This summer I’ve been trying to make it to parts of the Great Smoky Mountains that I don’t go to very often, just as a way to mix things up a bit. One of the places I’ve found myself a few times is the Clingmans Dome area. The high altitude has been a REALLY nice way to escape the heat, and as I mentioned, it’s been a really nice change of pace (I don’t normally go up there just because it’s so far from my house. Definitely worth the drive though!).
On this particular evening, Holly and I met my friend Steve up there for sunset. I frankly wasn’t sure it was going to turn into much because when Holly and I arrived, there was a cloud parked right on the mountain and you couldn’t see the edges of the parking lot, let alone a nice view. We wandered around for a while and the clouds actually lifted with perfect timing. As the sun was setting, it turned the clouds directly above us a brilliant orange color, and then vibrant pink, which in turn reflected the light back down around us. Since the ambient light was more interesting directly in front of me, I decided to go super wide so that I could incorporate the flowers in the foreground, and then just let the background be what it was (as you can see, there were still a lot of clouds hanging around in the distance). You definitely don’t see light like that all the time!
More summer flowers next week!
–Dan Thompson