It’s another Spiritual Sunday. Today we are in the Deep Woods. Something about being among Big Trees speaks to a person’s soul. If you’ve ever stood in a grove of California Redwoods, you know the feeling. They’ve lived for so long, and withstood so many of nature’s hardships. They tower above their peers, leaving you…
Greenbrier Spring was taken just downstream from the bridge leading up the Ramsay Prong Road in the Greenbrier section of the Smoky Mountains. The creek entering from the right is the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River, and straight ahead is the Ramsay Prong entering. A beautiful spring day after the dogwood blooms have…
Updated 2012: This blog post was originally written two years ago, in spring of 2010. The information here is still very valid and useful, but in the past couple of years I’ve adopted a more “minimalist” approach to photography, and especially wildflower photos. The main difference is that I’m now using a very lightweight camera,…
Place of 1000 Drips is one of my oldest and most enduring Smoky Mountains photos. This is a popular roadside waterfall along the Roaring Fork Motor Trail. Turn at stoplight #8 in Gatlinburg, bearing to the right at the top of the hill, you will enter the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and begin a 6-mile…
Winter Silence is my best-selling winter Smoky Mountains photos. It’s a dreamy, ethereal snow scene that was taken out in the Greenbrier area of the Smokies during a late winter storm. The technique used to capture the image is unusual. The camera was on a tripod, set to a long exposure time of about two…
The image above was taken from the footbridge that leads to the Ramsay Cascades trail in the Greenbrier section of the Smoky Mountains. This wide panorama was created from five vertical panels joined together with a photostitch technique. And each vertical panel was created by combining four different exposures. So, the entire image that you…
Philosophical Friday here. Standing beside the Lynn Camp Prong, taking in the autumn splendor. It’s so quiet, so still. So many details to look at and appreciate. The way the leaves contrast with the beautiful gray of the rocks and tree trunks. The way the water makes endless currents and flows. The vine snaking down…
Everyone loves to get out and drive in the Smoky Mountains during the autumn leaf season in October. It’s all about sensory overload. The colors flying by, the smells of dry leaves, the sensation of getting down the road and getting away from it all. A stunning time to take a few photographs. Unfortunately, we’re…
Spiritual Light is one of my Smoky Mountains photos taken from the Morton Overlook near Newfound Gap. The dramatic rays of sunset filtering through the trees lasted only a moment or two, so I had to be quick with the camera! The vantage point from Morton Overlook is good for sunset photos during the summer…
Road to Tremont is in fact the road leading into the Tremont area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is one of my favorite areas. But it really could be anywhere in the Smokies on a rainy day in autumn. What makes this image one of my featured Smoky Mountains photos, and a captivating…
Smoky Mountains meditation on a Spiritual Sunday. My wife Sarah likes to meditate. She can be miles away while sitting quietly in our little cabin. Getting away without going away. Getting away to get in touch. Paradoxically removing oneself from everything in order to be totally present. I’ve tried meditating over the years, but have…
I went out one drizzly weekend in October and took a series of Smoky Mountains photos of autumn leaves. They were taken on on various trails in the Smokies. The series became a signature collection of four, with the red sourwood leaf being the center of attraction. The Red Leaf evokes the zen concept “all of Autumn…
Wild Autumn is one of my Smoky Mountains photos from the fall of 2010. It was taken in the Greenbrier section of the Smokies along the Ramsay Prong of the Little Pigeon River, just from the footbridge leading to the Ramsay Cascades trail. An all-day soaking rain the day before had the stream swollen and wild,…
This spectacular sunrise image titled Morning Majesty was added to the main collection at the William Britten Gallery during the summer of 2011 and immediately became one of the top selling Smoky Mountains photos. The brilliant morning sun is scattering through a lens flare, and there is a blue haze lingering in the deep valley,…
Noah “Bud” Ogle was a Smoky Mountain farmer who lived from 1863 to 1913. The cabin was built in the 1880′s and consists of two cabins sharing a single chimney, known as a “saddlebag” style. The Ogle farm is the first stop on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. From stoplight number 8 in Gatlinburg,…
Path to Serenity is one of my Smoky Mountains photos taken along the trail to Spruce Flat Falls in the Tremont section of the National Park. Early to mid-May is the time the Mountain Laurel bloom at this altitude. The laurel is very similar to the rhododendren that are also prevelent in the Smokies. The…
Smoky Mountain Moonrise is a recent addition to the William Britten Gallery. This stunningly beautiful photo was taken east of Gatlinburg in the Glades area. It is actually a location that I pass every day because it is on the street where I live. Many of my photos of Mt. LeConte are taken from this…
A commitment is required to experience the quiet grandeur of a Smoky Mountains dawn such as this. With close to an hour drive from the Gatlinburg area, it’s a very early wake-up call. And it’s a gamble, since on any given day you may experience only dense fog at the mile-high elevation. But the rewards…
Creekside Sweet Gum is one of my all-time most popular photos, and is one of the few where I went out in search of a specific composition. In this case it was the autumn leaves highlighted against a backdrop of the flowing creek. I recall that it was a drizzly morning, with a bit…
Smoky Mountain Monet is a favorite year after year in my gallery and at art fairs. This picture is an example of how I like to use an intimate landscape to create a mood or reflect an emotion. This picture was taken in the Tremont section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s interpretation…
Cades Cove Morning is a fairly new addition to the William Britten Gallery, taken from Hyatt Lane in the Cades Cove section of the Smoky Mountains. This photo was taken just after 7:00, when the morning was bathed in a golden, syrupy light, and the mist still lingering on the valley floor. This photo draws…
I made a late-evening run up to Newfound Gap to deliver a hiker to the Appalachian Trail. This was Moises (pictured below), who had called me from Chicago. It was his first AT hike, and he’d been on a bus since 4:00am! As darkness was fast approaching, we decided to ride a few miles out…
During the greater span of history in the Smoky Mountains, Indian Gap has been the main route across the mountains. Long a Cherokee trail, Indian Gap Road actually charged a toll in the 1830s. In exchange for the payment, farmers and merchants and travelling families were allowed to endure the rocky and rutted, steep and…
Could life get any better than this? So many cabins, so many great Smoky Mtn views, plenty of time to enjoy it all. Mt. LeConte beckons in the photo above. This resort cabin sits high on Shields Mountain, about 10 miles out from the Smokies. With some rocking chairs on the front porch and a hot tub…
I live in Gatlinburg TN, on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. The Smokies are a very spiritual place, and I attempt to capture some of that spirit in each of my photographs.
If you are in Gatlinburg, please stop in at my gallery .
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