A blossoming daisy

My photography journey began while living in east Tennessee, where there is an abundance of trees everywhere you look. The green of the grass and trees, the baby blue sky and country sites with hay rolls on long stretched out fields. Really not much to do if you do not have a farm to tend to. It is a peaceful place to live.

Midsummer of 2015, my best friend asked me if I wanted to hike with her and to convince me she would show me pictures of the place we would go. I remember being enthusiastic about our hiking trip because of those gorgeous, eye capturing pictures she had shown me, I could not wait to experience it myself. As that day arrived we drove off to Chestnut Mountain Bluff located near Delano, TN. Slowly, my legs started to shake as if they said “we are not ready” I have never done a hike like this before. The trail was strenuous and I threw up not a quarter of the way in. I remember thinking, if this was worth feeling sick to my stomach and lightheaded for how inclined it is. Beliveing I was a lunatic for agreeing on this, hating myself and my sister for putting me through this. After what seemed like a endless trail of torture we had arrived to the top. Running out of breath, lightheaded, legs aching and with an upset stomach, I looked up and walk toward the bluff trembling from the hike. I was astonished by the amazing view. It looked nothing like the picture, where the pictures had only displayed a small portion of it, I had a 360 view of it in front of me. As I sat down and tried to catch my breath. I thought “WOW this is definitely worth the half of mile I had just hiked”. I reached for my smartphone and took about a hundred pictures, and no I am not exaggerating. As soon as I got home I posted a small portion of the pictures on social media. The reactions were great to say the least. People were amazed by the views and asked for information about it. This brought me joy and I decided I wanted to share my hiking adventures through social media. Many times we do not know what is around us until we start exploring and realizing the treasures that surround us.

Being out in nature is such an amazing feeling to me. Personally it is a refresher or my reset button when my head is cluttered. Just nature and you and your hiking buddie, which I highly recommend if you have no sense of direction like I do. I still recommend a partner even if it is just to tag along and see those magical views in person rather than through a screen.

For me hiking is therapeutic, the best possible way to describe it is as if I was a dirty car going thru a carwash. Every step I take forward I become more present and connected with myself. As the breeze flows by it takes my stress, worries, and anxiety away.

With hiking my photography skills have improved over time. I have learned of other ways to make my pictures look better simply by changing the perspective of how one sees it. Whether it is changing the camera angle or focusing on a certain point, I try to capture the colors and details that often people oversee. In this picture precisely, I used a small daisy that I found hidden in the grass and made it the star of the photo by focusing on it. As I focus on the flower the background blurred out a bit and I was able to capture the beautiful sunset colors on the background as well as the range of the mountains. I chose this picture for its simplicity, yet intricate detail of the daisy. Even though I am still an amateur taking pictures with my smartphone I have noticed quite an improvement between my old pictures and the ones I am able to take now.

This picture was taken in the Great Smoky Mountains, and trust me when the national park has the word “great” at the beginning of the name they truly mean it. This astonishing mountain range stretches from Tennessee to North Carolina. Is home to the black bears, which I have had the pleasure of seeing during a couple hikes from afar. Clingmans dome is the highest peak with an elevation of 6,643 feet. With a short strenuous hike you are able to see a view like no other. Even just from the parking lot you can see why it's called the Smoky Mountains. The far range of perplexing mountains with clouds flowing along and through them like a river in the sky. I myself have hiked Clingmans Dome, Laurel falls, Alums cave, Mount Le Conte, and Rainbow falls. I genuinely love the outdoors and I am so grateful to be able to experience the beauty Mother Earth has to offer. I know there are still plenty of places I have yet to discover and will continue to use photography as a medium to inspire others to get outdoors and experience this for themselves.