After my sunrise shoot in Brown County State Park, I drove around the park, stoping at various locations, walking along the roadway, shooting the autumn color.
I included the roadway in a number of images, mostly as a leading line, but also because the road through the forest just looked so appealing. I hope I have not put too much of the asphalt into these images.
Well, I’m back to my vehicle, so time to move on to another location,
Ken
I went into Brown County State Park again for sunrise photography, this time stoping at one of the overlooks. It was another morning with scattered clouds and good cloud color.
Shooting into the bright sky and getting a good exposure of the foreground fall color is a challenge and no matter how careful one is with the exposure and filter application, post processing of the images is a must.
These sunrise images have varying exposures, filter usage and post processing, yielding variations in the colors and details.
More Brown County State Park fall images next,
Ken
After my sunrise shoot, I hiked a short distance along the north side of Ogle Lake in Brown County State Park, Indiana getting a few fall images.
That’s it for this morning’s shoot. Until next time,
Ken
Even though I’m usually sleeping well in the early morning hours, I force myself out of a warm, comfortable bed, because my favorite time for photography is in the early morning hours, especially in popular places, because the normal tourist don’t usually get out early and one doesn’t have to worry about people getting in the way of ones photography.
When I pulled into the parking lot at Ogle Lake, I was the only one there. As I prepared my camera and tripod, a lady drove into the lot and stopped to ask me about the best place for sunrise here in the park. She and her husband were staying in the park lodge, but they had apparently not had time to scout places for sunrise photos. I told her I did not know what place was best, but it might be good here and it was too late for her to get to another good place before sunrise. I suggested that she might photograph from the dam or from the north side of the lake for the best sunrise views.
She commented upon my camera, thinking it had an unusual lens. I was using my large 14-24mm wide angle lens with a Progrey filter holder mounted on it. Due to the bulbous 14-24mm lens, it is not possible to use screws in filters, requiring a bulky filter holder attachment. It is the filter holder that makes it look unusual.
I headed for the dam, where I thought I might have some fall foliage for foreground and good reflection on the lake, leaving the lady behind in the parking lot.
It was a cloudy morning, the sky color was spectacular. Sometimes we get lucky.
The morning color came on quickly and disappeared as quickly as it came, but the clouds in the sky still made it possible to get interesting photos after the color faded.
After finishing my shoot from the dam area, I decided to take a short walk along the lake shore. There is a hiking trail that goes all around the lake, which I’ve done in previous visits here. I knew the south side might not have the best views this morning and it was probably muddy in portions, so I headed for the north side.
As I approached the trail head, I encountered the lady from the parking lot again. We chatted for a few minutes. She was thrilled with her sunrise experience. She was shooting with a Canon R6, which she had not had for long. She is a retired portrait photographer, previously from California, living in Kentucky with her husband. I’m assuming her husband is not into photography or else he would have accompanied her this morning. She asked about my filters and I explained why I used these for my landscape work. I was surprised, when she revealed that she had not previously known anything about this subject. I never thought that a professional photographer of any speciality would not know about the use of these specialty filters. However, I have observed professional portrait photographers shooting in the outdoors without any filters. I’ve also noted the over exposed backgrounds in many such portrait photographs. I suppose some filters might be difficult to use for people subjects, but it can still be possible to compose outdoor photos and avoid overexposed backgrounds, unless one is doing that purposely.
Photos from my short hike around Ogle Lake next,
Ken
A good way to enjoy fall color in Indiana is via a simple drive along the tree lined roadways, especially the backroads, where there are few houses or commercial facilities to spoil the views. The roads make good leading lines, but I do worry about having too much road in the images, since the most interesting subject is not the roadway.
It is not always possible to find a safe place to pull over off of the roadways, but where possible, one can get fall forest images right beside the road.
Until next time,
Ken
During the two weeks we were in Indiana this fall, we witnessed how fleeting the beauty of fall color can be.
These images were made from the back balcony of our cabin one rainy, misty day. When we first arrived, those bare trees had leaves and the tree on the left was nearly all green with only slight color beginning to show at the extremities of one branch.
Astute observers will note that these images are all of the same general scene with various compositions. The light rain, wetting the scene, brought out the color in the gray tree trunks, bare limbs and foliage, while at the same time muting the more distant trees.
Later,
Ken
I’m sure I’ve said this before, but here it is again: Backroads are often the best way to find uncommon beauty. Or maybe that should be common beauty, since it is all around us, but maybe taken for granted.
Is this a natural scar or a portal into another world? If a portal, would the other world be weirder than our’s today?
Until next time,
Ken
In Brown County State Park I walked along a creek capturing fall color alongside the creek bed.
Having an interest in geology, I had to include some of the rock layers exposed along the creek bed.
There were only a few shallow puddles of water in the creek, so walking in and along the creek bed did not require getting my feet wet.
More fall in Indiana later,
Ken
I found the T. C. Steele Historic Site marked on an online map of the area around my operational base in Indiana. I had never heard of T. C. Steele, so I did what I usually do in such situations. I searched for information on the internet and discovered that T. C. Steele (1847 – 1926) was an American Impressionist painter, and a member of a group known as the Hoosier Group of painters. I decided it worth while to check out this historic site.
The site is located at the actual home and studio in the countryside, where T.C and his wife lived and worked. There were maybe a couple of more visitors at the site, when I arrived at a fair sized, newish looking parking lot that even had an electric vehicle charging station.
As I walked towards the visitor center, I stopped at the wagon with iron rimmed, wood spoked wheels that served as T. C.’s portable studio. The wagon is a custom built, enclosed wagon with a wood burning stove in one corner. I made a few iPhone images of the interior and exterior, but none were sufficient to fully capture the utility and quaintness of the vehicle.
There is a modest fee, payable at the visitor center. There are scheduled tours that one can take to see the interior of the studios and there are hiking trails around the grounds, garden and through a portion of the Hoosier National Forest across the road from the site.
I elected to walk the grounds on my own, then take a trail through the forest.
The grounds and gardens are attractive and pleasant to walk through. I was impressed by the large hardwood trees on the site, but my attempts to photograph those trees and showcase the grounds did not work out well.
I chose a forest trail and hoped for better photographic results in the woods.
The sheer volume of objects in a forest make it difficult to get really unique images (at least for me). I went through my photos a number of times, thinking most were a lost cause, before finally beginning to choose a few to edit.
Photos in forest can seem so much alike, that I get easily discouraged trying to capture the scenes.
In the end it seems that forest photos are mostly about colors, textures and light, since most of the objects in the photos are so much alike. I struggle to come up with good titles for images, especially the forest ones. I could not decide which title was best for the image above, so I gave it two.
To be continued,
Ken
A continuation of photos captured during a morning hike in the Charles C. Deam Wilderness area of the Hoosier National Forest, Indiana.
That’s it for this hike.
Until next time,
Ken
