This week’s Picture of the Week is part three of my series on the fall colors in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and is proof positive that you should always listen to your wife! As I was photographing this particular stream, Holly walks up and says, “You know, I think you should include this little area over here and it would look nice”; she was referring to the small pool on the lower right-hand side of the image above. I had been shooting low, as I’ve mentioned the last two weeks, but to get the pool I had to stand up and back up. To really grab is, I decided to do a pano so that you could see the pool, but also the small cascade, and I loved the way it turned out! From this vantage point, you can clearly see the four main rocks of the cascade, which makes a nice pattern I think, and the pool adds some balance to the scene. If there is one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that Holly just naturally sees things better than I do, so I *usually* listen when she points stuff out! 🙂 …usually.
This week’s picture also illustrates the progression of color in the mountains. Week 1 had a lot of green and some bright yellows, week 2 had yellows starting to turn orange, and this week’s picture is very definitely orange! Stay tuned for next week, when the leaves were mostly gone, and it was just the last remaining hints of color!
–Dan Thompson