Morning Light

Morning fog hovers low in Tennessee's Cades Cove.

“I focus most of my work on landscapes because that is what draws me and inspires me,” says Roger Canada. “The landscape offers endless opportunities and is rewarding when all the elements of light and composition come together to create a beautiful photograph.”

The photographer has been published by the Sierra Club, Mountain Trail Press and the Great Smoky Mountains Association, besides work over the years in Blue Ridge Country.

“I really got bitten by the camera bug when I was a teenager and bought my first real camera which was a Nikon,” says Canada. “My family took a trip to Hawaii and I photographed everything with one standard 50mm lens. Even today I try to keep my equipment simple and prefer to work that way.

“Dad showed me the benefits of the polarizer on his camera and I was amazed when I saw what it could do to the ocean and big white clouds with blue sky. So I guess I could say that is when I realized I loved landscapes and color.”

In his college years, Canada studied moving pictures, rather than still ones, as a film major at Middle Tennessee State University. He works in sales and photographs weddings and more of his time is being devoted to shooting. More of his time is spent in the mountains shooting than hiking, because of time constraints, but when he does hike his favorite spots include Grotto Falls in the Great Smokies and Dark Hollow Falls in Shenandoah.

More on the Photographer

Roger Canada is online at rogercanada.smugmug.com; he leads nature photo tours with fellow photographer Stacey Putman under the moniker broadleaf photo tours. Upcoming events include Cades Cove, Sept. 13-14, and the Great Smoky Mountains, Oct. 25-26.

You Might Also Like:

21.11_DW_Christmas-43

Festive Fun in the Mountains

We receive and confirm information on each event.
This is a landscape photograph of the night sky with the Milky Way over rural Bryson City during summer in the Great Smoky Mountains North Carolina.

Skywatch: November/December 2026

Have You Seen the “Great Big Dipper?”
Grand Bohemian Lodge Asheville - Lobby

7 Wondrous Resort-Style Winter Stays

These action-packed mountain escapes will help you celebrate the season and recharge.
Snowshoe Mountain Resort

How the South Skis

The Rise of the Modern Mid-Atlantic Resort
2026 Best of the Mountains contest

2026 Best of the Mountains Winners

The results are in, and our readers have spoken!
80b30614-90ad-11ef-bc8f-12163087a831-IMG_9083

Book Note: Rednecks

by Taylor Brown. St. Martin’s Press, 2024. 310 pp.
Ben Montgomery. Chicago Review Press. 2015. 266 pp.

Book Note: Grandma Gatewood’s Walk

by Ben Montgomery. Chicago Review Press. 2015. 266 pp.
Ron Rash. The Caretaker. Doubleday, 2023. 252pp.

Book Note: The Caretaker

by Ron Rash. Doubleday, 2023. 252pp.
Jeremy B. Jones. Bearwallow: A Personal History of a Mountain Homeland. (Blair, 2014). 253 pp.

Book Note – Bearwallow: A Personal History of a Mountain Homeland

by Jeremy B. Jones. (Blair, 2014). 253 pp.
Kami Ahrens, editor. The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women: Stories of Landscape and Community in the Mountain South. (University of North Carolina Press, 2023). 268 pp.

Book Note – The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women: Stories of Landscape and Community in the Mountain South

edited by Kami Ahrens. (University of North Carolina Press, 2023). 268 pp.