The Great Smoky Mountains National Park Photography Workshop Recap

As photographers, we are always chasing beautiful scenes at the right time of day with the right kind of weather. The scene may call for puffy clouds at sunset or sunrise, dramatic clouds, etc. It’s always a joy to be in the right place at the right time. And, then again, we must make do with what nature gives us.

This was the first photography workshop where a tragic hurricane passed through the southeast the week before the workshop, and almost completely derailed our plans. The tragedy in the Carolinas affected several of our planned stops. As workshop leaders, the safety of our fellow photographers is the most important thing. Combine this with the unimaginable devastation that the hurricane caused, we were very close to cancelling the workshop altogether. The last thing we wanted to do was put our participants in harm’s way and get in the way of the recovery efforts.

Several calls later we were confirmed that The Smoky Mountain National Park was “open for business” and encouraging people to visit. So, we researched and revised our itinerary.

The Smoky Mountain National Park always offers many photogenic areas. Whether you are looking for beautiful waterfalls and cascades, classic Smoky Mountains views, historic log homes and mills or wildlife. Layer the fellowship of like-minded photographers in search of images that move us, you have the recipe for a wonderful workshop.

Highlights from this workshop include photographing the comet from Kuwohi (formerly Clingman’s Dome), sunsets, moonrise, apple pies, historic cabins and mills, elk, winding mountain roads bordered by colorful trees, etc. Alas, we found no “Toucans and Polar Bears” as one attendee was hoping to see. Clearly, he was on the wrong workshop. We did our best to appease though and found quite a few black bears.

All things considered; it was an amazing photography workshop. The natural beauty of The Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the comradery of fellow photographers were the perfect elements. We cannot thank our fellow photographers enough. They showed amazing patience and understanding as we explored areas that were sometimes less than perfect.

Our hearts are still breaking as the Carolinas, especially Asheville, continue to struggle. We look forward to being able to support that area on our next photography workshop to chase the beautiful waterfalls near there and commune with those that were devasted by this hurricane. If you are interested in donating to that area, please consider giving to the NC.Gov Disaster Relief Fund.

Check out our upcoming workshops and join us on another adventure!