(pleasant music) SIGMA is proud to support photographers and filmmakers around the world, and we believe creativity and sustainability go hand in hand.

(pleasant music) (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Funding for "View Finders" is provided by Troncalli Subaru, located on Highway 9 in Cumming.

Visit Troncalli Subaru or find out more online at troncallisubaru.com.

(pleasant music) - [Announcer] Here at United Community Bank, we are committed to doing the little things to earn customer trust, one customer at a time.

United Community Bank is a proud sponsor of "View Finders."

(no audio) (wind blowing) (birds singing) (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - A LEED certified lodge, accessible only by foot.

- The tallest waterfall in the state of Georgia.

- The unofficial southern terminus to the Appalachian Trail.

This is the Len Foote Hike Inn... - [Paul] And this is Amicalola Falls.

- I'm Chris.

- I'm Paul.

- [Chris And Paul] And we're the "View Finders."

(upbeat country music) (upbeat country music continues) (bright music) - Hey guys, my name is Paul Daniel.

I'm from Brooklyn, New York.

I'm a Atlanta photographer.

I shoot everything from portraits, sports photography, landscapes, cityscapes, you name it, I scape it.

What I like most about photography is the creative process.

I like thinking of ways to bring a creative idea to fruition.

So after I got into photography, that's when the world of outdoors just opened up for me.

Before photography, I never thought about going on walking trails and taking hikes and stuff like that.

Different things like that I got into after I got into photography, so it kind of motivated me to get out of the bed, get the camera in hand, get on the hiking trail, and just walk.

- I'm Chris Greer.

I've been a photographer since I was 12-years-old, and it is part of my life, and it has been for such a long time.

I'm a professor of instructional technology at Georgia College, and I weave my photography into my classes as much as I can, but certainly, anytime I have free time, you'll see me outside on a hike, in the mountains, next to a stream or a waterfall, on a beach, looking for interesting, impactful photos, that is my thing.

"View Finders" combines my passions of photography, travel, outdoor adventure, and education.

I'm looking forward to this season, and I hope that you enjoy it.

- [Band Member] Two, three, four.

(bright guitar music) (bright guitar music continues) (bright guitar music continues) - [Chris] Paul?

- [Paul] Chris?

- [Chris] We're here.

- [Paul] Yeah.

- [Chris] (laughs) And it's awesome.

- Yeah, I mean, this is the first time I've been at the top looking down at this fall, so different view, different sites.

- [Chris] Well, I wasn't sure, fall kind of hit early this year, so I was afraid when we got here, the leaves were gonna be kind of down or not colorful anymore, so I was a little nervous, but- - We got it, we nailed it again.

- When we rolled down, I was like, it is popping.

They're right at the point where they're colorful but they're dropping, so it kind of sets the scene.

It's just beautiful, and- - Yeah, and when you look out there, yellow, red, orange, green.

- [Chris] And the falls are flowing pretty well.

So we got a two-part adventure this time.

We're gonna experience the falls and learn about 'em, and then we're gonna hike to our hotel room.

It's not really a hotel room, (Paul laughs) but it's more than tent camping.

- [Paul] It's not the Marriott.

- No, it's not the Marriott, but that's okay.

So we're gonna hike five miles to stay the night up at the Len Foote Hike Inn, which I think's gonna be awesome.

I've never stayed the night there before.

- And I've never hiked that far, (Chris and Paul laugh) so, there we go.

- So this is gonna be quite a day for us, isn't it?

- Yeah, we'll see what the heart says at the end of the day.

if I can continue tomorrow or not.

- From what I hear though, they will cook us a very good meal tonight.

- [Paul] Oh, okay.

- [Chris] And so we have that to look forward to.

- [Paul] There's a reward at the end.

- That is the reward.

That's the carrot being dangled in front of us.

We got a good day of photography out of us.

And the clouds are here, so it's great light for waterfalls and shooting anything.

- Nature's softbox.

- Yes, yes!

- [Paul] Got the clouds up there, so no hotspots with the sun.

- [Chris] I know, so what are you most excited about?

- Catching another angle of the falls.

Like I was telling you, I haven't been up here since last year, last fall.

The colors were okay, but not like they're looking now.

And I didn't get this top view.

I wasn't aware of coming up here to get this top view last time and seeing that and the falls beginning.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to getting a couple more different angles of the falls and some more intimate shots of the smaller falls and creeks that are down below, so.

- Awesome, awesome, well let's go to it and see what we can find, and I'm real excited about today.

- Same here, man.

- Let's do it.

- Let's go.

- Yep.

(bright music) ♪ I been down this road so long ♪ ♪ I cannot seem to find my way back home ♪ ♪ Goin' out of my mind ♪ Will I ever find my way back home ♪ (bright music continues) ♪ So you say ♪ You wouldn't have it any other way ♪ ♪ So you dream - Amicalola Falls State Park was the 13th state park in Georgia, and it was actually acquired by DNR in the 1940s.

We have the tallest cascading waterfall in Georgia.

It's 729 feet from top to bottom.

It is just a sight to behold.

It's considered one of the seven natural wonders of Georgia.

So if you've never been here, you have to actually come and witness it for yourself.

Amicalola is just a gem in Georgia.

And if you didn't know, Amicalola means "tumbling waters" in Cherokee.

So, it has a rich history in Georgia.

It has a rich history throughout the southeast.

One of the unique features that a lot of people don't realize in Georgia there's lots of, you know, we have the Piedmont, we have the mountain.

You actually get to experience both of those at Amicalola.

You leave the Piedmont region, and you get to the mountain region.

That's also the snow line, so a lot of times it'll be snowing up here and not down at the bottom of the park.

We actually run about three degrees cooler up here at the top than at the bottom.

And if you're in the Atlanta area, we run about 10 to 12 degrees cooler than it is in Atlantic year round.

(bright guitar music) ♪ Of all the places you could be ♪ (water rippling) - So when we get to a waterfall like this or even just water, do you have a certain approach?

What are you trying to do?

What are you trying to capture?

- First thing I'm looking to do is see how long the falls is.

I like to take it from top to bottom in the frame.

Sometimes you get lucky like that, sometimes you don't.

I like to see what other kind of colors I can get in there besides the white of the water, the brown of the rocks, so different things like that is what I'm looking for.

- I think it's easy too for the water to get overexposed, especially when there's sun.

Like the sun's starting to come out right now on us, and so then you get those hotspots.

So, at the beginning of the day, when you're talking about nature's softbox, the clouds really make a big difference, and you get to kind of lengthen your exposures.

So yeah, what did you shoot here?

Was there any certain scene that caught your eye?

- Yeah, I decided on two different compositions.

One, you can't really see it now, but there's a little flow of water right here at the bottom of the frame, in the middle, like at that little middle layout there.

And towards the top, there's a nice beautiful frame around some foliage of the top falls, so I got that.

And usually, what I try to do with falls as well, I probably should have mentioned it before, is I usually expose for the water, because that's what everyone wants to see.

I think the trees, the leaves, those are kind of secondary, but your camera can pick up those colors and those shadows with relatively a little bit of work in it, but expose for the water, and you should be good to go.

- Yeah, when I first got to this scene, obviously I noticed the main fall.

I mean, that's what people are here for.

But I also like this little scene right here with the water rushing over this big boulder into this pool.

So I was trying to get some longer exposures of leaves and have like some streaks of color in the shot, so I ended up taking like 20 shots, but I think I got enough that the image is gonna come out.

(gentle music) (camera shoots) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) All right, update, we are at 2.02 miles in on our hike.

- Otherwise known as out of breath point, out of breath, out of breath.

- (chuckles) We've lost track of the out of breath increments of the hike.

It hasn't been a terrible hike.

- No, actually it hasn't.

- I mean, it could be like Amicalola, where you just go straight up the whole time, but I don't know if we would've done that.

- No, uh-uh.

- (laughs) You know?

- Ah, but man, I feel like if I can do this, anybody can do this.

I know I always say that, but I mean get off the couch, man, get off the couch, it's worth it.

- I mean, we're getting our heart rate up.

We're getting exercise.

We're getting fresh air.

It's fall.

It's beautiful.

We've got a hot meal and a hot shower waiting on us.

We're gonna be at 3000 feet in the mountains, and I bet it's gonna be a really nice evening.

- [Paul] And the view is gonna be pretty good too, so.

- The view's gonna be good.

And we're only 3.98 miles, nope, I'm sorry, my math's wrong, 2.98 miles away from that.

- We'll be okay.

(bright music) It's like being in a real life LA Fitness, being in the gym.

Instead of you on the treadmill, you're out here.

- It's just like being in LA Fitness, except there's bears that eat you.

(Chris and Paul laugh) ♪ Sing me a song ♪ Make it quick, don't take too long ♪ ♪ I gotta plane to catch ♪ Flying South away from this city ♪ ♪ She sleeps at night ♪ Restless dreams, something's not right ♪ ♪ She has the raven hair ♪ Black as night, heart full of pity ♪ ♪ They were always The Luckiest ♪ ♪ Don't you remember their face, oh ♪ ♪ They were always The Luckiest ♪ - So the Len Foote Hike Inn was built by the DNR, Department of Natural Resources.

We first opened in October of 1998.

It was meant to be a unique backcountry opportunity for folks to come and experience the outdoors in a natural setting.

We have kept with that mission since 1998, and our mission statement is to protect Georgia's natural resources through education and recreation.

So we are very passionate about exposing people to the outdoors and providing a setting for them to just get away from the complexities of everyday life and relax and unplug and be exposed to nature.

So as part of our mission statement the conservation aspect of that is our sustainability, so conserving natural resources is very important.

And what we do for that is a lot of basic everyday stuff, to be honest, reusing cups and mugs in the dining hall cuts down on water usage.

We compost all of our food waste through vermicomposting and your more traditional composting methods, but that cuts down on all the greenhouse gas emissions that are typically generated in a landfill from that organic material going into the landfill stream.

We also have composting toilets, which is always a guest favorite.

That is something that people are not used to, but by composting human-generated waste, again we're keeping keeping all of that out of the waste stream.

Some other things we do as far as energy, one that I guess stands out to guests is that we don't have central air conditioning.

A lot of people are not used to that nowadays, but in the summer it still stays pretty nice and cool up here by opening the windows and having the fans running.

And then we do have solar, two different kinds.

So we have thermal solar, which helps to heat the bath water in the bathhouse, and then solar PV or photovoltaic, which does generate electricity, and that helps offset our energy usage.

(gentle music) So that's pretty significant.

♪ Peace, it don't come easy ♪ Love, it don't come free ♪ Martin Luther King said, Lord, I have a dream ♪ (bell rings) ♪ Boys and girls of every color, walkin' side by side ♪ ♪ Brother, sister, come on ♪ Turn that darkness into light ♪ ♪ Well I was born into the heart of Dixie land ♪ ♪ Holy rollers in the hills of Birmingham ♪ ♪ All those summers spent just ♪ Chasing lightning bugs by night ♪ ♪ Heavy stillness and the heat of August and July ♪ ♪ Lord, a wind was stirring from the east to west ♪ ♪ Set my heart a-blazing deep down in my chest ♪ ♪ And I heard that preacher crying out from 16th Street ♪ ♪ Till we all have freedom, there is no man truly free ♪ (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) ♪ On into September, heard the people ♪ ♪ Say things just won't get better ♪ ♪ Four girls died today ♪ But we will rise up singing ♪ Truly we shall overcome ♪ And we won't quit singing 'til that day of glory comes ♪ ♪ Peace, it don't come easy ♪ Love, it don't come free ♪ Martin Luther King said, Lord, I have a dream ♪ ♪ Boys and girls of every color walking side by side ♪ - [Chris] Len Foote Hike Inn, we had a full day.

- Very full.

- I mean, how do your legs feel?

- Oh man, I'm not even sure if I can hold up my weight.

I might need some assistance on the way back to the cabin, but I mean, hey, you gotta get out every now and then, get some exercise in.

- We got some exercise, got some fresh air.

I know that you got a work out today, because I came to your room to get you for this, (Paul laughs) and you were just laying in bed.

- The only thing that was missing was the (indistinct) yeah.

- It was like 7:00 something, 7:00, I'm like, "He's done, he's done."

- I was a little intimidated at first, thinking about the five mile hike up this mountain.

But when you think about it, it wasn't that bad, because it wasn't like a five mile incline.

There were dips and valleys and you know- - And it stayed flat for periods that were nice.

- [Paul] Yeah, and we had some good conversations out there.

- [Chris] We did, we had some good talks.

- [Paul] Like the General Lee versus Kit.

- General Lee versus, what camp are you in?

- Ah, I don't know, I gotta go with Kit.

I mean come on man, technology, you know- - Kit is the car I wanted, because it talked, and it had the little red light that went back and forth.

- Yeah, the General Lee just couldn't do that.

- (laughs) The General Lee, I mean, it got some air.

Yeah, we had good conversation, good exercise, good hike.

It's a great dinner.

- [Paul] Oh yeah, man!

You know what, we still gotta get a piece of cake.

They have cake for us.

What kind of cake was that?

- It was some type of pound cake, but it looked good, oh, it smelled great.

- So another thing that is really unique about coming here is the family-style dining.

Breakfast and dinner are both served in the dining hall with guests all coming together and sitting at one long table.

That is something that I think a lot of people today have lost or don't get to experience as a family, so it is really neat to see, especially families with kids coming up.

- So does anything today stand out?

Like man, that's the shot of the day!

- Yes, yes, completely.

What I think is gonna stand out for me, what I'm really looking forward to developing is a shot that we call the Top Down shot with our drones.

It gives people a different perspective.

- It does, it absolutely does.

But I certainly feel like I'm gonna walk away with a couple images I'm really happy with, and we still haven't had the sunrise either.

- Yeah, that's right.

- They say the sunrise here is the main attraction, so I'm hoping we get something good in the morning too.

- [Paul] Yeah, me too.

(bright music) (bright music continues) ♪ I went down into the valley ♪ Where the river meets the lake ♪ ♪ The water looked like sunlight ♪ ♪ Pushing through the rain - My favorite thing about the inn is the quiet.

It's not a particular spot, although Star Base is amazing to go down and check out the sunrise.

The sunrises here are absolutely beautiful, but after you're here for a couple nights, the quiet is just so peaceful and relaxing, and then you start to hear things that you don't notice in the city or suburbs.

Like right now, the katydids are out.

So you can kind of tell the time of year based on what sounds you're hearing, which is, I think it's really awesome.

(laughs) So, that disconnect that so many people don't get to experience anymore from living in the city and the suburbs when you're constantly bombarded with traffic and noises and neighbors and everything else, coming up here is something different.

(bright music continues) ♪ So I will be the river ♪ You can be the lake ♪ We'll flow into the ocean ♪ (indistinct) ♪ You won't be alone, dear (camera shoots) ♪ 'Cause you're my salvation ♪ I promise you, my lover ♪ I will be the man you always keep ♪ - [Chris] Oh man, we've had two days, haven't we?

- [Paul] Yeah.

- I mean, we got a lot of pictures, did a lot of hiking.

- [Paul] Burned a lot of calories.

- Burned a lot of calories, replaced some of them at least with two solid meals.

- [Paul] Big breakfast, yeah.

- What do you think, what was something real memorable for you?

- The sausage this morning.

(Chris laughs) And the bed last night.

- Oh, I know.

The bed felt good, no doubt.

- Yeah, but on the photography side, I think the waterfalls did it for me yesterday.

- [Chris] The waterfall was amazing.

The light was good.

The color was good.

The flow was good.

We had a lot of time- - [Paul] We didn't have to worry about shadows.

- [Chris] Yeah, no shadows.

- [Paul] No harsh light.

- [Chris] Do you think you got a couple that- - Of the waterfalls, yes, I think I did.

And I think this morning I got a little experimental shot is what I like to call it.

Used the 300 lens to get the sun and the drone in the same shot.

- [Chris] That's cool.

- [Paul] I'll see how it looks when I put it back in Lightroom, see what come of it.

- I know, I had the drone up, just shooting some footage and getting some pictures, and there might have been a couple that caught my eye on the screen that will turn out pretty well, but I certainly know yesterday with the waterfall, I got at least one or two that I'm really happy with.

I can't wait to pull 'em up on the screen and developing them and everything.

But yeah, this has been a really fun, different type of trip.

- Very different.

- I mean, the hike in and stay at a place and come back down the next morning.

- [Paul] Yeah, it's not like your normal inn.

- [Chris] I know, I know, it has a different charm, because it's so different than your typical hotel.

- [Paul] Yeah, I learned a lot being there too, so yeah.

- Yeah, totally, well I don't know about you, but I'm ready to get rolling down the road- - Definitely.

- And get a nice meal in me, and take a look at these images.

- Chick-fil-A's calling me right now.

- Calling your name, I hear ya.

(Paul laughs) (gentle music) Well, cool, let's get going man.

We'll head on to our next destination real soon.

- You got it, Chris.

♪ Hollows in the woods call out ♪ ♪ Trails on mountains climb ♪ Waves and sand keep beat and time ♪ ♪ Mossy blankets, swirling streams ♪ ♪ Over rocks and dirt ♪ Run at pace with all the earth ♪ ♪ Could we capture nature's wonders ♪ ♪ Find our way to getting lost ♪ Freeze a frame to save forever ♪ ♪ Adventure worth the cost ♪ Bees and dandelion grain (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Funding for "View Finders" is provided by Troncalli Subaru, located on Highway 9 in Cumming.

Visit Troncalli Subaru or find out more online at troncallisubaru.com.

(pleasant music) - [Announcer] Here at United Community Bank, we are committed to doing the little things to earn customer trust, one customer at a time.

United Community Bank is a proud sponsor of "View Finders."

(pleasant music) SIGMA is proud to support photographers and filmmakers around the world, and we believe creativity and sustainability go hand in hand.

(pleasant music)