It is called Kuwahi, Mulberry Place, where the Bear Clan gathers for councils and to dance before retiring to their dens for the winter months. At 6643′ it is the second highest peak in eastern North America and the highest point in Tennessee. In the early light of a new day it is beauty all around. Oh yeah, to the European settlers it became known as Clingman’s Dome. I visit Kuwahi for sunrise at least once every year and more often if possible. Spring and fall are excellent times because amazing atmospheric activity is more common as variously heated air masses collide and mingle. Finding just the appropriate amount of visual information to tell the story is the biggest challenge; and, of course, Kuwahi is often shrouded in clouds, so no visibility at all is not unusual. As I looked on this morning, it was the normal focal length angles-of-view that kept catching my attention, so I chose a focal length of 60mm for this image. An aperture of f/20 gave me depth-of-field and a shutter speed of 1/10th second at ISO 100 gave me an overall slightly-darker-than-medium exposure. No bears in sight.
That photo looked completely familiar to me. I don’t have the same photo, but I do have the same trees and maybe even the same wisp
of fog floating upward. Did you take this photo during an April weekend workshop at Arrowmont?
I see a very active and moody image. The clouds look angry, protesting the end of summer while the trees in the foreground and the mountains in the back, stand firm trying to contain the boiling cauldron between them. I like your choice of camera placement and focal length that created this story with the trees in the foreground separated to create an invitation to watch the action without getting pulled in. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Aileen and Nancy T. Thank you for joining me for this Image. Aileen, that’s a wonderful pick-up. I did make this image during the April Legacy Weekend workshop in 2014, and you were there with me. It was an incredible morning, and I am looking forward to seeing you at Arrowmont in a week and a half. Nancy T., there are any number of ways that the moodiness of this scene might be expressed, and you have certainly described some of the very well. As the scene unfolded before us, it did seem very much like a cauldron of boiling mist; and as the mist moved, objects within it moved in and out of view. The trees in the mid-ground occasionally disappeared requiring that we be patient for them to reappear.As the sun rose, the light played out over the clouds in some amazing ways.Thanks for your keen observations and kind comments. And thanks, again, to both of you for joining me.