SANP upcoming events

Photo Challenge - Fall High Key Photography (09/26/2026)

Sat, 26 Sep 2026 13:00:00 GMT

SANP Fall Photo Challenge: High Key - Seeing Fall Differently

Fall is coming and we are all ready for some cooler temperatures and bright fall colors. SANP has a couple of opportunities to get outside and photograph the changing seasons, including: Cades Cove & Tremont (9/28) and Sunrise & Chasing the Light (10/9). These opportunities are largely full or closing soon. They provide a great opportunity to participate in the Fall Photo Challenge. And, of course you'll have ample time on your own outside of these events to capture some winning images.

Purpose of this Challenge: For this fall's challenge, let's see fall differently. We often photograph autumn for what is immediately obvious: brilliant foliage, saturated colors, dramatic landscapes, and the contrast of colorful leaves against dark forests, or animals changing into their winter coats. The Fall Challenge asks us to move beyond that familiar approach and explore what happens when we deliberately simplify the scene through high-key photography.

High-key images are dominated by light tones, restrained contrast, and minimal deep shadows. They can be bright and airy, delicate, graphic, or ethereal, while still retaining enough tonal separation and detail to make the subject compelling. High key is not simply overexposure. It is an intentional use of light, tone, color, and negative space.

Look for the less obvious possibilities of autumn: a single red leaf against a pale sky, translucent backlit foliage, wildlife emerging from fog, a bird against an overcast sky, autumn berries or seed heads isolated against a light background, or a landscape reduced to subtle layers of light and color. The fall connection might come from the subject, its color, its behavior, or the seasonal environment. High-key is a deliberate approach, try it out as you capture your fall images.

For a more detailed explanation of high-key photography, including examples and the distinction between high key and simple overexposure, see the B&H Photo discussion: High-Key and Low-Key Photography.

Maximum Number of Participants (5 minimum for judging): No maximum.

Challenge Procedure: You must register for this challenge if you want to submit images for judging. You may submit up to three images for judging, following the guidelines below for file naming, file size, and deadline. Judges will not know who submitted the images under review. If you have questions, contact Hill Henry, at thillhenry@gmail.com.

If a Participant wants his/her images displayed on Zenfolio but not judged, that can be stated in the email with the submissions.

Note: Challenge image submissions will be posted (anonymously until after judging) in a Challenge Gallery on the SANP Zenfolio website accessible to the public; winners will be displayed on SANP social media, the SANP website, and in the SANP Newsletter.

Equipment Specifications:

Camera: Any handheld type of camera is allowed.
Lens focal length: Any focal length.
Filters: Neutral density, polarizing, and closeup filters may be used.
Flash: On-camera or off-camera flash is allowed.
Tripod: Tripods are allowed.
Cell Phone: Cell phone images are allowed.
Other: The photographer must get signed model releases from any people recognizable in a photograph.

Photography Technique Specifications: None

Processing Technique Specifications: None

Entering Challenge Images for Judging

Entries must be received by midnight, dd, Mmmmm yyyy. Participants may submit up to three JPEG digital image files (not over 4 MB each). The Participant’s copyright information and the image metadata must be embedded in the submitted image files.

Send your entries to thillhenry@gmail.com. Entries received late, too large, or not in the proper file name format will not be judged. If you want your images displayed on Zenfolio but not judged, state that when you submit the images.

Name the digital files in the following format (PLEASE NOTE):

SANPPC-202502-Last_Name-First Initial-a

Where:

SANPPC stands for ‘SANP Photography Challenge’ (do not change this)
202502 is the year and month (month is always two digits)
Last_Name and First Initial are your last name followed by first Initial. (ex. Henry-H)
"a" is the participant’s first entry (b = second entry, c = third entry)

GSMNP Cades Cove & Tremont (09/28/2026)

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT

IT'S ANOTHER FIELD EVENT!!!!

On September 28th we will head to Cades Cove to hopefully catch some of the great migration. There should be both birds and butterflies traveling through East Tennessee on the way to their winter homes. We may see Tanagers, Warblers, and Grosbeak. It should be peak time for Monarchs and other species of butterfly as well. This is also the time that the bear begin consuming mass for their winter weight, so don't be surprised if we see some under the oak and walnut trees.

If the weaather cooperates we may leave the cove and head to Tremont for some time on the water. There is never a day in the GSMNP so plan to join us.

You should plan for water, landscape, and wildlife photogrpahy and perhaps even a some macro shooting, and pack a dinner as we will share a meal somewhere in the Cove, probably on Sparks Lane. Please reach out to Kelli or myself if you have questions. This is a week day event, so plan accordingly if you need to take the day off!

More details will be sent to registrants a few days prior to the event.

Cindy Hatcher & Kelli Thompson

SANP FIeld Event Coordinators

Club Meeting - Speaker: Jim Britt (09/29/2026)

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMT

SANP Monthly Club Meeting

Sept 29, Program - Jim Britt

My Photographic Journey: Stories and Lessons

Club member: Jim Britt

After his early years spent on a Mississippi farm, followed by college, medical school, a stint as a Navy Flight Surgeon and radiology residency, Jim Britt came to Knoxville in 1975 to begin a thirty-year plus career as a diagnostic radiologist. His years of practice saw the introduction and explosive development of digital imaging technologies such as CT, MRI, Ultrasound, and PET scanning.

Jim retired in 2005 to pursue other interests and passions, foremost among them his desire to learn to capture the beauty of our natural world through the medium of photography. As he puts it, “For most of my professional life, my job was to look at images of the human body and all the things that can go wrong."

So in retirement, it seemed natural for Jim to continue his interest in producing and examining images, only nicer ones. Instead of brains and bones, he could look at mountains and forests. Instead of lungs and livers, he could look at sunrises and sunsets. Instead of searching for diseases, he could search for beautiful light. And Jim discovered that he enjoyed it immensely.

Jim’s travels have taken him to many countries in Europe and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, and many places in the U.S. But he has come to appreciate more-and-more the photographic opportunities in Southern Appalachia and here in our own East Tennessee.

Join Jim at our monthly meeting on September 29 as he shares some of his adventures, stories, rewards, regrets, and lessons learned in his journey toward becoming a better nature photographer.

Field Event - Sunrise and Chasing the Light (10/09/2026)

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 10:00:00 GMT

We were inspired by Bill Lea's presentation on Chasing the Light, and so we are going to chase the light anf Fall colors at the higher elevations in early October.

We will begin our morning with sunrise at Kuwohi then venture down to Oconoluftee shortly thereafter to hopefully catch some Elk during the rut. We will then go to Mingo Falls then hop on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We will have potential designated stopping points, but we will be watching the light and hoping for some spectacular moments on the way. But as Bill said, we are going to play it by eye - instead of ear.

More details in terms of equipment, carpooling, and the like will be provided to registrants as we get closer to the event. But we want to give everyone an opportunity to sign up early - and although it is a Friday, you have plenty of time to ask off from work. See we are reading those survey results. If anyone is interested in hosting the same event the next day on October 10, reach out to Cindy or me.

Club Meeting - Speaker M.K. Miller (10/27/2026)

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 23:00:00 GMT

SANP Monthly Meeting

October 27, Speaker: M.K. Miller

Panoramas

Who is Mike Miller? He started serious photography during his doctorate at Oxford University 52 years ago, taking extremely low-light macro photographs of individual atoms with Nikon FM on Kodak Tri-X pushed to ISO 3200. Invited to America in 1979 to perform basic science research for US Steel to catch and identify individual atoms in steels to investigate how their physical properties could be understood and improved. Then invited to Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a research scientist in 1983 to extended this field of study. Rose to the position of Corporate Fellow. Elected a Fellow of the Microcopy Society of America in 2010 for his pioneering research. He experimented with the original commercial digital cameras i.e., Kodak DCS 760 and Nikon D1. His photographs have been used in hundreds of scientific papers and journal covers, and book covers.

Mike’s main photographic interests are macro, wildlife, landscapes including panoramas and lighthouses, and astrophotography. Travelled to all 7 continents multiple times that have resulted in the publication of 40 travel books and 5 scientific textbooks and his photographs have been used in several travel brochures.

The focus of this slideshow is to provide a general SANP audience with all the pertinent information necessary to become proficient in taking, producing, and printing high-quality panoramas. He has included a few points that even some experts may not be aware of. The presentation will be illustrated by over 40 examples of panoramas of scenic places around the world that you might be interested in visiting. So, something for everyone.

Topics to be discussed include what is a panorama, early, 12^th century, Chinese and English panorama paintings, and early photographic panoramas, photographic equipment required, lens selection, camera capture parameters, perspective, extensions and compression distortions, discussion of field-of-view of human eyes versus cameras, issues of viewing and displaying images, stitching methods, issues and artifacts, rotation and linear projection points, portrait versus landscape modes, and vertical panoramas, how many frames to stitch, file size considerations, and methods to reduce file size.

Field Event - Old Car City and Berry College and/or Gibbs Gardens (11/06/2026)

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Back by popular demand, we are headed South to OLD CAR CITY to capture nature from a different angle. We have had a lot of interest in visiting this famous junk yard since the event held last year. OCC is located in White, GA, just north of ATL. There are 6 miles of trails surrounded by approximately 4000 classic cars. This is one you don’t want to miss. Everywhere you look there are unique photo opportunities, so be sure to bring your imagination.Think trees growing our of hoods, broken windows, and tons of patina.

You can meet us at OCC, or make plans to meet at exit 81 (Lenoir City) at Bimbos to share a ride. You can take I75, or for our members that live east of the interstate you may want to take the scenic route down HWY 411. We will be heading out at 7am.

If you want to make an entire day of it, or overnight and make it a two-day event, you can head over to Gibbs Gardens located in Ball Ground , GA. It’s about a 45-minute drive east of OCC. Also, Kelli and I chose to visit Berry College in lieu of the gardens last year and it did not dissapoint. The fall colors should be at their peak. The college is approximately 45 minutes west of OCC. Either would afford you wonderful photo ops. There is lodging near, but looks to be fairly limited.

More detailed informatiion will be sent to the registants a few days prior to the event.

Attached are the links to both websites for hours, pricing, and overviews, as well as the Google Maps link.

https://www.oldcarcityusa.com/

https://www.gibbsgardens.com/visit/directions/

https://maps.app.goo.gl/BhPTrX5oWErvkeUy9

https://www.berry.edu/

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Cindy Hatcher & Kelli Thompson

Field event coordinators

Field Event - Wheeler Wildlife Refuge (01/08/2027)

Fri, 08 Jan 2027 12:00:00 GMT

If you thought Hiwassee was great, you must visit Wheeler Wildlife Refuge outside Decatur, Alabama. We will be traveling to Wheeler on January 8, 2027 early and spending the night, returning on Saturday evening. Of course, if you want to arrive early and/or stay late, you can adjust your individual plans accordingly.

Wheeler is a huge wildlife management area with lots of opportunities for Sandhill Cranes, Herons, Eagles, and so many different ducks it was hard to keep track of the varieties. There were 15 Whooping Cranes when we were there last year according to their counts. We were lucky enough to see several of them at the main observation area.

The focus of this trip may be birds, but there are a host of opportunities for landscapes and more. We will provide details on equipment suggestions and specific plans to the registrants. You can bet a trip to Big Bob Gibson's famouse BBQ will happen too.

Here are some hotel options as well:

Hampton Inn https://www.hilton.com

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Decatur Riverfront on Google Maps https://maps.app.goo.gl/Uz2z9tvBv1zwazoc8

Comfort Inn https://maps.app.goo.gl/BwcQQdB1Q8UaNgRr5

Best Western https://www.bestwestern.com/en_US/book/hotel-search.html

Field Event - Florida Birding Adventure (02/22/2027)

Mon, 22 Feb 2027 13:00:00 GMT

We are going birding in the warmth of sunny Florida in February, and we'd like you to join us. Cindy Hatcher and I will be making a return trip to Florida to explore the Orlando Wetlands, Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, and other wetlands and birding spots in the area. We plan to stay in Titusville which is about 30 minutes from Orlando Wetlands and about ten minutes from Merritt Island. If time permits, we may also visit Cape Canaveral or if we are lucky, see a rocket launch depending on the schedule.

Each registrant will be responsible for making their own reservations for accommodations and travel, but when we went in February, we found ourselves in the company of ten other SANP members at various stages of our trip. This will be a wildlife and birding focused event, but you should plan on having opportunities to shoot a wide range of things including landscapes and macros. We will provide a detailed itinerary for registrants, and you are welcome to come for some portion of or all of the applicable days.

There are many options for travel and accommodations. Allegiant Air has direct flights that fly on Monday and Friday - if you are like me and long drives are problematic. There are lots of VRBO and AirBnB options as well as hotels and campsites. Cindy and I have already made our airfare reservations to leave early Monday and return late Friday. If anyone is interested in sharing a house or condo, please feel free to reach out to friends or fellow members if you want to stay together. It is actually more reasonable to share a condo or house than individual hotel rooms based on our efforts. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Cindy or Kelli.