Update from the Smokies (Alex Mody)

Hey everybody,

I'm currently in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, just outside of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The fall foliage has not been too ideal, and I'm having a bit of a hard time photographing it. Just about all the trees above 5,000 feet elevation have gone past peak and dropped their leaves. Most areas of medium elevation (3k-5k) have dropped a good portion of their leaves, and have failed to produce very much color, and finally, areas between 1k-3k are still mostly green down here! Also, most of the trees surrounding the Smokies' many photogenic streams have dropped lots of leaves and are not allowing for much photographic opportunity. With that said, I'm still thrilled to be down here. It's simply beautiful. I just find myself having to look a bit harder, and to work a bit harder to make the images I'm after.

Here's a photograph from a few days ago at Mingo Falls, located on the Qualla Indian Reservation, just outside of the Park boundaries. This waterfall has been published to be at heights between 120' and 200'. I really like the look of the fallen leaves on the wet rocks, and for this reason I make a point of trying to photograph waterfalls after peak foliage, or after a good portion of the leaves have dropped. I plan to shoot this waterfall again in a few days, and I'm hoping more leaves have fallen since this visit.