The Photography of
Kyler Shackelford-Rosado
Current Showcase
Current Showcase
The Long Way Home, 2025. This is one of my favorite photos from the trip and of all the photos I’ve ever taken. My main goal for the October trip to the Smoky Mountains was to capture the fall colors I had never seen before. This road is a very popular route for car and motorcycle enthusiasts as it is nothing but twists and turns for 81.2 miles, particularly this stretch through Franklin and Fontana Dam. This photo was taken right after the sun set and a small group of cars was roaring through the trees. I sent the drone up and was able to capture this in a section with few trees covering the road, allowing the cars to shine through.
Bull elk feeding in the meadow of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in the morning fog. When making the trip in October, this is one of the shots that was on my list. This photo was taken on the final day of our trip on the way back through the park to get to the airport. The day before, my friend and I woke up at 4:30 to catch elk in the morning glow; however, I was not able to catch this shot that I had envisioned. Luckily, on our final day, we were able to take a route through the park to hopefully get some final shots. As soon as we entered the park, this bull was feeding detached from his herd on the other side of the meadow, and I was able to capture him with the early morning fog and light. This ended up being one of my favorite shots from the trip and ended up winning 1st place in the ATPI Fall Contest Animal category.
This shot was taken was one I didn’t believe was possible at the current time. It was taken mid-October, which I thought was well after Milky Way season; however, sitting out on the porch I saw what looked to be a faint cloud and checked my star tracking app, and sure enough, it was the Milky Way. I've been wanting to shoot the Milky Way for years at this location, but the weather has never lined up well enough to work out. I quickly grabbed my camera and asked my friend to pose. We tried out many different combinations of poses and compositions, but after some time we found a candle lantern for him to pose with and a bucket for him to stand on with the camera at a very low angle. This ended up winning 1st place in the ATPI Fall Contest Nature category.
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