Tag: Fall

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

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 8 – Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park

I continued hiking the trail around Ogle Lake and shooting images in and around the lake.

Fall Forest

The big lens allowed me to zoom into the edge of the forest across the lake, eliminating the sky and the lake from the scene.

Early Fall Color
Dreamy Reflections

Reflections in water are always a good subject.  The scene above drew me to it as soon as I noticed how the log divided the reflections and calmed the surface just enough to create the impressionist forest reflection.

Leaves and Trunk
Red Fall
Tattered

Before I left the park, I stopped and hiked along a trail through the forest.  I shot many images, but most were not all that appealing, so I’m just sharing a few of the better ones.

Forest Light
A Touch of Red
Big Red Mittens

Thanks for following,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 7 – Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park

Brown County State Park, near Nashville, Indiana is a lovely park with hardwood forest, lakes and miles of hiking and biking trails through the forest.  We were staying just a few miles from the park, making it an easy place to access for Autumn photography.

Possibly my favorite place to photograph in this wonderful park is around Ogle Lake.

I regret that I did not get out as early in the mornings as I should have for the best of sunrise.  Even though I got up early enough to get into the park at or before official opening time, I lingered over my coffee and light breakfast too long, as it was so pleasant doing so in the cabin.

My first morning in the park, I decided to use my big lens, a Nikon 80-400mm with a 1.4 extension.  With the fall color still not being near peak, I figured I would try to get more intimate shots, rather than wide angle images.

Walking along the dam at the end of the lake, I took time to get close ups of some of the colorful leaves, back lighted by the early morning sun light, on small trees or bushes at the waters edge, before hiking on the trail around the lake.

Yellow and Brown
Green, Red, Yellow

From the dam and the hiking trail, I shot across the lake into the forest on the opposite side.

Fall Lake View
Early and Late
Leaning Into Fall
Fall by the Lake
Fall Impression
Across the Lake
Spindly

That’s enough for now.  I will continue this photography hike in the next post.

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2021, Part 1

Early in our stay in Indiana in late October, 2021, I looked out the window and saw that it was a foggy morning.  I walked to the roadway in front of the cabin to check out the scene.

Foggy Roadway

I only had my iPhone with me, so I used it to snap a few images in the early morning fog.

Morning Fog and Sun Rays
Fall Fog
Diffraction
Morning Forest Fog
Morning Fog and Sun Rays

Just a reminder that all of the images in this post are via an older iPhone, so if that is all you have with you, use it!

Later,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2020, Yellowwood State Forest

To find places to get out into nature and find prospective places for outdoor photography, I frequently look at maps, either paper maps or digital maps with satellite views.  Using this method I found that the Yellowwood State Forest was only a few miles from the cabin, where we were staying.  So I had to take time to explore that area.

There is a sizable lake in Yellowwood State Forest with a trail that goes around the lake.  The first part of the trail beginning at a parking lot was not of great interest. It was sandwiched between the lake and a roadway for maybe a half mile before it began to depart from the roadway at the end of the lake.

Near where the trail turned away from the roadway, I found an old dead tree that looked like a good photography subject.

A dead tree in Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana.

On the opposite side of the lake from the parking area, a branch went away from the lake; but I continued along the trail that followed the lake shoreline.  The trail became more scenic there with the lake on one side and deeper woods on the other side.

Big Leaf. Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana
Hiking Trail in Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana

It was a little early in the afternoon for the best light for outdoor photography, so including any portion of the sky produced unpleasant results and I did not try to use any filters, while shooting handheld.  I posted a cropped version of the hiking trail image (above) on Flickr.  I think you will agree that taking out the sky improved this image.

Four Left Turns. Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana.

I found the growth pattern of the vine in the above photo interesting.  Why did it make those right angle turns?  It eventually went up the tree in the normal direction.  Maybe it got its directions from Apple Maps.

I began to look for ways to exclude the sky from my compositions.  Sometimes portions of the sky were necessary to get the desired parts of the landscape into my compositions with my lens of choice, then I cropped the sky out in post processing.

Fall in Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana

There is also a cropped version, isolating the back lit leaves on the forest floor, of the image above on Flickr.

Fall in Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana
A red leaf in Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana.
A Toadstool in Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana.

The toadstool image here is a cropped version of one that is posted to Flickr.  I thought that there were distracting parts of the original image, so I severely cropped it; but I actually still prefer the original version.

Fall in Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana

Back lighted leaf and shadows, Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana.
Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana.
Pink leaves of fall, Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana

The portions of my images from this trip that include the upper parts of the larger, more mature trees, show the lack of foliage on them.  This would have been a much more successful visit for outdoor fall photography had I been here a few days earlier; but that is the gamble one makes, with long range planning.  One has to adapt and being outdoors in natural surroundings is always a joy.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2020, Brown County State Park Part 3

I left Ogle Lake and drove back towards the main roadway.  I stopped at a pull out before getting to the main route and walked along the roadway to shoot more just off the road.  As I walked beside the road I came to a trail, so I decided to take a short walk along the trail.

Hiking Trail in Brown County State Park, Indiana

The trail was covered with fallen leaves along much of the route that I walked.  The trail is just barely discernible in the lower left of the image above.

Fall in Brown County State Park, Indiana
Yellow Leaf and Moss on an old log, Brown County State Park, Indiana
Leaf and Fungi on an old log, Brown County State Park, Indiana
Brown County State Park, Indiana

It was mostly overcast on this day.  The dullness of the sky in the background gives the images too much of a fuzzy look for my taste; but it was what I was given today.

Brown County State Park, Indiana
Brown County State Park, Indiana

My short walk along the trail turned into a longer hike than I had planned.  The trail meandered through the forest with frequent changes in direction, eventually following high above a ravine.  The trail followed the ravine for quite a way, then crossed the ravine, then went along side the ravine in the opposite direction.  I eventually came to a junction in the trail near a park roadway.  I walked out of the woods to the road.  I did not know which road I was on, but I knew the direction I needed to go to find my vehicle.  I walked the roadway to a junction, which turned out to be the route to Ogle Lake.  I only had to walk a short distance along the road towards Ogle Lake to my vehicle.

On my way out of the park I stopped to shoot at an overlook.

Brown County State Park, Indiana
Brown County State Park, Indiana

That’s it for this shoot,

Ken