David Johnston

5 Best Places for Photography in the Southeastern United States

David Johnston
Duration:   3  mins

Description

If you are a dedicated outdoor photographer, you’ve probably been to many famous locations like national parks, forests, and monuments to capture your images. Professional outdoor photographer David Johnston has visited the great sites all over the United States. In this video, he takes you on a tour of his favorite region, the southeast, and gives you the five best locations to capture dramatic compositions.

His first location is the most diverse park in the United States, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for its beautiful woods, waterfalls, streams, mountains, valleys and of course, wildlife including elk.

David’s second location is the city of Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston offers old town scenes, creative architecture, rippling beaches, and the Atlantic Ocean.

The third best place for outdoor photography is the outer banks of North Carolina where you will find sand dunes, long beaches, shoreline houses, the Barrier Islands, and even wild horses.
Night photography is especially appealing for shooting long exposures of lighthouses beneath star-filled skies.

The fourth best place on the list is Tybee Island, Georgia, a haven for wild bird photographers. In morning and evening light, the sturdy old piers offer a range of photo opportunities. You can also explore the lighthouses for interior and exterior shots.

The fifth and final best place is the national seashore on the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. Here you will find sea grasses, beach scenes, and a variety of bird species. David claims the natural light seems to last forever during the morning and evening hours when you can create spectacular sunrise and sunsets over the Gulf.

Pro photographer David Johnston urges you to make a special trip to the southeastern United States and visit his five best places. You will love the photographic results.

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2 Responses to “5 Best Places for Photography in the Southeastern United States”

  1. Chris

    You hit a homer on these choices! Charleston (where I met my wife and lived) also has fabulous gardens up highway 61. And never to be left out would have to be Kiawah and Seabrook Islands. And while we are there, lets check out Shimm Creek. I'm busy this weekend, but always available to go home and visit family! Hatteras and the outer banks is absolutely magical. Can't wait to get back (spent a couple days there last August... the light house at night with the Milky Way! And available at 9:30 in the evening ). Looking forward to getting to your neck of the woods and the smokey mountains,NC and TN this fall. Great selections. Lets do a meet up

  2. Jacques Olivier

    Some great locations David, thanks.

Hey, what's up, guys? Professional outdoor photographer David Johnston here. Now, I've been all over the United States, photographing some of the best places that you can go to. But in this video specifically, I wanted to show you the five best locations that you can photograph in the southeastern United States. And let's start off the list with number one, of where I am right now, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the most diverse national parks in the entire United States, not to mention one of the most visited parks in the United States. And for good reason, too. You have everything from low valleys to mountain stream waterfalls, all the way to high-elevation mountains that you can photograph. Not to mention, when you get into some of the valleys, they've reintroduced elk into the park. So you can definitely photograph wildlife. Number two on my list is actually Charleston, South Carolina. Now, not only Charleston is known for great food. You'll probably actually gain a few pounds while you're there. But it also has great opportunities for outdoor photography. I spent about a week there photographing a lot of old town scenes and street photography and also a lot of opportunities for outdoor architectural photography. Number three on the list is the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Now, the Outer Banks is an incredible location that you can visit. You can definitely get out there and photograph a lot of the lighthouses that they have. Great opportunities for some seashore photography right on the national seashore of North Carolina, Outer Banks. And then also, they have great opportunities for night photography. I spent about a week out there photographing night scenes over a lot of the lighthouses that they have in the Outer Banks. And I'm definitely gonna make several trips back so that I can photograph some of these locations and play around with new compositions. Number four on the list is Tybee Island. Now, Tybee Island is a little bit like the Outer Banks of North Carolina, but it's a little bit smaller and a little more laid back. It has more of that island feel. This is definitely a location that you can actually visit on vacation with your family, spend mornings and evenings going out, photographing some of the places that they have in Tybee Island. They have places like piers that you can photograph on the edges of the day to get that good light. They also have some cool historic areas. Rounding out the list at number five is the National Seashore on the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. I've been going to this location my entire life, even before I got into outdoor photography. This location has great opportunities for those beach scenes. The sea grasses are amazing to use for great foregrounds in your photography, not to mention what the light does. The light seems to last forever if you go out and photograph in the early morning hours or in the late evening hours. Hey, guys, if you're going to the Southeast, definitely check out these locations, wherever you're close to. I guarantee you're gonna come back with some of the best photographs that you could have thought of that you could have gotten in the Southeast.
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