It's a Spiritual Sunday again. Time to ponder whatever comes to mind. Like walking in the Smokies with your head pointed upwards. Watch the squirrels jump from treetop to treetop. Appreciate the soft sunlight filtering down through the canopy. Maybe spot a woodpecker...
I've been working on a small project, and I'm ready to share it. The basic idea is to use Smoky Mountains photos as the context for a short philosophical statement. The statements are about the capacity of nature to lift the spirit. These photos and words can be sent...
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...
I've noticed that lichen seems to come alive in the winter. In the Smoky Mountains, lichen are everywhere, on boulders and rocks and tree trunks. Maybe they stand out in winter because they are not competing with the lush green foliage of summer. In any case,...
It's Philosophical Friday once again. Today's post is about making stacks of balanced stones as art and therapy. Some days you just need to go out and stack some stones. Right? Just head out along some creek and start wandering, looking for a good selection of rocks....
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...
Some of the best Smoky Mountains photos of deer and bear that I have seen are those of photographer Brian Shults. I'd been wanting to meet up with Brian to get some tips on wildlife photography, which is a specialty requiring a whole different strategy than what I'm...
The photo above and below show how densely packed life in the Smoky Mountains is. No sooner does a big tree fall than the recycling begins. Moss and lichens, then ferns and little pine seedlings. Death becomes life, and the old is made new again. In the Smoky...
Ah, Smoky Mountains Dreamin' ... you wake up and feel like you're in a Thomas Kinkade painting. Soft morning light, the cabins around you still shaking off the night, a little fantasy village. The Smoky Mountains off on the horizon, greeting the day in their own proud...
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...
I was walking along the road to the Ramsey Cascade trail in the Greenbrier section of the Smoky Mountains last week. Just out for a stroll, with my little GF1 attached to a monopod like it was a walking stick. Another photographer came out of the woods onto the road,...
Friday philosophy time combined with a photo tip ... a two-fer-one! For me, so much of photography is about seeing the world within the world. Most photographs don't jump out of the jumble in front of our eyes and say "here I am, take me!" Some do, but mostly not....