Tag: Early Fall

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 18 – T. C. Steele Historic Site

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.

Golden Tree, T. C. Steele Historic Site Grounds

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.

Yellow and Green, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021
Woodland Path, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021

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.

Deep Woods, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021
Hillside, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021

Photos in forest can seem so much alike, that I get easily discouraged trying to capture the scenes.

Intimate Hillside, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021
Green Profusion or Intimate Forest, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021

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.

Woodland Creek, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021
Leaves, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021
Path to the Light, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021

To be continued,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 17 – Charles C. Deam Wilderness

A continuation of photos captured during a morning hike in the Charles C. Deam Wilderness area of the Hoosier National Forest, Indiana.

Woodland Path
Bent and Bowed, Not Broken
Topical Conference
Dense Forest
The Ravine Way
Tree-O
Three by Three
Gatway
Lighting the Way
Green Markers

That’s it for this hike.

Until next time,

Ken

 

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 16 – Charles C. Deam Wilderness

I returned to the old outlook tower that I found earlier, where a trailhead into the Charles C. Deam Wilderness originated.  This time I was prepared to hike with my DSLR.

Into the Wilderness
Split Decision
Party’s (long) Over
Mossy Log
The Light Beneath
Red Gold
Age Spots
Forest Light
Commiseration
Ravine Shadows

To be continued,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 15 – Hoosier National Forest

While examining a digital satellite map image of the forested area near my operational base in Indiana, I noted one area designated as a wilderness, so I decided to drive into that area and check it out.

All of the photos in this post are via my iPhone.

Almost Peak Color

I pulled off of the forest road through the Hoosier National Forest on my way to check out the Charles C. Deam Wilderness area at a camping/picnic area to look around.  There were restroom facilities, shelters, picnic areas and a few visitors.  I noted a hiking trail that went into the forest from here, but I did not take time to check it out.  There were a few colorful trees in near peak fall color, so I made a few iPhone images, with the one above the best.

I continued down the forest roadway, spotting a number of “No Parking” signs along the way.

Steep Fine, Gentle Hillside

This roadway is narrow, so parking along it would impede traffic and probably would create a danger, since visibility over hills and around curves is limited and one could easily crash into a parked vehicle that appears suddenly in the narrow roadway.  The $80 fine seems steep, but maybe necessary to discourage parking here.

I found a parking lot just off of this roadway at an old fire lookout tower that is no longer in use, but open for visitors to climb.

Descriptive Sign, Hoosier National Forest, Oct 2021

Apparently, there were farmlands in this area at one time, but those have been taken over by the forest, after this area was designated a wilderness area.

An old fire lookout tower, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, Fall 2021

I chose to climb the 133 steps to the top to get an overview of this area.  As I started up the first flight of stairs, I had second thoughts about my choice as the stairs wobbled with each step.  After a brief hesitation, I continued the climb.

Note on stair rail

Near the top of the tower, I noted that someone else had the same reaction as I did to the wobbly stairs.

A view from an old lookout tower, Hoosier National Forest, Fall 2021

I shot a few iPhone photos from the observation floor of the tower.  Being above treetop level, I had a good overview of the vast forest around the tower.

A view from an old lookout tower, Hoosier National Forest, Fall 2021
A view from an old lookout tower, Hoosier National Forest, Fall 2021
A panoramic view from an old lookout tower, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, Fall. 2021
Top flight of stairs of lookout tower

After enjoying the view, it was time to descend the “sketchy” stairs and get my feet back on firm ground.

Wilderness Marker

I saw a trailhead marker near the tower, so I walked over to check it out.  I was not prepared to hike in this wilderness today, but I decided to come back another day for more exploration.

Near a trailhead into the Charles C. Deam Wilderness, Indiana, Fall 2021
Information Sign, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, Fall 2021

There was an old road beginning at the end of the tower parking lot that was blocked off with a steel gate.  I walked over to take a look down the roadway and found this sign about an old cemetery that was apparently here prior to the wilderness designation.  There was no indication of how far it was to the cemetery, but I decided to walk the roadway, hoping to find something interesting.

I found remnants of old structures that were mentioned in the information sign at the tower and continued to walk the roadway for awhile.  I never found any indication of how far it was to the cemetery and I eventually turned back, since I did not see any noteworthy reason to continue.

A view into the Wilderness

This final image, looking into the wilderness woodland, was taken somewhere along the route.

Until next time,

Ken

 

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 14 – Indiana Backroads

This is a continuation of the previous post of my fall 2021 photography along Indiana backroads.

Early Fall Forest, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, October 2021
Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, October 2021
Bent Tree Fall, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, October 2021

After shooting along one section of a gravel forest roadway, I continued driving looking for other prospective places at which to shoot.  I stopped at a trailhead and considered a short hike along that trail, but rain was threatening, so I decided it was best to leave this hike for another day, thinking I had time to return again, but I never got back to this location.  I will try to keep this possibility in mind for future visits to this area.

The gravel road ended at a paved roadway, which led to a more major backroad. Shortly after getting onto that route, I saw the walker that I had seen earlier on the forest road.  We waved to each other as I passed his home.  That was miles from where I had seem him hiking, so I’m assuming he drove into the forest for his exercise routine.

Clouds and Beans

Along the paved roadway, I could see the dense clouds sweeping in from the west.  I knew I had to stop to shoot the clouds over the farmland and forest, but the roadway was narrow with few places to pull over.  Finally, I found just enough space to safely get off of the roadway.  I walked across the road and a very short distance along a farmer’s field road to shoot across a bean field.

Rain’s a Coming

Back in my vehicle, I continued to wander around the country side looking for places to photograph the farmland scenes.  I passed a farm with red barns near the top of a hill.  There was no place to pull over nearby, so I drove past, turned around at a crossroads and went back up the hill, finding a place below the hilltop to pull over.  As I walked towards the top of the hill with my camera and 80-400mm lens, I spotted a bare tree and a flock of blackbirds soaring nearby with a few birds settling in the tree.

Blackbird Tree

After shooting the bare tree with the blackbirds in it and clouds for a background, I continued to the top of the hill to pick a place along a fence line from which to shoot the farm buildings.

Red Barns of Fall

Until next time,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 13 – Indiana Backroads

Indiana has much farmland and forest land, which is best observed along the country backroads.

Country Road
Indiana Backroad Fall

Driving the backroads can lead to unexpected discoveries in the many small country communities.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls

Like this old school house adjacent to a cemetery.  The weather was changing with clouds gathering, making for great sky in some images.  I wanted to be sure to have the bell visible in a photograph, so I had to find the best place from which to shoot to achieve that.  It would have been good to have had a higher place upon which to stand.  There was a stump of an old tree nearby.  I tried standing on the stump, but I could still not get the bell in a photo from that vantage point, so I had to settle for shooting standing on the ground from farther away than I wanted to shoot.

Old School

A community church shared a parking lot with the school.  There were interesting storm clouds above the church, so I had to shoot that.

Ominous

Continuing along the backroads, I took a gravel road through a portion of the Hoosier National Forest, stopping to shoot along the roadway.

Forest Road

I had passed a local walking up this road and I greeted him as I pulled my camera  gear from my vehicle.  We chatted for a few minutes and he revealed that he had relatives in the metropolitan area where I live.  It is not unusual to discover such facts from random meeting such as this, which shows just how small our world can be.  He continued his walk up the hill and I picked several spots from which to get Indiana backroad fall photographs.  The walker came back down the hill and back up again at least one more time as I shot nearby.

Indiana Backroad

To be continued,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 12 – Yellowwood Lake

After my unsatisfying photographic outing in Yellowwood State Forest, I waited for sunset on a little boat dock that barely jutted into Yellowwood Lake.  It was mostly calm and the lake surface smooth and reflective of the sky and surroundings.

Clouds and Lake

The photographer and young couple, that I had encountered as I returned from my woodland hike, had walked past me and into the area on the right side of the photo above.  I had to watch carefully to keep them out of my photo, even though I doubt that they would have been very noticeable, anyway.

I made a series of photos as the light, sky, clouds and reflections in the lake surface changed.

Softly Reflected

There were small, almost inconspicuous plants or floating, natural object in the water that made subtle foreground in my compositions.  These photos are best view on a large screen to appreciate the details.

Yellowwood Lake Fall Reflections
Radial Sunset
Radial Clouds
Yellowwood Sunset

I alternated shooting directions from along the lake to across the lake as sunset approached.  The forest blocked the actual sunset, but the cloud color and lighting changed as the minutes ticked by.

Yellowwood Lake
Radial

This end of the day shoot was much more satisfying than the hike in the forest, so I’m glad that I decided to hang out here for sunset.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 11 – Yellowwood State Forest

In the afternoon, after my morning shoot at Ogle Lake in Brown County State Park, I decided to go to Yellowwood State Forest, where I had shot last year and see how it looked this year.

I hiked the same trail that I had taken the previous fall, but this year I went a little further along the trail.  Recent rains had muddied the trail, requiring some minor off trail work to bypass the worst of the mud.

On the opposite side of the lake from my starting point, I encountered a lone, barefoot female hiker, carrying her muddy hiking boots.  It appeared that she had walked through some deep mud somewhere along her hike and maybe it was more comfortable to hike barefoot than to suffer in the mud invaded boots.  She seemed to be carefully picking her way along, which was good, since there were plenty of natural things on the trail to stick, poke and gouge bare feet.  I did not encounter her on my hike back to the parking lot, so I have to assume she made it out.

The lack of good peak fall color in the forest resulted in a disappointing photo shoot in the forest.  Even though I was late for the previous year’s peak, the previous year’s shoot seemed more satisfying than this one.

Early Fall Forest, Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana
Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana

I stood in a small stream crossing to get the shot above, which is about where I turned back last year on my first hike in this forest.

Through the Tree

There were no really good places to get to the lake shoreline from the forest trail, so I had to shoot through trees towards the opposite shoreline.

Somewhere along the way, I managed to push through some brush to get near enough to the shoreline to get the image below.  I still had to carefully zoom and position the camera to avoid much distracting parts of stray limbs and bushes intruding into the edges of this composition.

Yellowwood Lake and State Forest, Indiana
Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana

On the hike out, at a bridge crossing of a shallow creek, I encountered a photographer and a young couple, apparently getting engagement photos.  The environment at this location and time did not look great for such photos, but I’m not that kind of photographer, so what do I know about that?

Maybe a quarter of a mile from the parking lot, I stopped at a short section of the trail that had been bridged over by a low wooden section.

Leads Darkly

As I finished a shooting here, the young couple and their photographer approached from behind.  We exchanged greetings again and I continued to my vehicle.

When I arrived at my vehicle, I was not at all satisfied with this photographic outing, so I decided to hang around on a small, narrow, concrete boat dock until near sunset and hope to get something more interesting for my efforts today.

Stay tuned for more,

Ken

 

 

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 10 – Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park

Early Fall Reflections

It was a relatively calm morning as I hiked around Ogle Lake in Brown County State Park, Indiana. As the morning advanced,  enough of a breeze developed to sometimes make small ripples in the lake, distorting the reflections of the trees and sky.

Fall Reflections

Fog remained just above the lake surface in the shadows near the end of the lake.

Fall at Ogle Lake
Lake Pointer
Cornered
Fall at Ogle Lake
Fall Lake Scene
Autumn Lake
Squiggly Reflections

This ends my hike and morning photography at Ogle Lake.

Until next time,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 9 – Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park

As I had coffee and a light breakfast early one morning in the Indiana cabin, I noted that it was a foggy morning and if I got out soon I might get some interesting photos before the fog burned away.

As I drove the main road into Brown County State Park, I was regretting not getting up a little earlier this morning.  I could see that the early morning fog would be good for photography and it was lifting rapidly.  The park does not officially open until 7AM, but I was told at the entrance the prior morning that the gate was always open, so I could come and go whenever I liked.  The gate keeper even offered that  getting there early would let me avoid the entrance fee, which at $9 per day was a bit steep compared to many such parks, but I never got there before 7AM, even though it would have been best for photography had I done so.

When I arrived at the Ogle Lake parking lot well after sunrise, I glimpsed the fog coming off of the lake, and I hastened to grab my gear and walked rapidly to the dam.

Early Morning Fog on Ogle Lake

My first composition this morning is my favorite one of this morning shoot.

Lake Fog

After shooting a few images from the dam, I walked on to the hiking trail around the lake.

Early Morning Calm
Sereneness
The Stick and Rippleness

A small tree limb in the lake caught my eye and I shot a couple of compositions with it as a focal point.  These images are best view on a big screen to see the details.

Early Morning Fog, Reflections and The Stick
Through the Trees Softly
Misty Lake

Enough for now.  I will continue this hike and photography in the next post,

Ken