Chapters Bookshop hosts photographer for book signing 5-7 p.m. Friday

Tim Barnwell

Renowned Appalachian photographer and writer Tim Barnwell will sign copies of his new book, Great Smoky Mountains Vistas: A Guide, 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9 at Chapters Bookshop. The book combines panoramic photos from overlooks with useful information about activities near each overlook.

The new Smoky Mountains book is a comprehensive guide that lays out each roadside vista of the park and identifies prominent peaks in east Tennessee and western North Carolina. Identifying marks include compass headings, distances, elevations, roads and waterways.

Great Smoky Mountains Vistas also includes touring information about well-known local destinations and such hidden gems as Cherohala Skyway, Max Patch, Tail of the Dragon and Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. There’s plenty of historical information and tips about camping, hiking, fishing and photography in each section.

One of the most widely published photographers of the South, Barnwell has contributed to dozens of magazines, including Time, Newsweek and House Beautiful. And his work graces the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Mint Museum, the High Museum of Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art, as well as Bank of America’s corporate collection.

Barnwell may be better known, though, for his own titles, The Face of Appalachia: Portraits from the Mountain Farm, On Earth’s Furrowed Brow: The Appalachian Farm in Photographs, Hands in Harmony: Traditional Crafts and Music in Appalachia, and the best-selling Blue Ridge Parkway Vistas: A Comprehensive Identification Guide to What You See from the Many Overlooks.

With the newest work, Barnwell provides a companion to Blue Ridge Parkway Vistas, as well as celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service during 2016. The full title – Great Smoky Mountains Vistas: A Guide, with Mountain Peak Identifications, for What to See and Do In and Around the National Park – says it all.

In Great Smoky Mountains Vistas: A Guide, with Mountain Peak Identifications, for What to See and Do In and Around the National Park, author and photographer Tim Barnwell combines panoramic photographs from overlooks in and around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, aerial photographs of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, and articles on popular area attractions and activities to create this unique and comprehensive guidebook.

He identifies the mountain peaks you can see from each overlook along Newfound Gap Road, Foothills Parkway and Blue Ridge Parkway that view the park, in Cataloochee Valley and Cades Cove, and from Clingmans Dome and Max Patch and numerous aerial vantage points, marking the mountains compass heading, distance, and elevation. Major roads, rivers, lakes, and towns are also identified.

This extensive travel guide also includes sections detailing the main attractions of the park including Newfound Gap Road, Cades Cove, Oconaluftee, Little River Road and Cataloochee Valley and hidden gems in and outside its boundaries, off the beaten path, such as the Cherohala Skyway, Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, Greenbrier, Max Patch, Tail of the Dragon and the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. And the book is easy to use. Just pull into any of the overlooks, open it to the corresponding pages and you’ll know what you are seeing and can read interesting facts about the area such as the history and geography, nearby points of interest, and activities.

While the mountain peak identifications are a unique component of the book, most of the articles are about activities in and around the park including camping, picnicking, fishing, hiking and waterfalls, horseback riding, bears, and nature photography, making this the ideal travel guidebook, possibly the most comprehensive available on the park and its environs.

It celebrates the National Park Services 100th Anniversary in 2016 and is an invaluable companion to Mr. Barnwell’s best-selling Blue Ridge Parkway Vistas: A Comprehensive Identification Guide to What You See from the Many Overlooks.

Format: 8.5 x 11 horizontal, 176 pages, full color, paperback, $29.95 list price, ISBN# 978-0-9905731-0-4

About the author:

Barnwell is a photographer and author based in Asheville, North Carolina. His career has spanned more than 30 years as a professional photographer and photography instructor, including eight years as Executive Director of the nationally recognized Appalachian Photographic Workshops. 

His images have been widely published, appearing in dozens of magazines, including Time, Newsweek, Southern Accents, House Beautiful, American Craft, Outdoor Photographer, Sky and Telescope, Blue Ridge Country, Billboard, U.S. News and World Report, Travel South, American Style, Black & White Magazine, Aperture, LensWork, Astronomy, and National Parks.

Barnwell is one of the most published photographers in the South. He has been a principal or contributing photographer to dozens of books, and is the author of five of his own-The Face of Appalachia: Portraits from the Mountain Farm, On Earth’s Furrowed Brow: The Appalachian Farm in Photographs, Hands in Harmony: Traditional Crafts and Music in Appalachia, Blue Ridge Parkway Vistas: A Comprehensive Identification Guide to What you See from the Many Overlooks, and Great Smoky Mountains Vistas: A Guide, with Mountain Peak Identifications, for What To See and Do in and Around the National Park.

He has provided principal photography for numerous other book titles, including Asheville: A View from the Top, Pisgah Forest and Nonconnah: The Potteries of Walter B. Stevens, and Wladimir de Terlikowski: His Life and Art.

Barnwell’s is known as a master photographer and printer. His fine art photography is widely collected and has been included in many group and one-man shows in the US and abroad. His images are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum, Mint Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art, High Museum of Art, Greenville (SC) County Museum of Art, Mint Museum, SOHO Photo Gallery, Newark Museum, and the Bank of America corporate collection.

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