Great Smoky Mountains

 

 

Location: Gatlinburg, TN

Dates: April 16-20th, 2016

Participants: FULL

Cost: $700 per person

(Deposit of $350 due when registering and full balance due 45 days prior to event)

With over 10 years of photographing in the Great Smoky Mountains, we know when and where to take you for the best photo opps.  With our affordable and small group sizes, we focus on helping you learn more about photography, how to find your creative side and great pics to take home.

April in the Great Smoky Mountains is an extraordinary time to be there and by far our favorite! The forests are carpeted with wildflowers, lush forests and beautiful mountain ranges. The streams and waterfalls are flowing at peak water level. The Dogwoods and Red Buds should be in bloom. Black bear, white tailed deer, coyote, and wild turkey are commonly seen.  All of these make the Smokies our most visited National Park.

The Park is home to approximately 1,600 kinds of flowering plants. During mid to late April many wildflowers are in brilliant display.  Great SmokyMountains National Park contains some of the largest tracts of wilderness in the East.  Protected in the park are some 66 species of mammals, over 200 varieties of birds, 50 native fish species, and more than 80 types of reptiles and amphibians. The symbol of the Smokies, the American Black Bear, is perhaps the most famous resident of the park. Though populations are variable, biologists estimate approximately 1,500 bears live in the park, a density of approximately two bears per square mile.

We have obtained the proper permits through the National Park System to conduct photo workshops within the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

 

Join us for a photocation filled with fun, fellowship and creative experience, while photographing in some of our favorite places of the Park. We have done all the leg work, planning and research to maximize your learning experience and to take away beautiful images.  Learn to look beyond the surface of just photographing nature to gain a deeper connection with the nature and its inhabitants.  Greenbrier, Roaring Fork, Tremont, Clingmans Dome, Cades Cove are just a few locations that we will visit.  We will be doing a lot of landscape, wildlife, and macro photography. Most of our instruction takes place in the field.  But, we also have a conference room reserved for additional critique sessions and lessons. We will cover several subject including exposure, composition, depth of field, histograms, shutter speed, filters, macro, wildlife photography and more.

Our itinerary will be planned around light, what’s blooming and weather conditions. We will take advantage of the lighting and unique opportunities. Our goal is to capture the best images we can during our workshop. Each day we will be starting before dawn and ending after sunset. However, we will try to take a mid day break to rest and recuperate.

Participants are responsible for transportation to Gatlinburg and during the workshop, local accommodations, and meals.   We will car pool as much as possible as some locations we plan to visit have limited parking.

Getting to these wonderful locations is not physically strenuous but will require sturdy hiking shoes or boots. Water-shoes and/or sport sandals come in handy too.  Most locations are yards from vehicle and any short hikes are fairly flat and on good trails.  A standard liability release will be required at the beginning of the workshop.

Participants requiring air transportation, McGhee Tyson Airport – Knoxville (TYS) in Alcoa, TN is the closest and is approximately 45 minutes from Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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