Wildlife Photography across the Water: Smoky Mountains Day 3

Tuesday 21 September 2010

Smoky Mountains Day 3

Its amazing how much you can cram into 3 days, We covered 1200 miles and visited some primes sites in both Tennessee and North Carolina, Th e2nd evening we headed back up to Clingmans dome to watch and shoot the sunset, It was beautiful and very warm, There must have been 100 other people there to enjoy the views and the colours changed constantly even 30 mins after the sun had set, The best time for me was when the sun kissed the mountains and lost its power and flare stopped becoming a problem, The Smokys certainly are a magical and photogenic place and a must for anybody visiting the USA, The Fall colours are not as far ahead as we expected and i will go back in 2 or 3 weeks time when i think they will be at their best, Having the ND gards with me in the evening really made a difference-see here, Both images have identical exposures and were taken within a second or 2 the only difference being i used a 3 stop grad for one of them and no filters for the other, Both are totally unprocessed just resized for the web

Of course you can process filters etc in Photoshop but i much prefer to get as much done at the time of shooting and cut down on the processing
We moved on to Asheville on the NC side of the Smokys and visited lake Lure and Chimney rock, I tried to find a good place to shoot the late evening light which was fantastic and we drove for miles along the Blue Ridge Parkway but it was too late by the time we found a suitable viewpoint and it has now been noted for a future visit
All in all a lovely weekend and the weather was great, Cant now wait to revisit in a couple of weeks

Dave

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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.