As I walked towards the meeting hall of the hotel in Gatlinburg on the foggy morning of October 16th, I didn’t know what to expect from Smoky Mountain Trek. But the moment I stepped inside the meeting hall I knew it is going to be amazing. The mentors Layne Kennedy and Steve Simon shared with us their journey to photography world through their images. Later, the guest speaker and local photographer Donna Eaton elevated the excitement to head out and start shooting by showing us her images that she has been taking of Smoky Mountains.
Our first stop was Chimney Rock and during the bus ride mentors explained us how to take waterfall and river shots. The river was flowing fast through giant boulders and was surrounded by fall colors and fog. The trekkers spread out for an hour and a half to capture the most of it. As we were entering in the parking lot, we spotted a pair of elk grazing far in the field. Some of the trekkers headed fast to take the opportunity anyway and their effort paid off. Rest of us along with our mentors started towards the preserved community of old homes and their small storage cells which used to store food. Our third destination of the day was area’s famous Clingmans Dome, the highest point surrounded by layer upon layer of mountains. The ride through the mountains itself was breathtaking with curved road lined up with fall colored trees. At Clingmans Dome the mountains and sky were covered with clouds. But nothing could keep us inside our big warm Bus especially when we were in the company of professionals. Out in the cold and thick clouds it looked like more of a night. The trekkers spread out on the road side scenic spot and took their positions for that one moment peak of the sun through the thick blanket. As our prayers answered, the clouds tore off to show the Sun for few seconds and shutters fired quickly. Few other times clouds did parted away for a vague view of layered mountain range and then quickly moved back. Trekkers had to act fast. All and all it was a great experience of how to shoot in fog and clouds.
Saturday morning started early as we met in the hotel lobby, got our hot coffee and divided in two groups with Layne Kennedy guiding one group and Steve Simon guiding the other. As we drove towards the Cades Cove, the mentors answered our questions. Cades Cove is a window to the natural and cultural story of Smoky Mountains. A 6,800 acre valley which contains century old homes, barns, churches and a mill along with forests, mountains, plain fields, Elks, mountain lions, wolves and turkeys. The journey started on an 11 mile loop of road. Our first stop was a primitive church along with a graveyard. The mentor Layne Kennedy and Steve Simon showed trekkers how to use flash light creatively inside the dim exteriors. The second stop was at the watermill and at goldsmith quarter. The watermill with a running wheel through the stream presented an excellent subject to take images of. An amazing sight! And the mentors were once again right there to teach the photographers how to expose for this extreme situation. After Cades Cove, we went back to hotel to download the images and have an individual digital review session with our mentor and take lunch in between. After the review session we headed to Middle Prong Little River. Local photographer and Guest Donna Eaton took us to her favorite spot at the river. It was getting dark early due to the wet weather so we had to take long exposures and were amazed how much light camera can record on long exposures. Trekkers learned that they can still shoot after dark.
The Sunday morning we headed to another spot to shoot downtown Gatlinburg. We got there before Sunrise and got the chance to take pictures of the town lights in amidst of mountains. It was a clear and sunny day so as the Sun rose; we could see and take pictures of the mountain range. Later, with the help of mentors, trekkers played with slow exposures and intentional camera movement. We headed back to hotel to down load our images, have a final digital review and a slide show.
Slide show was amazing. To see that so many photographers were at the same spot shooting same subject but everyone’s image is different than the other because they chose a different lens or different angle was a learning curve. Digital review sessions alone were fantastic. We got to know how a professional photographer sees our images, then encourages us and suggests ways to improve them.
Sobia Chishti
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