sunset – David Kotz

Smoky Mountains

Three days in Smoky Mountains National Park, and Cherokee NC.

After wrapping up a week-long photography workshop in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, I headed southwest for a solo weekend in the foothills of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Based in the town of Cherokee – in the heart of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation – I had more time to explore waterfalls, fall foliage, ridgetop overlooks, and beautiful hiking trails.

I have hundreds of photos to sift through; for now I’ll share just a few. Read on!

Blue Ridge waterfalls

A week in the Blue Ridge, photographing waterfalls at the peak of fall foliage.

I had the pleasure of spending a week in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, with five other aspiring photographers attending a Muench Photography Workshop led by the incomparable Talor Stone. We had gorgeous fall foliage, incredible waterfalls, and fantastic weather. It was pure joy to share a week with a group of other people thoroughly focused on photography, all happy to spend hours standing in the shallows below a waterfall exploring every angle, every exposure, refining our technique and learning new skills. Folks who are happy to rise every day before sunrise, driving up dark, windy roads and hiking to mountaintop outlooks to capture the special light at ‘blue hour’ before sunrise and ‘golden hour’ just after. My kind of people!

…at Little Bradley Falls. (Photograph by Raymond Sassoon.)

Iceland – Seljalandsfoss sunset

Nailed it! Incredible sunset light.

Part of a series of posts about my travel in Iceland, including visits to eleven waterfalls.

I was determined to visit Seljalandsfoss again at sunset, based on a tip from my guidebook. Because sunset was after 8:30pm, I assumed that most tourists (especially those from Reykjavik) would have gone home and I might have the opportunity to photograph these falls in golden-hour light with nobody else around. Boy, was I wrong. Everyone, and I mean everyone, seems to know that Seljalandsfoss is the place to be at sunset. As I staked out my place behind the falls, a dozen tour buses disgorged their loads; a stream of people was flowing up the trail and around the falls in anticipation of sunset.

People hike around Seljalandsfoss just before sunset. — People hike around Seljalandsfoss just before sunset; southern Iceland.

Kiawah

Photographic opportunities.

We spent the holiday week on Kiawah Island, outside Charleston South Carolina. As in much of the U.S. it was an unusually cold week; here, where winter temperatures rarely dip below freezing, we had several days where the thermometer never rose above freezing. Nonetheless, it was clear and sunny and beautiful, and I managed to explore and capture some fun photographs – of a beautiful sunset and some of the island wildlife. Check out the gallery!

Sunset from Captain Sam’s Spit at the western end of Kiawah Island.

Summer solstice

Longest day of the year?

PhotoPills screenshot showing time/date for equinoxes and solstices.

Today is the summer solstice (in the northern hemisphere). More precisely, the solstice occurred at 5:15am here in the Eastern timezone. The summer solstice is the moment at which the sun has ‘traveled’ to its northernmost latitude, in its annual cycle of apparent movement to the north in summer and to the south in winter. (It’s a great day for those of us with solar panels, because it means we’re getting hours of sunlight!) Read on.

Winter wonderland

An early winter outing.

I had a chance to walk to a prominent outlook in Vershire VT, with two of my oldest and bestest friends. While we’re still suffering from a near-total lack of snow down here in the river valley, Vershire’s hills were covered in several fluffy inches of the freshest snow Vermont can make.

Fresh snow draped on every twig and branch.

With the sun now setting shortly after 4pm, as the days tick closer to Solstice, the late-afternoon clouds added a bit of color to the quiet woodlands through which we walked.

The long-distance views from this hill – merely a hill, but with a clearcut view to the northeast – presented a fine opportunity to pause while our conversation wound around the topics of the day.

A walk through winter wonderland in Vershire, VT.

Indeed, though it was lovely to hike through some of the season’s first good snow, the real treat was the time it offered to catch up with good friends. Looking forward to more such outings to come…

Another Uetliberg sunset

Another grand sunset above Zurich.

It appeared that another grand sunset was due to grace Zürich, so my father and I took the train to the top of Uetliberg to capture the view of the Alps. Here is one sample – but check out the gallery for my other favorite photos. If you’re interested in current conditions, check out the webcam view.

Zurich sunset

An incredible sunset from downtown Zürich.

After a beautiful sunrise this morning, we enjoyed an incredible sunset this evening. I was downtown, along the Limmat river, where I caught the best of the few minutes of glory. View the gallery for the best full-screen imagery.

Uetliberg sunset

A beautiful day to view the sunset over the Alps.

Today was a spectacular day to be high – on a summit, that is. Mid-afternoon I caught a tram to the west side of town and hoofed it up the steep slopes of Uetliberg, the hill that dominates the western edge of Zürich. I wish I’d arrived earlier, while the sunlight was still touching the Alpine peaks… but I arrived in time to climb the summit tower and watch the the clouds’ evolving palette of colors for the next half hour. It was hard to capture the magic of this moment… but I’ve posted a gallery of five favorites.

Sunset view from Uetliberg, Zurich.

Faulhorn

When hiking in the mountains one must occasionally have faith in the weather – starting out enmeshed in dense valley fog, only to climb into a spectacular day above the clouds. This was one of those rare, magical days, when we topped a ridgeline and encountered a mountain view more spectacular than any I have seen in 45 years of hiking, with the major peaks of the Berneralps spread across the horizon above a sea of undercast clouds. Breathtaking! Read on for the full story, and be sure to check out the photo gallery. An ethereal landscape, above treeline but in the fog.

Continue reading “Faulhorn”