In the Grand Tetons, Akoubian recommends checking out the famous Mormon Row for starters. “In this particular spot, the grasses in the foreground seem to be at their most vibrant gold at this time of year,” he says. “I’ll often shoot this barn that’s there, with the cottonwood trees and the mountains in the background. On a crisp morning, as soon as the sun hits the mountains, the clouds start to form on the peaks, so you’ll get a beautifully layered cloud line on top.”

Snake River Overlook (one of Ansel Adams’ preferred shooting locations) and Oxbow Bend are other Akoubian favorites in the Tetons, as is Schwabacher’s Landing. “You see a lot of iconic shots here with the beaver pond in the foreground and the mountain range in the background,” he says. “You won’t be the only one who knows about this spot, though. For a sunrise shot I did, I got there for a 7 a.m. sunrise at 5:30 a.m. and was the first one to arrive. By the time the sun started to rise, there were 80 photographers lined up.”

The Smoky Mountains, one of Akoubian’s favorite fall shooting locations in the East, are renowned for their texture and etherealness—a perfect backdrop for fall photography. “The Smokies get their name from the fog that settles into the dips in the valleys and into the mountain ridges,” he explains. “The effects you can get with the fog are terrific; splash some fall color into it, and it’s tremendous.”

When he ventures into the Smokies, Akoubian heads along the tops of the mountain ridges, where there’s no shortage of overlooks providing spectacular scenery. “Morton’s Overlook is a famous sunset location I like to go to, “ he says. “Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the park, is another great place for sunrises and sunsets. But many of the regular turnouts will do—the great thing about the Smokies is that they’ve really put some turnouts and overlooks that are just perfect locations to do this type of photography.”

No matter which park he’s shooting in, Akoubian always makes one stop before he heads out into the expanses: the rangers’ station. “I always go in and introduce myself, tell them I’m there photographing, and ask if there are any special precautions I need to be aware of,” he explains. “You’ll want to find out where the good spots and bad spots are to take pictures—maybe the rangers will know if there’s been this one moose hanging out in a certain area at a particular part of the day, for instance.”

It’s also a safety issue. “There could be a bear that’s been very visible and perhaps approached some people—you’ll want to know about that,” Akoubian says. “The rangers (as well as the park information sheets and handouts they’ll often have) will tell you how close you should get to the wildlife—half a mile is usually typical at the parks. Bears can obviously be dangerous, but even animals you wouldn’t think might be a problem could be. Elk, for example, may be protecting their clan—if you get too close, they could charge.”

Akoubian knows he’ll hit the wildlife jackpot in the Grand Tetons in the fall. “It’s undisputed that it’s the number-one national park for wildlife in America,” he says. “Usually the second or third week of September through October, the wildlife there are all in their prime. The elk are running, the bears are active, the buffalo are out—they’re all extremely visible. It’s the ideal place to shoot wildlife on a crisp, frosty morning.”

You’ll find wildlife in the Tetons on practically every thoroughfare in the national park, though Akoubian likes to frequent Moose Wilson Road: “This road runs along the river between Wilson, Wyoming, and Moose, Wyoming. You’ll see numerous bears and elk there.”

The Smokies are known for their elk, bears, coyotes, and wild turkeys. But if it’s white-tailed deer you’re after, Cades Cove in the Smokies is the ideal fall destination. “Cades Cove is an 11-mile loop on this old pioneer settlement, and there’s no hunting allowed in that area,” Akoubian explains. “It also happens to be one of the most famous locations in all of America to photograph white-tailed deer. Most of the photographs in hunting magazines that you see of white-tailed deer are taken here.”

While he uses his full range of Tamron lenses when shooting fall wildlife, the 200-500mm lens is one of Akoubian’s favorites. “One of the things I absolutely love about the 200-500mm lens is that you mount it on a tripod and get those great environmental shots with the fall colors behind the elk or deer, but then you can just zoom in and get a tight portrait of the animal,” he explains. “The same goes for the 18-270: You can get your grand landscape with the wildlife in it but can also zoom in and capture all the detail of that wildlife.”

One of Akoubian’s favorite wildlife shots to take in the Smokies is perhaps an unexpected one: spider webs: “This is the time of year when you start to get them on the fences and in the grass meadows,” he says. “With the temperature here dropping, the dew is starting to form a little more readily. You can really play with the angles to change what you’d typically be seeing with the spider webs.”

To ensure he gets all of the vibrant colors of the fall season, Akoubian needs to take the mountain atmospheres he’s shooting in into account—as well as the characteristics of the individual parks. “Out west in the Grand Tetons, where you’ll get perfectly clear mornings in the fall, I’ll typically shoot with the preset daylight setting on the camera,” he says. “Sometimes I’ll warm it up just a little bit, maybe to 5700 Kelvin. The yellows jump out a little more using the regular daylight setting.”

In the Smokies, however, Akoubian usually focuses on smaller landscapes. “The Smokies offer a greater variety of colors—you spend a lot of time photographing long streams and rivers, where you’ve got red, oranges, yellows, and greens mixed in,” he says. “There’s a lot of fog and cloud cover in the mornings, though, so I’ll shoot on the camera’s cloudy setting just to enhance the richness of the colors and to give everything a more saturated look.”

To avoid run-of-the-mill foliage shots, Akoubian suggests “creating a mood.” “Think like an artist,” he says. “If you’ve studied the Renaissance painters, they literally guide you from part of the image to the next—in many portraits, for example, you often end up at the subject’s eyes.”

What you can do with a landscape, then, is to identify one object that will be your main subject—in essence, the “eyes” of your portrait. “Try to find one thing that’s different in your landscape, maybe a white tree trunk or a tree that’s a different color than all the rest,” says Akoubian. “It’s a photographer’s responsibility to find something that stands out to create that compositional ending point.”

Akoubian often incorporates water into his seasonal shots to create these types of scenics. “The flashy colors will be enough to get the viewer interested in looking at the photograph,” he says. “To keep him involved in the photo and get him to identify with a peaceful setting, water can provide a nice, soothing effect. Get to your location early enough to slow your shutter speeds down to 1 second or even 2 seconds for a dreamy effect.”

Another secret is to show off those amazing fall colors in the water reflections, which you might not even be able to see from the side of the stream or river. “You have to get practically down to the water level, almost 6 to 8 inches off of the ground, to get the beautiful reflections of the foliage colors,” says Akoubian.

While heading out to these iconic locations can prove to be a once-in-a-lifetime autumnal photo op, don’t discount your immediate surroundings when it comes to nature and wildlife photography. “You might plan a trip to one of these parks, spend the money for airfare and a place to stay, and you’ll definitely enjoy the trip,” says Akoubian. “But at the same time, it could be really hot one year and the wildlife might not be as prevalent. Or a storm might come through and blow the fall leaves off of the trees right before you got there.”

If you don’t want to take that kind of gamble, consider the wildlife and nature around you. “The Weather Channel usually features the leaf reports for all different areas around the country,” says Akoubian. “I can get into the car and drive two hours with minimal expense and still maximize the amount of shooting while all the fall colors are at their peak.”

Keeping your foliage expedition local also helps you avoid the logistical troubles that can sometimes take place at the more well-known shooting locations. “I’ve been to so many sites in the metro Atlanta area that are absolutely gorgeous, and sometimes I’m the only person that’s there, as opposed to sharing space with 80 people in the Tetons, or 10,000 of my closest friends at Cades Cove,” he says. “You might get up into the Smokies and it could take you two to three hours to navigate and get out. You might not mind that type of day, especially if you’re able to get some great shots. But in that amount of time, I can go somewhere local, do my photography, and be on my way home. People often take the areas around them for granted—pull out the 90mm macro, for example, and get some leaf details instead of using a wide-angle lens if you’re not exposed to grand landscapes.”

A final suggestion from Akoubian: Carry a wide variety of lenses. “You may get it in your head that you’re going to Cade’s Cove to photograph the white-tail deer, but you may rule out great scenics,” he says. “Or you may head out specifically to photograph scenics with just your wide-angle lens, and that might be the day that unexpectedly all of the bears come out to feed near the trees you’re shooting. I’m leaving to shoot the foliage next week, and I’m going to have everything from 10mm all the way up to 500mm—I’ll be ready for everything!

For more of David Akoubian’s work, go to www.bearwoodsphoto.com.