Alabama is one of the South's major industrial centers, but get away from the cities and all those car factories and you'll find plenty of stunning scenery where you can take landscape shots. Possible subjects include mountains (the Appalachian range stretches north from Alabama), canyons, rivers, forests, cliffs and bluffs. Once you tote your camera out into the countryside, you'll soon see why it's called "sweet home Alabama."
You don't have to go out of your way to find beautiful scenery to photograph in Alabama. Many of the state's major roads pass through striking landscapes, so you can just pull in at the side of the road and click away. Head for Clay Country, where you'll find numerous tourist routes that will give you plenty of opportunities to capture the beauty of nature. You'll find particularly striking views from Cheaha Mountain, and you won't even have to hike, because Highway 281 takes you right to the top.
Six National Park Service (NPS) sites grace the state, but the pick of them for landscape photographers is the Little River Canyon National Preserve, at Fort Payne in the northeast. The river runs along Lookout Mountain, a promising name in itself, and you'll find a variety of Southern Appalachian scenery, including forested slopes and canyons with waterfalls, pools and boulders. There's a designated 11-mile scenic drive with plenty of places where you can stop and set up the tripod. If you want to be at one with nature, leave the car behind and head off with your camera to the backcountry. Alabama's other NPS sites focus on historical events rather than nature, though they still offer opportunities for photography. Two national historic trails, Selma to Montgomery and the Trail of Tears, pass through Alabama.
Tour a particular region, perhaps the north or the center of the state, with your camera at the ready. For example, choose the Black Belt area--nothing to do with karate, it's named after the rich dark soil found there. You'll find a wealth of possibilities, including the Talladega and Tuskegee national forests and the picturesque Bertram Trail, as well as wildlife refuges and attractive byways. What's more, the changing seasons bring their own opportunities. Capture Alabama's forests as they change color in the fall.
