It's 5:00 am at the
Great Smoky Mountain Institute at Tremont, and alarms ring in the darkness, awakening the women asleep in the dormitory. We struggle into clothes and stagger to get on the van. Stars shine by the billions in the black sky. By 6:30 we are at the pull-off on the Foothills Parkway, yawning as we set up tripods and wait for the dawn. "Coffee is ready!" calls Josh, and we all rush for a cup, followed by breakfast from the back of the van.
Finally, someone shouts, "Here comes the sun! Get ready for some great shots!"
Click, click, click, click, click echo the shutters. Oh, wow! After yesterday morning's clouds and flat light, I am jumping up and down in excitement. Yesterday, the sunrise was covered by clouds, which cleared up later in the morning, but it stormed most of the afternoon and all night. Today, we reap the photographic benefit of the passing storm front. Now I understand why people worshipped the Sun God.
This is the Photography Workshop at the Institute, attended by photographers varying in skill from beginning through intermediate to professionals. We all expressed interest in learning about light and composition. The leaders encouraged us wimps to get off the built-in program, and use manual settings and a tripod, neither of which I usually do of course.
We learned that there is soft light and hard light, wet light and dry light, adjectives that I normally would not apply to light. But it makes sense the way the instructor explained it. He likes light on an angle, at sunrise or sunset, backlighting, and wet light during a fog or rain. Well, we certainly had plenty of that wet light! He further recommends that we learn to interpret the weather forcast for ourselves, to know whether it will be worthwhile to get up at 5:00 in the morning or not. I didn't think there was enough light at all, under the trees, and had little to no luck focusing because it was too dark. But
aha! I later learned that I can crank the ISO up to 400 to make a difference in all the settings.
Full of despair, I donned my raincoat, put a shower cap over my camera, and with tripod over my shoulder, headed up the Waterfall Trail behind the Institute. As I puff and pant towards the top of the ridge, the wind blows at gale force, or so it sounds to me. Ford those creeks! A tripod also makes a pretty good hiking stick, and can be used as a monopod on a narrow trail. At one point, the Park Service stretched a log with small steps carved in it across a steep part in the trail. Gulp! There's a lot of
down on this trail! Be brave, I tell myself, you can do this, and I forge on. The waterfall is worth the effort, and a Northern Water Thrush sings his congratulations for my courage.
Today, the sun and clouds are perfect! After last night's storms, everything is saturated, so fog and mist rise as the sun warms the earth. The spring trees have color too. You don't have to wait till fall in the Smokies to see color.
It's just like all the photos our instructors showed us last night! The birds are excited too, singing from trees and brush along the road. A Whippoorwill starts, joined by a Brown Thrush, Northern Cardinal and Carolina Wren. A Black and White Warbler sings a high
weesa, weesa, weesa, to counter the deep
gobble, gobble, gobble of Turkeys down the hill from us. It is just
too cool!
The last of the clouds speed away over distant ridges, made clear and distinct by the low angle of the sunlight. By golly, he's right when he talks about soft light!
Spring in the Smoky Mountains is full of wildflowers, of course. Yellow Trilliums bloom in abundance right outside the dining hall. Dwarf Crested Iris carpet the hillsides.
As the sun rises, and the shadows move, I glance behind to see a small flash of pink among the trees. What's that? Pink Azaleas! How wonderful, since the Rhododendrons haven't even started to bud yet.
I spend the late morning sorting through about 300 photos from the morning's shoot, trying to edit and choose only THREE for the class critique this afternoon. Then I hope we will go out again. Cades Cove? Haven't been there for years and years. Tomorrow before I leave, I want to take another trail with Trilliums. Then Gabby the GPS will direct me home again.
A gentle rain fell most of Monday morning in the Smoky Mountains, so we slept in for all of 30 minutes, and got to eat breakfast sitting down before heading out to Cades Cove. The Cove is one of the most photographed locations in the Park, without a doubt, so I was eager to see if my shots would look as good as others. The light qualified as both "soft" and "wet", and the mountaintops were often hidden behind the low clouds.
The Oliver Cabin is the first structure on the 11 mile driving loop. We had to watch carefully to avoid taking pictures of other photographers taking pictures of the cabin.
I liked the end of this log on a cabin. You can still see the ax marks made when the tree was felled almost 200 years ago.
We practiced the elements of composition in our photos this weekend. A curve or diagonal line to draw the viewer's eye into the shot is always a plus. The Rule of Thirds says to avoid putting the subject of the shot into the middle of the frame, but offset it a bit. My camera has a tic-tac-toe grid to display in the view finder to help line things up.
When composing the shot, always consider the background as well. Avoid any distractions, such as twigs or seeds where they don't belong. Move some sticks out of the way, if necessary. Give the subject's "face" room to look into, and yes, even flowers "face" in some direction. If there is a tip of something else protruding, decide whether to include more of it, or to eliminate it all together. If you pay attention, you can do this on site, otherwise Photoshop comes to the rescue.
Some photographers spend a lot of money on macro lenses to get close-ups. I often use my zoom lens for the same purpose, but have to back away more than six feet for the zoom to focus. I love the delicate details in a flower.
Maindenhair ferns grow along the roadsides, and fortunately the Park leaves lots of pull-offs so you don't get run over when going back for a shot you saw in passing. 
Landscapes and flowers make terrific non-moving subjects for a photograph, but I love animals, especially birds. Somehow, the park rangers have trained all the animals on how to avoid having your photo taken, or at least a good photo. Number one lesson, stand between two trees so that your whole body cannot be seen. Extra points are awarded to animals that keep their head hidden, showing only the side or rump.
Lesson two, always stand behind brush, sticks or leaves, so that at least one of these prevents a clear shot of the animal without resorting to Photoshop to clone out the impediment. Lesson three, keep your head to the ground as much as possible. Do not look up so the photographer can see your eyes, or you will be followed around for a much longer time. Lesson four, no many how many people point cameras at you, stay cool and just ignore them. This bear had at least 25-30 people with cameras pointed at him, but he just continued grazing. This tactic teaches the photographers patience.
Lesson five, keep moving. The turkeys are great at this. If the photographer doesn't know how to change settings quickly, all their photos will be blurred. Extra points also are awarded to the animals who created blurry photos. Just think how silly photographers look running down a road, tripod legs fully extended, splashing in puddles because they aren't watching where they step. These three Toms walked down the field together, stretching out their head in unison every time they gobbled. It looks like a Turkey Lake ballet! 
