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Steve Kossack's Great Smoky Mountain DVD:A Review by James Morrissey

Edited by Chanthee Keokhaw

Chanthee and I are celebrating our 10th Anniversary this year. We have been thinking about taking a trip to some place different. Typically, we spend most of our free vacation time in Jackson Hole or in Death Valley. Like many folks right now, we are trying very hard to watch our dimes and nickels and planning vacations within driving distance. Last year, we made the 12 hour drive to Acadia twice. Even at the high price we paid at the pump, it was much cheaper than flying out somewhere. We enjoy camping, so the entire trip was really quite affordable. It was also great because we were able to bring the Doggess (aka Mahkayla) with us.

This time, we are thinking about heading Down South to Great Smoky National Park. It is a big year for the park as they are in the process of celebrating their 75th Anniversary. Every day, Great Smoky seems to dominate our National Park News section.

Car in the color ©Steve Kossack

Chapple in Cades Cove ©Steve Kossack

I always get a bit anxious about making a large time commitment to going some place I have never been before - at least when my main goal is photography. I am a creature of habit, and I have found that I have done best by hitting the same areas over and over again. For example, my wife and I often photograph the sunrise over Manhattan from Brooklyn. It is truely beautiful. However, after nearly two years of photographing the sunrise every weekend, I have only two photographs that I believe are actually real winners. Two.

Smoky Afternoon ©Steve Kossack

To make sure that we are going to enjoy ourselves, and have great photographic opportunities, I started looking around at some of the great resources on the Net. If you don't read the Hiking the Smokies Blog, you should- it is a great place to learn about what's going on. It is often referenced in my newsletter with different articles and events. I have also called Steve Kossack and asked him about his experiences. His first question was - have you seen my DVD? I had not realized that he had done one, so he launched me a copy of his latest National Park DVD.

Forest color ©Steve Kossack

Before I get into the review on this DVD, let me first say that I consider Steve to be a friend. In addition to being a great photographer, he is a flat out great guy. I have now done two workshops with him - one as a participant and one as a co-facilitator. I believe in his product - so I will admit that I am more than a bit biased. At the same time, I also believe that I have an obligation to publish the truth as I see it. This can potentially be a real conflict for some. The rule that I have followed in cases like this is that if I do not like a product, I just say nothing about it.

Grotto Falls ©Steve Kossack

For anyone who has seen any of Steve's prior DVDs, the layout of this one will feel instantly familiar. Steve brings you along a park map that shows many of the great locations in which to shoot - and just as importantly when to shoot them. Steve is very knowledgable about places that he goes to photograph. He provides much more than a 'place tripod here and release shutter' experience and often delves into the history behind the many great shooting locations. For me, this adds an extra dimension to the video. As someone who has never been to Great Smoky before, the DVD really does hold a gold mine of information. While I have not yet had the Great Smoky Mountain experience, I feel confident that when we go that it will be much easier to navigate as we will have the DVD as a virtual guide. We have used the Death Valley DVD in that capacity, and believe that it was an invaluable resource and helped make my decisions about shooting locations. While it does not replace the actual experience of going out with a guide like Steve, it helped a lot.

In my opinion, The Great Smoky DVD shows how Steve's DVD products have begun to really mature. While all of the DVDs that I have seen are very good, this one is even more technically oriented than the earlier ones. While Steve regularly shares information about his use of filters and how to work with different types of light, I feel that he spends even more time in this DVD talking about the technical aspects about taking a great photograph - even when the conditions are not ideal. He even shows multiple exposures of the same scene using different techniques to produce different results. It feels very much like the experience of going to one of his workshops.

Do I have any complaints? Well, no I don't. In the two DVDs I reviewed previously, I made some loud grumbling about the post production not being quite up to the quality of the material presented in the DVD by Steve. Specifically, in some of the earlier DVDs, I felt that at times Steve's voice was competing with the background conditions (like heavy wind, etc.), or music that played to heavilly in the background. Sound quality has really been improved with this new DVD. It looks and sounds great throughout.

Tree in Meadow ©Steve Kossack

Of course, the DVD was shot in Fall. The photos that we have seen from Steve are so beautiful that we have decided to postpone the Great Smoky trip until then. Also, our schedules are not conducive to my leaving for a week or so right now. Somehow, I need to figure out a way to fit Yellowstone, Acadia and Great Smoky Mountain into this Fall's schedule. Such a problem. :P

To learn about Steve Kossack's workshops and DVDs, please check out his website at www.SteveKossack.com/

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