From swirling clouds enveloping Clingmans Dome to mystical mornings in Cades Cove, fog and mist play a leading role in the story of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Fog can be found here throughout the year and across all elevations, delivering both immense beauty and mood as well as playing an important role in the ecology of these mountains.
As a professional landscape and nature photographer, I’ve developed a great love of fog, and I’ve ultimately come to specialize in moody, foggy scenes. Despite having traveled around the world in search of fog, my favorite place to photograph it remains right here in the Great Smoky Mountains. Simply put, our mountains possess a very special beauty that always calls me back to make new and exciting work.
Next month, by invitation from the highly regarded Nic Stover of Nature Photography Classes, I will be teaching a webinar called The Art of Fog, which will focus on landscape and nature photography in fog, and will include imagery made in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The Art of Fog is part two of a three-part winter speaker series on “Discovering the Mood and Mystery in Our Images,” a convenient, web-based learning opportunity. The legendary Michael Frye as well as acclaimed Franka Gabler, both based in the Yosemite National Park area, will also be presenting as part of this series.
Spanning both art and science, The Art of Fog will review selected topics such as the types of fog and the meteorological elements necessary for formation, forecasting tools, symbolism, the ways in which its visual effects on the landscape can affect mood and emotion, and a case study in applying this knowledge in the field. Inspirational images will be included throughout the presentation. After the webinar, participants will have a deeper understanding of fog and, more importantly, a greater appreciation of how to employ it as a powerful artistic element to inject mood into expressive photography.
The Great Smokies Welcome Center is located on U.S. 321 in Townsend, TN, 2 miles from the west entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Visitors can get information about things to see and do in and around the national park and shop from a wide selection of books, gifts, and other Smokies merchandise. Daily, weekly, and annual parking tags for the national park are also available.
