Just back from the beach, and before heading out to the Smoky Mountains trails again, I wanted to share some photos of people having a good time on vacation. I enjoyed a sunrise walk every morning, feet in the water, taking in all the activity even at that early hour. Lots of fishermen and dog-walkers.
These photos make it look like I was laying in the surf, but really I just had fun holding the camera barely above the sand to capture this clam’s-eye view.
Several months ago I wrote a little thing about creating zen rock stacks near my home in the Smoky Mountains. There seems to be an almost universal relationship between man and rocks that is reflected in the creation of these zen stacks.
Recently I traveled all the way up to the coast of Maine, to Acadia National Park. Walking out onto the rocky shoreline, what do I find but a bunch of zen stacks. These are beautiful granite stones shaped by glaciers and ocean waves. They’re irresistible! See how different the red granite above is from the Smoky Mountain river rocks pictured at the bottom of this page.
Go on out and stack some stones, wherever you are. And please stop in and visit me to see the complete display of Smoky Mountain Photography at the William Britten Gallery in Gatlinburg, TN.
The cave pictured here is Sea Anemone Cave near Acadia National Park, in Maine. The photo below was taken by me in 1974, a 25-year-old camper with a brand new twin-lens Mamiya C330 medium format camera that I used for black and white landscapes. An Ansel Adams disciple all the way!
I traveled to Acadia again this summer, um, a little bit older, and once again sought out Anemone Cave. The National Park has removed the cave from all maps and literature because too many times the Coast Guard was called out to rescue folks like me when the tide caught them inside the cave. I found the cave but unfortunately (or fortunately) the tide was already coming in, so I could only gaze from the cliffs above.
Today’s miles away pictures are from a recent trip to Bar Harbor, Maine. Bar Harbor is to Acadia National Park what Gatlinburg is to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A tourist town on the edge of great beauty.
In the picture above you can see the little village nestled against the harbor. See the sand bar to the left and the breakwater to the right? Thus the name.
Where does a Smoky Mountain resident go to get miles away? To the beach!
The picture above is one of those soft pastel dawns near the ocean. You can almost feel the moist salt breeze. In the distance is the Myrtle Beach skyline, taken from my 11th floor condo balcony, 10 miles to the south in Garden City Beach.
I’m back in Gatlinburg and the beloved Smoky Mountains now, so please stop in and visit me to see the complete display of Smoky Mountain Photography at the William Britten Gallery.
South Carolina Beach sunriseSand dollars at sunrise
Spent a week at the beach, just south of Myrtle Beach in Garden City Beach, SC. My son Justin and I had a working getaway … me taking stock images most days, while he set up a water’s edge office for telecommuting.
Keep an eye out for some of the beach images coming soon … two endearing starfish and some stunning butterflies from Brookgreen Gardens.
That’s Justin in his office below, and me with my feet in the ocean.
Here’s a tip for those hot summer days touring around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: the best lemonade is over in Mt. Sterling near the entrance to the Big Creek section of the Park.
It’s a bit of an effort to get to this lemonade stand, but it could be worth it, especially if you go on into Big Creek and hike the trail up to Midnight Hole. Head out of Gatlinburg going east on Rt. 321. Continue to Cosby, turning right at the stop sign. Keep on going, past the Cosby entrance to the Park. You will wander for about 15 miles on a curvy mountain road, eventually coming to a four-way intersection. Look to the left, and there’s your lemonade stand. To your right is the Big Creek entrance to the Smokies.
Please stop in and visit me to see the complete display of Smoky Mountain Photography at the William Britten Gallery in Gatlinburg, TN.
If you are ever traveling on NC Route 284 between Cosby, TN, and the Cataloochee Valley in the Great Smoky Mountains, you might find yourself in need of a rest stop. Now this is a fine gravel highway with some excellent gift shops along the way (see below).
If you watch for the sign pointing off towards the Mt. Sterling Baptist Church, there awaits you a comfort station with facilities for both men and women.
We traveled to flood-stricken Nashville, TN this past weekend to attend the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists (TACA) outdoor fair. The fair is nestled in Centennial Park every May, beneath the view of an 1897 full-scale replica of the Parthenon.
Replica of the Parthenon in Nashville TN
Most of the art fairs on my schedule are in the Convention Center in Gatlinburg, so the occasional outdoor fair is both a challenge and a treat. The challenges include the unpredictable weather, and creating a portable art gallery within the confines of a 10×10 foot tent. This weekend’s weather was perfect, although only one week after 13 inches of rain caused much flooding in downtown Nashville and the surrounding areas. The city was still very much in trauma, and those of us setting up for the fair were unsure if it was the right thing to be doing. But the people came out, and many even thanked us for giving them a break.
William Britten Gallery on the road
One of my favorite times during an outdoor show is the early morning before the crowds arrive, often before the other artists arrive. I like to walk the grounds with a cup of coffee, enjoying the cool morning air and the promise of the day to come. The fair is like a small sleeping community, just waking up, artists unzipping their tents, carrying in merchandise, talking to each other over coffee. A great time of day.
Last weekend Sarah and I traveled to Nashville for a birthday/anniversary/visit grand-daughter trip. Friday night we headed down to the Ryman Auditorium, original home of the Grand Ole Opry. Wow, they were all old geezers! But then, come to think of it … I’m a geezer and so are most of my favorite musicians. Riders in the Sky on stage in image above … taken with the mighty Lumix GF1 (more on that soon).
We stayed at the Opryland Hotel, which is a wonder of the modern world … a set of indoor environments that wind and wander for acres. Tropical waterfalls, riverboats, palm trees. Amazing.
I spent an afternoon roaming the pods of Opryland with my lensbaby, trying to make the surreal more surreal.
