Smoky Mountain Morning

It is a brisk star-lit morning as I walk out of the canopy of the Smoky Mountain forest.  The howling of the coyote drifts in with the morning breeze.  The sun's rays are not yet peeking over the surrounding mountains.

Cades Cove is just beginning to reveal the morning fog that seems to surround this valley in secrecy.  As I walk down the 11-mile loop road through the valley, fog leaves the air so moist that rain appears to be falling from the leaves of the cherry trees as I pass under them.

With the first bit of light forcing it's way through the morning mist, white-tailed deer begin to graze the valley's lush offerings.  

Pileated Woodpeckers go from fencepost to fencepost trying to keep up with the demands of hungry babies. 

As the sun begins to make it's way over the mountain ridge, the stars disappear but the meadows glisten with the sparkle of dew-covered spiderwebs.  All around me the morning light reveals the colors of the mountain flowers as they wait for the sun's warming rays.

Passing under another cherry tree, I am startled by what sounds like a branch breaking above me.  As I peer through the berry-laden branches,  a dark movement reveals a black bear feeding on the ripened fruit.  As I pause, he watches me warily but continues to feed.  Finally, having his fill, he quickly climbs down and lumbers off through the high grass, pausing twice to stand and look back.

By now the sun has risen above the mountain ridges and begins to burn the fog from the valley.  But the light reveals in all it's misty glory the beauty of the Smoky Mountain morning.  The remaining mist seems to separate the mountains and pull in the horizon.  Layer after layer of blue mountains surround me with impressionistic beauty.  

Within a few minutes the golden light of early morning will be replaced by mid-morning light, when the animals will retreat back into the forest to sleep off their morning meals.  Maybe it's now time for my morning meal, fresh with the thoughts and images in my mind of a Smoky Mountain morning

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is not just a weekend getaway, it is a week long adventure or a yearly destination.  From the flowers in the spring, the colors in the autumn and the snow covered mountaintops of winter, any time of the year is the right time to visit.  And don't forget your camera.

*Originally published in the "Blue Ridge Country...Covering The Mountains Of The South" magazine in April, 1999.  A few of the pictures have been changed from the original article just to update it a little.  This article along with the accompanying images are copyrighted by T.Eric Albright.

The Big House, A Visit To The Allman Brothers Museum

Since I was ten years old growing up in North Carolina, I have been listening to Rock and Roll music and all it's various forms. I had pictures of The Rolling Stones, The Doors and many other groups taped to the walls in my room and I sat for hours with my headphones on listening to every bit of music I could get my hands on. Of course, I had to use my headphones to listen because if I didn't my Dad would yell at me to "turn that racket down!" Musically, the best part about growing up in this era was that Rock and Roll was a new form of music and the talent of this era was astonishing. Although many of the biggest bands, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, all were British bands, they were all influenced by that most American of all music....The Blues.

But in America, especially the South, musicians were coming up with their own brand of music. Some started calling it Southern Rock, but it wasn't that simple. The Marshall Tucker Band took their influence from both Jazz and Country, Lynyrd Skynyrd took their influence from...well, no one really. They just wrote about life in the South and then plugged in three guitars to make it like no other sound. Charlie Daniels was basically playing Country music, but with amplifiers. One group was in a class all their own, The Allman Brothers Band, and they did it by taking the Blues, adding a little Country and some Jazz notes and then of course having one of the best guitar players ever to throw a strap over his shoulder, Duane Allman.

At the time The Allman Brothers Band were formed, Duane was fast becoming one of the most sought after studio musicians in the industry. He played on studio tracks for many established industry stars including Wilson Picket, Aretha Franklin and Percy Sledge. The Allman Brothers Band was formed in 1969 in Jacksonville, Florida, when Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, Jamoie Johanson and Butch Trucks started playing together and then put in a call to Duane's brother Greg Allman to come join them. Greg was in California writing songs for a publishing company. Once they were all together they moved to Macon, Georgia which would be their home for several years to come. From 1969 to 1972 The Allman Brothers built almost a cult following. Their live shows became legendary with impromptu jam sessions that could go on for an hour and shows that lasted all night long. The late great Bill Graham of Filmore East/West fame once said, "...I've never heard the kind of music this group plays, the finest contemporary music." In an article published in Rolling Stone magazine by George Kimball in the early 70's, the Allman Brothers were called, "the best damn rock and roll band this country has produced in five years." Considering all the bands that had been formed since the 60's those are mighty strong words.

But, on October 29, 1971 the first of two tragedies struck the band. Founder and legendary musician Duane was killed in a motorcycle accident while riding in Macon. Although Duane was the biggest force within the band, they decided to carry on with Dickey Betts as the lead guitar and largest influence within the band, while sharing song writing with Greg. But, bad times for the band were not yet over. A year later on November 11, bassist Berry Oakley was killed three blocks from where Duane was killed and he too was riding a motorcycle. For years popular belief was that Berry was killed when he ran into a truck carrying peaches, which is where the band got it's name for the next album, 'Eat A Peach.' This was just an urban myth. Both Duane and Berry were only 24 years old.  But once again the band continued and for the next forty years would continue to create music that was unique, southern and purely it's own. The band has had many different musicians step in and out over the years, but it's always stayed strong within it's roots and the vision that Duane created for the band.

When the band moved to Macon, Georgia in 1970, Berry Oakley and his wife rented a house on Vineville Avenue and shortly all of the band members were either living there or spending most of their time there. They stared calling their new band hangout "The Big House." The house was also located close to the offices of Capricorn Records, the company who first signed them to a contract. The band not only spent much of their time there, but they also used it for rehearsals and jam sessions. Many of the songs written by the Allman Brothers were written in this house including Dickey Betts' 'Blue Sky' and 'Rambling Man' and Greg Allman's 'Ain't Wastin' Time Here No More' and 'Midnight Rider.' After Berry's death his wife was evicted from the house in January 1973.  In 1993 the house was bought with the intentions of turning it into a Bed and Breakfast, but renovations would have been too costly. So the house was left in the hands of the Big House Foundation, a non-profit organization established to turn the Big House into an interactive museum. The foundation renovated The Big House and turned it into that museum, in order to "identify and preserve the history of The Allman Brothers Band."  In November of 2009 The Big House-The Allman Brothers Museum was opened.

So, now that you have a not so brief history of the band, last weekend I rode my Road King down to Macon to see what the museum had to offer. On first glimpse one can see why this place was once destined to be a Bed and Breakfast. the outside is a classic southern home and in no way looks like where you would find a museum for a bunch of "hippy musicians."  I'm sure it looked a little different when the 'Brothers' were staying there.

Inside you will find exactly what you would expect and maybe a few things that would surprise you. There are original instruments from the band, from the early days with Duane and Berry to the contemporary band members such as Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes. Original posters and prints from concerts that they played, as well as many still images from over the years hang on the walls.

                             
 There are all sorts of personal items, from shirts worn by band members...

               
 ... to hand written song sheets and even a few paychecks the band wrote to it's members.

One the thing that particularly drew my interest was this contract signed by Bill Graham and Duane Allman for one of their many shows at the famed Filmore venues in New York and California.

Another display that I spent much of my time going over was this one with Duane's famous Goldtop Gibson Les Paul, which was lost for many years but the museum was able to find and put on display. Beside it is Berry Oakley's bass guitar along with other items that were used by the two guitarists and band founders, like slides, straps and picks.

Two rooms in The Big House have been furnished much the way it looked when the band members were staying there. This room was called the Casbah Lounge and the band members would spend much of their time here chillin' and just hanging out. Even the record collection in this room is very much the same collection that Berry had at this time and shows what music the band was listening to while they were writing their own music.

This room is where Duane lived before his death. Items in this room which may draw your attention are books that Duane read while living here and one of his leather jackets hangs in the closet. For any fan of The Allman Brothers, whether young or old, this museum takes you back to a time when Rock and Roll was in it's infancy and before commercial interests would take it in a direction that left behind the soul and passion that made this such an important time in music history. The Allman Brothers Band is one of the greatest American Bands of all time and this museum pays tribute to them with thought and foresight that only a true fan could do.

This sign in the parking lot that shows the only way to leave and gives one last tribute to the music of The Allman Brothers Band.

*The black and white images of The Allman Brothers Band and the Rock and Roll collage are not images of mine and I hold no claim to them.

Trigger...It's Part Of Willie's Distinct Sound

Last weekend a good friend offered me a free ticket to see Willie Nelson in concert at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA. Considering what I had planned for the evening, this was an easy decision....hell yes! I have been a fan of Willie's since the late 1970's and it's been years since I've seen him in concert.

But this blog is not about Willie, it's about Trigger, that old guitar that is so worn out it has holes in it from decades of use. The sound that comes from Trigger is one of the most unique sounds in music. If only one note from his guitar is heard, most of his fans would immediately know it was Willie Nelson playing that tune.

Willie was given a three cord electric guitar by the Baldwin company in 1969, but soon the guitar was broken by the intense style he played. He sent the guitar to Shot Jackson in Nashville and was told it was beyond repair. Shot offered to replace it with a Martin nylon-string acoustic and Willie asked him to add the pickup from his Baldwin guitar and then...Trigger was born.

After decades of strumming a guitar pick across the strings a large hole has been worn into Trigger near the sound hole. Many guitars have a pick-guard where the hole is, but Trigger is a classical guitar and is meant to be played with fingers instead of a pick. Now, I'm no guitar tech, but Trigger's age and that big hole has to be a huge part of the sound that Willie creates when he strums that ol' guitar. Over the years, hundreds of Willie's friends have signed Trigger; from musicians, athletes, coaches and even lawyers. Due to his infamous run-ins with the IRS, Willie has known his share of lawyers over the years. As a matter of fact, in 1991 during one of his bouts with the IRS, he had his daughter Lana pick up Trigger from the studio and send it to him in Maui. An IRS agent was on the way to to list properties to be auctioned off and Willie was afraid Trigger would be auctioned off with everything else. He hid Trigger at his manager's office until his tax debt was paid off two years later and then...out came Trigger again.

And so, after more than four decades of making music and helping Willie write countless hits, Trigger is still hanging in there. On the day that Willie passes from this world, that guitar should never be strummed again. It should be put in a museum under a glass case and be given the rest of time off after a lifetime of making great music.

Thanks for letting me Ramble On...

Celtic Woman

This week I had a shoot with Celtic Woman, a musical ensemble with four lovely lassies(as they say in Ireland) singing traditional Irish as well as contemporary tunes. They were in town to shoot a new concert DVD at Atlanta's Fox Theater. It was an early morning shoot, so I wasn't happy at having to wake up before 5AM, but it's a tough life and someone had to be there. Sometimes it's so hard to do these shoots, I mean who would really want to hang out all morning long with four beautiful women with incredibly sexy Irish accents, listening to them sing and tell stories of life in Ireland and on the road.

Yeah...it sucks, but like I said, someone had to be there. Never let it be said that I won't take on the tough jobs. Actually, I've been to Ireland twice on two week trips. Both times I was hired to shoot for a week in Galway on the western coast and then I stayed for another week after the shoot seeing Ireland on my own time.

River Corrib, Galway, Ireland

I rented a car and drove up and down the western coast of Ireland staying in B&B's, traveling through typical Irish countryside, visiting ancient castles and landmarks and checking out every pub that had music coming out of it.

All of the people I met while driving the countryside were consistently such friendly people. This was one of those slam on the brake moments. I was driving through Doolin in County Clare and these three girls were playing traditional Irish instruments outside this music shop. No….I didn’t set this up.

And Irish Woman just reminded me how nice the Irish are. It's early in the morning and they're in a small studio in a foreign country and they made themselves right at home...laughing and smiling all the while. At the end of the shoot they even asked me to take this picture of us all together. What? It could happen…

Okay...I'm just Ramblin' On now.....

Defining Photography

The word photography comes from the Greek words phos(light) and graphis(stylus or paintbrush), which together mean to "write or paint with light." Over the years as I have learned more and more about photography, I have found that this is the most important thing to understand to be able to take better images. With this blog I am going to try and give a few examples of how much light can influence how we feel about an image.

First let me say, to take really good landscape images you have to be willing to either get up early to catch the morning light or maybe forego that relaxing dinner to catch the last light before the sun sets. These are the two best times of day for landscape photography. The reason for this is that the light from the sun at these times of day gives off a warmer cast than the boring white light of midday. I won't get too deep into the science of this, but it is about the distance the light has to travel through the atmosphere when it's closer to the horizon, which effects the specrums of colors that reach the landscape. Also, the shadows created at these times of day usually can enhance the drama within the image.

Let me first show you two examples of a sunrise at Reflection Lake in Mount Rainier National Park. Notice how the different colors created as the sun comes up makes you feel differently about the images, even though they are practically the same shots.

The sun has yet to crest the top of the mountain in this image, which gives it a cooler appearance.

In this image the sun has just crested the ridge and has added a warmer feeling to the scene.

The next set of images are four shots taken at practically the same location as the sun sets on Otto Lake in Alaska. I can't remember the exact time frame for these images, but my guess would be about an hour or so. Notice as the sun goes down, light hitting the landscape changes not only in color temperature, but intensity, as well.

I would call the lighting on this image more like late afternoon. It is warmer than midday light, but still has a whiter look to it. This is a really good time to begin shooting because the shadows are just starting to creep across the landscape, as you can see in the foreground.

In this image the sun is so close to the horizon that only the mountains can catch the light. At these times of day, a split neutral density filter is needed because the amount of light hitting the mountains and the foreground differs so greatly that the foreground would appear too dark to make a good image and in some cases may go almost black. This is not manipulating the image, it is just giving you a helping hand to show a closer representation of what you saw when you pushed the shutter release.

In this image, the sun is just setting down below the horizon, which means only the last levels of the red spectrum are allowed to hit the landscape, giving a pinkish hue to the light. It gives the image a very soft feel and is one of my favorite lights of the day to photograph.

The sun has now set below the horizon, which now gives the image more of a blue cast. But in return the colors of the leaves on the lake shore are a bit more intense.

To me, all of these are good images but because of the different ways that the sun is lighting the landscape, the way in which the images are interpreted by the viewer is greatly effected. Because of the effect that light has on my images, I usually only shoot landscapes for a few hours a day. Most sunny days when I'm shooting landscapes, I usually quit shooting within an hour after sunrise and only begin shooting again just an hour or so before sunset. Many times when I'm shooting in a national park or similar location, since I woke up at maybe 4 or 5 AM to get to the location I wanted to shoot, I find myself a nice spot by a lake or river to take a nap after lunch since I won't be shooting any images once the sun is higher in the sky.

Now cloudy days are another story, but I'll save that for another blog. Hope this has helped you understand just a little bit more what it takes to be able to take better images that you would be proud to hang on your wall and not just snapshots that end up in a box in the closet under your winter coats.

Thanks for letting me Ramble ON

2011 In Pictures

Well, 2011 for the most part was a fun year. I thought I would share some of my favorite shots from Rambling On down the highway and some cool stuff from some of my shoots. Kind of a way to show what kind of year I had in the fun factor....I hope you enjoy.

I'll start off with Lakota and a rare snowfall in Atlanta. The winter of 2011 gave ALT more snow than usual and of course Lakota loved every minute of it.

Although I'm a rock and roller at heart, The Zac Brown Band has become one of my favorite country artists. I did a shoot with him at his house and he was a great guy to hang out with.

Of course it doesn't hurt that he offered to let me ride his bad ass Ducati Diavel, 165 HP of pure power.

And of course I had just had to get the picture that makes us look like good buddies...well he did invite me to go riding with him and his friends sometime. That could be something for 2012.

I also did a shoot with Maroon 5...I'm not much of a fan, but the kids seem to dig 'em... : )

I took several road trips to the North Carolina Mountains, which I always consider my one true home...with Montana running a very close second.

The Blue Ridge Parkway has to be one of the best places in the world to ride your bike. I have logged thousands of miles on this scenic highway, including two end to end to end rides.

I Rode down the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi, 455 miles through forest, farmland and swamps with no stop lights, stop signs or billboards.....

....on my way to the Mississippi River.

Visited the grave site of Blues legend Robert Johnson....

...stopping by Clarksdale, MS to go the crossroads of highways 61 and 49 where legend says that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to be able to play guitar like he did.

I also used this trip to raise $4000 for two different animal rescue organizations, Atlanta Wild Animal Rescue Effort and the Animal Rescue League of Northwest Georgia.

Although there was much more to 2011 than just these few pictures, these are just a few of the highlights. Please visit the Ramble On photo gallery to see more photos from my travels as I Ramble On.