant. I had sat in nearly the same place with my nieces in June and watched as they painted each other’s faces with mud. Just thinking about that made me smile while I clicked the shutter button.

The workshop starts on Friday afternoon so I got up relatively early and headed to Foothills Parkway to shoot the sunrise. My roommate decided to take the morning off to sleep in and grab a good breakfast at one of the local restaurants. Let’s just say I am glad I didn’t join him.

Sunrise at Foothills Parkway

In all the years I have been shooting sunrises from the Parkway I have never really had good luck with colorful sunrises. I’ve seen plenty of fog (and I LOVE the fog there) but so often I get fog and no clouds (and therefore no color) or too many clouds and no fog. That Friday I got both fog in the valley and a colorful sky. On top of that as soon as I got out of my car I was greeted by an alumni of the Tremont workshops who I got to catch up with and shoot these gorgeous scenes.

As the sun came up past the mountains the show continued with the fog moving around in the valleys. This is when I will zoom in for little vignettes of the fog weaving between “islands” of trees like in the scene below.

Foothills Fog

Mother Nature was far from finished however. Just when it looked like the clouds would completely cover the sky and block the sun an opening appeared and the sun shot through with some classic “godbeams” in a scene that I described at the time as almost biblical.

Let there be Light!

After this display I just knew I had some good shots but I was hungry for more. After a quick trip to the gas station for a super healthy breakfast of a Coke Zero and some little chocolate donuts I went back to the Parkway but this time on the “new” side (East of 321). Wouldn’t you know it but I ran into another of the instructors from the workshop and one of the former instructors. With both of them at the same spot I knew I was in for something special and we managed to see several breathtaking scenes of the morning sun illuminating trees through the fog.

After a great morning I went back to the room and switched my brain to instructor mode.

Getting Comfortable as an Instructor

One of the great things about the GSMIT photography workshops is that we have so many repeat customers. It is fairly normal for 1/2 the group to be alumni who are coming back. I was one of those “slow learners” for many years and as an instructor it helps put me at ease when we see those familiar faces sitting at the tables in the Cove room. The schedule for the workshop is always challenging as we try to fit as much shooting and classroom time as possible into our few days with the group. It often leaves me exhausted on the last day and makes it hard to see that you are making a difference.

This year I think I turned a corner as an instructor. As I was helping a participant process a photo from the first morning session I saw the light switch turn on and I knew I had made a difference in her understanding of how to process photos. I came to a realization that seeing that difference was very nearly as thrilling as getting a good shot of my own. I mentioned that to one of the other instructors in passing and his response struck home; “If it wasn’t as good or better then what the hell are we even doing this for?”

The workshop this fall visited the Foothills Parkway on Sunday morning and while Friday was spectacular, Sunday was jaw dropping. We had a solid 3 hours of fantastic shooting conditions with brilliant color at sunrise, extraordinary cloud formations and even a bit of fog to tie it all together. I’d love to show you some photos of that morning but I can’t, I was so excited helping the participants get those once in a lifetime shots that I never really thought to pull my camera out and shoot it myself. Instead I spent the morning walking up and down the row of tripods with the other instructors pointing out interesting compositions, helping with settings in the challenging light and lending gear to folks who weren’t as well equipped. It was glorious and I sincerely hope those folks, many of whom where fairly new to photography, got shots they will treasure forever.

Color in the Cove

The workshop normally ends with a morning in Cades Cove. We had a lot, actually too much, fog so our usual schedule got scrapped for better shooting conditions in different parts of the Cove. As we were exiting one of the passengers in my car pointed out the above composition across a field. He’s been to the workshop 3 times now and I was impressed that he could pick out a relatively difficult shot from a moving car at a distance. I was also very proud of him, he’s made massive strides since he first started coming down and is much more confident in his abilities. I’ve seen his shot of this scene and while his style is different from mine, I would be hard-pressed to find any faults in his composition or processing.

Thunderhead Prong

After the workshop ended we all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways…well some of us anyway. I went out shooting with one of the workshop participants that afternoon and we went after a shot we had seen from someone else in the group. It was a cascade in the Thunderhead Prong that I had never shot before. I’m happy with the above shot and anxious to see how the same spot looks in the Spring when I return for that workshop. My companion was another member of our photo club who I hadn’t had a chance to get to know well before the workshop. We spent the evening chatting about photography and photography adjacent topics before meeting the other instructors and a few new Tremont alumni for dinner.

I’ve been home for a few days now and can’t wait to get back to the Smokies in the Spring to see the mountains, click the shutter and most importantly to see my friends and make new ones.

Olympic National Park

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My job requires that I travel a fair amount to my company’s facilities throughout North America. Luckily this means occasionally I get an opportunity to have the company pay for airfare to locations near some of the more fabulous national parks we have in the US. Right now I am sitting in a hotel in Vancouver, BC for just that reason.

When I found out Vancouver was on my schedule for this year I had to decide if I was going to shoot in the Canadian Rockies, on Vancouver Island or in Olympic National Park. I feel like I chose well when I decided to go to Olympic. I arrived in Seattle on Friday night and drove to Port Angeles. Saturday morning I began one of the better photography trips I have ever been on.

Sol Duc Falls near(ish) Port Angeles, WA. Get here very soon after sunrise on a clear day to avoid harsh light on the river.

It is hard for someone born and raised in Ohio to fully digest the landscape in the Olympic Peninsula. Towering western hemlocks, Douglas firs and big leaf maples exist on an incomprehensible scale, forming the canopy above a lush understory of ferns, spring ephemeral wildflowers, and fallen giants who fell to windstorms or old age. These downed logs slowly rot away nourishing the new growth springing up to take advantage of the new hole in the canopy.

Trillium Grandiflora - something I did not expect to see in these temperate rainforests.

Photographing woodland is extremely difficult. Chaos reigns in the understory and finding a coherent composition is, for me at least, a challenge. I walked through these forests holding my viewing card and raising it to look through and try to isolate vignettes in the wider scene that will make for a good photo. As usual, a good photo is all about the light. Several times during this trip i had my tripod set up and a passerby looked at where my camera was pointed and asked “what are you shooting?” to which I answered “the light”.

Hoh Rainforest - Not the greatest composition in the world, but the light coming in from the left and hitting the moss at least makes it interesting.

Two tools I used on this trip that were extremely helpful were my viewing card and my circular polarizer. If you don’t already know, a viewing card is a card with a cut out with the same aspect ratio as your sensor. You can use an old slide to do this, or you can cut one out for yourself. I’m lucky enough to have a brother who owns a metal shop and he was able to make a metal one for me. I may not always use it but I carry it all the time in my camera backpack. In these types of woodland scenes the viewing card is very useful in screening out some of the chaos and letting me see the potential compositions. A polarizing filter is critical for cutting the reflections from waxy and wet leaves and to an extent cutting through atmospheric haze. Every “keeper” shot I took in Olympic had a polarizer in front of the lens.

Merriman Falls in the Quinault area.

I am very thankful I got to enjoy a few days in this breathtaking park and look forward to going back for a longer visit since I barely scratched the surface on this trip.



Another Spring trip in the Smoky Mountains

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Last weekend was one of my annual spring trips to Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). I go twice a year and participate in the photography workshops held at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont (GSMIT). It is always a highlight to see the instructors, GSMIT employees and participants at the workshop. Many participants come back year after year to see our Tremontster Family.

Fog in the valley below the Foothills Parkway. Spring colors are nearly as good, maybe better, than fall colors.

It has been a hectic spring at home with work travel, lots of yard work killing invasive plants and one thing after another needing to get handled during my free time. This means I feel like I never get time to go out with my camera and shoot (the reality is I haven’t prioritized that over other things). Heading down to Tremont for a weekend washes all of that away and I can get back into my comfort zone around friends amongst the natural beauty of GSMNP.

This gobbler in Cades Cove just couldn’t believe the hens wanted nothing to do with him.

Several newer participants in the workshop asked me why I keep coming back and going to the same locations again and again. Heraclitus said “A man can never step in the same river twice.” Even though until I just looked it up I would have sworn that a Native American said that, the same is true of photographing any location. It is constantly changing. Trees grow and fall, like they recently did in a bad storm in the Cove and at Tremont. The rivers change from a raging torrent to a lazy meandering stream revealing compositions that weren’t there before. Buildings age and are reclaimed by nature. Every single time I go back I find a new subject to photograph or a new way to photograph an old subject.

One of many chimneys left from the historic Elkmont area of the park. My first shot of one of the chimneys that I liked.

Of course the easiest answer to “Why do you keep going back?” is that I simply enjoy being around the people that put on and take part in the workshop. The instructors are always willing to lend a hand in post processing or to encourage me to escape my compositional comfort zone, the staff are some of the most dedicated conservationists you’ll ever meet, and being around 15-30 other photographers of every skill level can really challenge you to see new things as we all work on finding our inspiration.

Sunrise in Cades Cove. Who needs an interesting sky when you have this setting?

Now I have some more photos to edit and bags to pack as I am headed to Vancouver for work next week. Luckily I am going to be able to spend a few days in Olympic National Park while I am out there so I’m glad I got to stretch my photography muscles out in the Smokies.

In case you are interested, the next GSMIT photography workshop is in the fall, November 1-4, 2024. https://gsmit.org/event/autumn-brilliance-photography-workshop-2024/ for more information. I hope I will see you there!

#Portugal2022 - Lisbon

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When I turned 40 I decided I would go to Europe at least once a year for the rest of my life. I was doing very well until the COVID pandemic hit. I was actually in Scotland when it first hit the UK so that was 2020 handled, but I wasn’t able to get overseas in 2021. For most of 2022 I thought it would be the same but thankfully the pandemic eased a good bit and I was able to get to Portugal (Lisbon and Madeira specifically).

The underside of the viewing platform at the Elevador de Santa Justa

I was originally going to participate in a workshop on Madeira, but that got cancelled TWO DAYS before my flights. I quickly rearranged my plans for my time on the island and flew to Lisbon. I pointedly decided not to brood on the injustice of my plans being changed around and dove into the trip embracing some photography that I am not normally used to. On my first full day I took at walking photo tour with Miguel at Photowalks Lisboa. This was a great decision and I can’t recommend Miguel’s tour enough. Actually I am disappointed I didn’t have the foresight to book an evening tour later in the week…next time maybe. We walked through the Alfama district and Miguel encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone and try some “street” photography.

An Alfama resident gets ready for work

Shooting (literally) from the hip is quite different from the deliberate, considered approach I usually take towards photography. It was uncomfortable and it was challenging and it was fun. I’m not sure that the shots would be considered praiseworthy, but it is something I will likely do more of in the future.

There was a time when I used to tell people that when they saw a photo of mine in black and white, that meant I had screwed up the exposure and a B&W conversion was the only thing that saved it. That is no longer true for the most part and I found myself shooting a lot of B&W on this trip.

My walking tour with Miguel was not only challenging artistically but also physically as I did not take his advice and catch an Uber or Bolt to our meeting place, but instead walked from essentially sea level to the highest point in Lisbon, Miradouro de Nossa Senhora do Monte. My watch kept track, and by 9:00 am I had climbed up and down the equivalent of 44 flights of stairs. I was exhausted by noon and had to get some lunch.

That’s enough for tonight. More on this trip later.

I’ve been working on bringing my website up to snuff and even adding a way for people to purchase prints (and other products with my images on them). You probably already know this since you most likely found this blog through my website but if you haven’t seen it yet please feel free to visit Rich Rings Photography.