Arriving at the Smokies

On Wednesday 26^th March, at 4 am we arrived at the highest accessible point in the Smokies, to capture footage of the full moon. With 28ºF temperature and sharp gusty winds it was freezing outside. After about 5 minutes of handling metallic equipment our hands and fingers went numb, despite the gloves we were wearing, and our thermals hardly helped keep the rest of us warm. Another gentleman who happened to have the same idea as us to capture the moon, seemed more aware of how low the temperatures could fall and quite at ease as he went back and forth from his vehicle to his camera setup to check on his photography. For the most part we remained outside, since we struggled for a while to attach the tripod head to the sticks, because of a stripped bolt! We successfully pulled the shots off and after packing the equipment, warmed up thanks to the heating and spent the rest of the night sleeping in the van.

The schedule for the shoot depended very much on the weather, and although we were constantly checking it daily, it was an anxious affair relying on forecasts that failed to predict, to any degree, what the following day would be like.

The original plan was to shoot early mornings and evenings when the sun is not at it's highest point to avoid the harsh light in the middle of the day and work with diffused, even lighting. A cloudy day that blocked out the harsh sunlight, however, would also be perfect to allow us to film. This was more ideal since temperatures in the smokies were unbearably low in the early hours of the day, as we had already experienced.