The Joy of Learning!
After Sunset from Clingman’s Dome.
This past weekend I joined Jack Graham, Carl Turner and Dr. Tony Rogers in the Great Smoky Mountains for a little photographic R&R. Tony was my thoracic surgeon for my heart valve replacement, when I found out he was interested in photography we have struck up a great friendship. I also soon discovered that he is a very committed Christian so, as you can imagine, that deepened our friendship even more. I have been helping him get ready to get deeper into photography and this trip was our first outing to put all that to work! I wanted Carl and Jack to come along as they are also not only great photography friends but dear brothers in the Lord!
I have been praying of weeks about this weekend, as you know the Smokies in Summer is not the best time to go to photograph, but I have been praying that our light and conditions would help us out! Boy, did God ever come through. i almost never gets every condition and the kind of light I hope for, but this weekend everything was near perfect. We got a great sunset from Clingman’s Dome parking lot Friday night, fog in Cades Cove Saturday morning and perfect water levels up stream in Tremont. I was really proud of Tony, for his first outing, he knocked it out of the park! I will share some of his images and I think you will agree, that he is learning this new skill set fast! Since we met back in May he has been doing a lot of study and was well prepared to try out his new skills!
Sunset from Clingman’s Dome parking area.
The Grist Mill in Cades Cove.
This young deer was shot a few weeks before on a trip out to Yellowstone.
Flat Rock in monochrome on Tremont Branch.
My shot of Tony in deep concentration composing a shot!
We all had a great weekend of fellowship and shooting, it was a great time!
Blessings,
the pilgrim
This entry was posted on Monday, August 21st, 2023 at 4:20 pm
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We had some great fog!—sure was a fun morning with you all!–All Tony needs now to to not let this medical stuff interfere with what’s really important! JG
;-). Jack you’re right, but I imagine until he retires he’ll have to! He sure stayed in the zone out in the field!
Beautiful shots. I have been up in that area every 3 or so years since ’86 when we got married. Have done Clingman’s dome several times and not sure if I ever timed it when it wasn’t so foggy that I couldn’t even see the lookout tower from the parking lot… Need to go back to Cases Cove for a couple days. Have some really nice captures from there, but was never a ‘photography’ trip where I could spend the time I wanted. Still one of my favorite areas on earth.
It’s a great park, hope you get back soon!
Looks like a blessed time. Thanks for sharing!
I had prayed for weeks that Tony would have good light and conditions,mI was so appreciative of his medical care. God really answered those prayers, things could not have been better and he did great in his first big outing! God is good!
It’s so nice to see you’re out shooting, teaching and having a great time. That has made my day. You’re right, God is good.
It is really fun to see someone get as excited as you used to be, and follow along as they learn all the th important steps to learning the craft! Tony has been a joy to teach and is working hard on his work!