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…
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…
Wow. What can you say? These are the days that take your breath away. Blue skies and golden light day after day. Save it up for winter. This cabin is high on a ridge about 10 miles out from Mt. LeConte and the Smoky Mountains in the distance. The two chairs are just waiting for…
William “Fighting Billy” Tipton was Revolutionary War veteran and the first of the Tipton clan to acquire land in the Smoky Mountains. This was in the 1820s under Tennessee’s Land Grant program. Colonel Hamp Tipton, a veteran of the Civil War, built the two story cabin above in the early 1870s. Miss Lucy and Miss…
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…
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,…
These two Smoky Mountains photos show Spruce Flat Falls, which is located in the Tremont section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The road into Tremont is just west of the Park entrance at Townsend. It’s about a one mile hike from the parking area at the Tremont Institute. Spruce Flat is very photogenic…
Dogwood Tapestry is one of my premier Smoky Mountains photos in a vertical format. The scene is along the Middle Prong of the Little River, in the Tremont section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This photo is from the same area as Dogwood Rain. The finished photograph is actually a mild double exposure….
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…
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…
It’s a lazy summer Monday in June. Nothing much to do but park yourself out on the deck chairs, contemplate the Smoky Mtn fabulous view and start the day out slowly. One of the magical things about the Smoky Mtn area around Gatlinburg is that although there are hundreds of cabins with a view of the Smokies,…
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…
Happy Friday! It’s been a while since we had a Philosophical Friday. Today’s thoughts are about living in an area like Gatlinburg that features great changes in altitude. Downtown Gatlinburg is about 1500 feet above sea level, yet only about 20 miles away, on the top of Clingman’s Dome, the altitude has climbed to 6,643 feet!…
In April of every year the Smoky Mountains are showered with dogwood blooms like a late spring snowstorm. Everywhere you go … up in the Greenbrier, along the Little River or the lower elevations of the Newfound Gap Road … in Elkmont and Tremont … the dogwoods sprinkle their blooms like white notes on the…
Trout Lily (Erythronium umbilicatum) is an early spring bloomer that can be found before the trees leaf out in the lower elevations of the Smoky Mountains. However, I have seen it blooming much later near the 6000 foot level along the Clingman’s Dome Road. Trout Lily often forms large colonies by way of their root…
Spruce Flat Falls is one of the hidden gems of the Smoky Mountains. The hike is about a mile each way, not too rugged but with a bit of a climb. The trail passes through a thicket of Mountain Laurel, which will be in bloom the first week or two in May. It’s also a…
The calendar has turned towards warmth and renewal, the Smoky Mountains trails are shaking off their winter drowse, and once again we are headed towards the great spring wildflower pilgrimage. This is an exciting time of year when the trails seem to change on a daily basis. Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is a delicate, subtle beauty…
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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