Fall in the Smokys 3

We have now left Tennessee and i must admit i am glad to be out of the hustle and bustle of the place, I think it will be sometime before i return, Its great for deer and wild turkeys and the landscapes are excellent but its so bloody frustrating that i wonder if its worth the increase in blood pressure,I did my last day in the tremont area and the road from Gatlinburg to Cades Cove, Its 20 miles of pure magic, You follow a stream the whole way and its full of bends,rocky areas and flat calm areas, I wanted to get some reflections or to be more specific colourful reflections so i needed calm water with fall colours in the distance to 'colour' the water, I must admit i am really enjoying doing some landscapes, Its certainly different to the wildlife and you can take you time and work an area so its very relaxing-dare i say easier-well you still need a good eye for composition and maybe thats why it takes me some time to get the best from an area. I found a couple of nice areas and set to work, the first area gave great coloured water from the tree folage and the second was a waterfall with a great rock that gave an eddy effect where the water went around and around, The eddy was full of foam so i threw some leaves into the foam to try and give some swirls from a long exposure, I would have liked to get in and get rid of the foam but as i nearly killed myself climbing down to the river i didnt want to drown trying to improve the image, I enjoyed the day and got some results and at the end of the day thats what its all about, I have been photographing for many years now and its great to have a calm and enjoyable day, This trip is all about landscapes and if i can get some wildlife in it so more the better but the Fall colours are the main concern and its sometimes difficult to change my mind to not let the wildlife get in the way, I have enjoyed shooting with the D3s, D300 and D7000 but at the end of the day the D3s is king and always my first choice, Its such a complete package from ergonomics to image quality, I love to work with it, The D300 is very similar in ergonomics and the D7000 well its just different, It seems very competant and the IQ is very good but its just too small for the kit i use, Stick it on a 200-400 or 600 amd it just looks wrong, I think even with a battery grip it still wont balance a big lens properly, Saying that its going to stay and will have a purpose in my kit bag, As a walk around camera with a wide angle it will take some beating, I used it tonight to get some landscapes with the Smoky Mountains and a bright moon rising and it worked very well, So we are now in Boone NC named after Scotsman Daniel Boone, Its somewhere i would not recommend staying as its a something and nothing place and the Scottish Inn is well worth a miss-its a shit whole and not worth the cost, Its an expensive area-much more than Tennessee, I would recommend staying up the road in Blowing Rock which is very nice more expensive but very nice, The Blue Ridge Parkway here is beautiful and the drive from roaring rock to Grandfather Mountain is stunning, I have to say the North Carolina side of the Smokys are more beautiful than the Tennessee side and has a lot more waterfalls to boot!!