Chasing Autumn in Appalachia

Summer can be a tad of a struggle for photography. Everything is green and the days are very long. It makes for an early morning and getting in bed a little late. I found myself not going out very much. With Autumn approaching I found a little itch coming on. Jesica and I had a trip into the beautiful Cades Cove and the Smoky Mountains planned so I was excited for that! We also live in the beautiful North Georgia Mountains so I was thinking of all the places around home to shoot! Also at the very beginning we had some excitement in the night sky. I was looking forward to shooting that for sure!!

I know Cades Cove can be crowded especially in the fall and it's not much of a challenge hiking wise. I don't really care though personally. I love Cades Cove and the Smokies and it means a lot to me. I love being in the cove when the light first makes its appearance. One morning I was coming into the cove and I had some nice light hitting the mountain in the distance along with the fog and the Autumn colors on the trees along the edge of the field. I named this image "Cades Begins".

As I continued around the loop I noticed this lone deer in the back of the field. The morning fog was lingering along the woodline where the dear stood. What really intrigued me was the deer seemingly looking in the back corner of the field that was cut off by the group of trees poking in on the left side of the image. It added a lot of mystery to the photo I thought. Mystery is a nice little touch you can add to a photo if the situation allows itself. The thought that came to mind when thinking about a name for this image was "Just Lovely". My mom is English so I thought it fit!

There is a nice field that I visit when we go into Cades Cove where I always check for bears. You just walk to the top and the backside is hidden so sometimes you can catch wildlife there. On this day I was given some beautiful light!! The light was just hitting some of the grass that was in front of me but the magic was light on the trees lining the edge of the field that was in full peak color! They are not easy to see but I did capture a few deer that were making their way through the field! In person this was probably the best light of the trip! That being said, I named this image "Oh the Light"!

I love woodland photography so all the edges of the fields really make for some nice compositions if you can make sense of them. That's the issue with woodland photography. It can be very difficult for it not to look really busy and for the person looking at just the image to understand the subject. Like this image for example. I'm fond of it myself but are you? My thoughts were the obvious two bright trees in the front that really caught the eye, but the secret in this image is the yellow tree in the back center that you see just a little later. It held my eye for a bit checking out all the patches of yellow that the cute yellow tree had. When looking at it trying to come up with a name it reminded me of a music band. The guitarist and lead singer upfront getting all the glory while "The Drummer" sits back and pulls it all together!

The last image of the trip and perhaps my favorite is a play off my old photo "Stories". Several of you own this print. It was an idea I had that I shared with Jescia while we watched a sunset one night in the cove. I thought if we put a lantern in the old Carter Shields cabin to give a sense that life still exists in this old home it would make a nice image. Jes loved the idea.....for a little while anyway. When we got to the cabin I asked Jes if she would put the lantern in there so I could get the focus and exposure. This probably was not the most gentlemanly thing I've ever done and it was my first mistake:). She then asked if I thought there would be bats in the cabin which I answered probably not since the sun had just gone down. Mistake number two!! She made her way to the cabin and to be fair it took forever for her to get from the door to the window which you can tell is not very far. Keep in mind we have the cove to ourselves. I don't think anyone was still there. That's when the blood curdling scream happened that I think Gatlinburg heard!! She came flying out of the cabin along with a dozen or so bats!! I'm in real trouble at this point! So I rushed to her aid in true gentleman fashion where she quickly told me I could get the lantern:). I'm adding a little drama because it is a story right? She was in good spirits and it's a memory we both love! So for the next image I wanted a little twist added to the story. I had this tree in front of me that was in peak color! I knew I wanted to add the element of season to this image. This was a very difficult image to do really. I actually shot the foreground and tree first just after sunset while I had some ambient light still. Then I set up the lantern in the cabin and shot several different exposures so I could blend them in post. After all was said and done I was very happy with how "Stories II" turned out!

As the old saying goes, "There's no place like home". The fall season was quickly upon me and my fall catalog was lacking a bit. So I headed out in the neighborhood and my first stop was the iconic Vogel State Park. Many of us struggle with change for whatever reason. Vogel is redoing their office so it's going to be a lot different. To be honest I was struggling. I take after my mother and I'm constantly thinking... I like to think about how I think about things if that makes any sense? So, I researched a bit and saw that Vogel had been creating memories since 1931. My memories intersected with Vogel in the early 80's. So in that 50 years there were some obvious changes that I was ok with. Which made me think. I thought about a little boy who is going to walk up on that new deck at the new office that sits on the bank of the lake that we love so much. He is going to walk up to the railing and look out across the lake and fall in love just like I did! He will then return one day and bring his children and tell them how he used to play on this very deck when he was their age. That's what it has to be about! That said, I grabbed this image I called "Memories Ahead" of a beautiful morning at the park with the new office getting ready for all those memories that it will create in the future.

After Vogel I headed up to Helton Creek falls. It was very early and I had the place all to myself. The fall color was peak and even though it had been dry the water flow was pretty good. I was thinking I was going to try to photograph all 3 angles of the upper fall. The first was from the front. The obvious composition for sure. In the photo "Autumn at Helton Creek" I liked the small little fall in the front left so I sat back from it a bit. I also like the dead log that's fallen that leads the eye to the fall. Then the yellow trees that surround the falls really frame the subject very nicely. I did add a couple leaves to add some color in the front which is important for later!

The second composition was from the left side. I don't shoot from this angle as much as the others. Some of the flood waters we had a while back did move the log that has the exposed roots. So I put the root system on the right of the image and had the beautiful Helton Creek on the left. I love when there's enough flow you get that 2nd little flow of water on the right. The color on the upper right side was just so pretty! I named this one " A Stump and a Fall"!

The third angle was from the right side and was my personal favorite. Remember the leaves I added in the first one? Well I had 3 leaves that were on the rocks in front of me that weren't placed. I did dig out some of the leaves that were bunched up between the large rocks just to clean it up some and let the water flow better. There's a lot I like about this photo. I named the image "3 Leaves" due to the leaves in front. I like the little touch of green from the little leaves growing between the rocks in the front right. I also have the iconic tree visible with roots along with the main event, Helton Creek Falls with the backdrop of some amazing fall color! I'm going to have this as a 40x60 metal print in my gallery at Sunrise on Blue Ridge.

When I was leaving I stopped at the top of the first fall. I've never really got an image of this fall I really like. I did actually like this one! I just had some great colors and the light was great!

The yellow was really popping! The yellow down the edge really adds to it! I called this one "Slide on Down"

The light was still really good so I kept driving around when I came across this scene where I captured the image "Fields of Gold". The light was poking through the clouds and it was raking across the fields as the clouds drifted by. The group of trees on the right were being very nicely backlit and the little red tree to the left was catching the light perfectly! The mountains behind Low Gap were also being nicely lit! The scene was changing minute by minute! I could've sat there all day!

The last little outing Jesica and I had was a trip into Raven's Cliff Wilderness area. It can be a popular hike but we got there before daylight so we could have the sweet spots to ourselves. This hike is so pretty and has several falls along the way. The one I like the best is a little hidden. It faces away from the trail so you can't see it very well but you can hear it! It's just down the hill which is a little difficult to get to depending on how mobile you are. The waterfall really has a nice shape to it and I love the rock at the bottom. I sat back a bit from the fall to get the smaller fall in the foreground along with a moss covered rock in the front left and the yellow small tree on the right in front of the rock wall. I was pleased with how "Raven's Secret" turned out.

The Fall of 2025 was not just about the fall colors. The night sky was one for the ages! We had the comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas and as if that wasn't cool enough we had the amazing Aurora Borealis. In all my years here in North Georgia I never remember the Auroras being visible. I'm sure it happened, I just don't remember it. Well all of a sudden we had it twice! The first time was kind of a failure! I was chasing a composition to put with it and by the time I found something, the Auroras were gone!! So when the second chance came along I was ready! I had found these three trees that run along this ridge line so that I could place the trees against the night sky. They were also facing north which was also a plus! I called this photo "Auroras over Choestoe".

The comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas was equally as cool! It was a lot bigger than I was expecting! The first opportunity I had to shoot it was overlooking the Choestoe Valley and Wolf Creek. It was to make its appearance right after sunset so I was there a little early. While I waited I was treated to a pretty sunset. I had Wolf Creek snaking its way through the Choestoe Valley on its way to the base of Coosa Bald. Right above Coosa is the 3rd brightest object in the sky, Venus! I also love how the clouds float just above where the sun set behind the mountains. I called this image "Venus Dancing with Rabbits".

Not too long after that is when the comet made its appearance. I waited as long as I could and took this image I called "Planets and Comets". Venus is kissing Coosa Bald as the huge comet looks like it's about to strike Earth! I thought this came out pretty cool! When I went home I pulled into Sunrise Grocery and saw that the tail of the comet had just gone below the horizon so I planned on returning the next night. When I returned the next night the comet was a little higher in the sky and not quite as bright. It was still so cool! I named this image "Old Sunrise with Space"

Even though this fall was a little hectic due to how busy we were, it was still a beautiful one! Our area was very lucky and missed a lot of the storms that destroyed so many beautiful areas here in Appalachia. To be able to make a short ride up to an amazing place like the Great Smoky National Park or just hang out at home and photograph places like Vogel Park and Helton Creek Falls is a true blessing. I love where I live and it's 100% why Jesica and I created Souled in Appalachia. My soul is intertwined with these mountains and I can't imagine calling another place home! Here are some more images taken from this fall! Some of these have made their way into my online store, so if you want to order one let me know. Thank you for taking the time to read about us chasing autumn in Appalachia!

Wild Alaska from the Comforts Afloat

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