One morning before going out for the day, I walked just less than a mile down the country roadway that went past our cabin. I knew there was an old barn in the neighborhood that I had passed by many times and never taken time to photograph.
Overgrown, iPhone PhotoFall Lean, iPhone PhotoAround the Bend, iPhone PhotoFading in the Fall 2, iPhone Photo
After conversion to black and white, I use selective colorization to bring out a little of the fall color in the nearby trees and a little color on the barn.
Fading in the Fall, iPhone Photo
Cypress Fall, iPhone Photo
We had friends with us for the first week of this fall visit to Indiana. I wanted to show them at least one covered bridge, since they had never seen one. They did not want to spend hours in a vehicle to get to an area with lots of covered bridges, but there was one small covered bridge just a few minutes away, one that I had seen on a previous visit to this area.
This bridge is located along a narrow country roadway, where there is limited space to pull over and turn around. Our friends were driving today. I routed them to the bridge along the best part of the access roadway, but turning around to get back out was a challenge for their minivan. Continuing without turning around would have presented other problems, if another vehicle came along going in the opposite direction.
Nashville, Indiana is the nearest town to the cabin we stay in while visiting Indiana in the fall. It is a quaint tourist town with all that such towns offer – lots of tourist, crowds, expensive stores selling all kinds of goods, expensive restaurants, limited parking.
I am not a fan of such places, but it is always mandatory to take in some of this tourist town on each visit. I usually end up pacing the sidewalk, while my wife shops.
Sometimes I shoot a few photographs of the local scene with my iPhone camera.
Monochrome Grass, iPhone Photo
Decorative grass and flowers are common along the streets of downtown Nashville. The sunlight highlighting the plumes on this one inspired me to shoot it, cropping in close to exclude the street scene.
Fall Artwork, iPhone Photo
Nashville is most popular in the fall with the nearby Brown County State Park a draw for leaf peepers. Artwork and crafts related to fall are common place.
I first saw this old barn and a nearby abandoned house, while in route to another destination. I came back a few days later to photograph these old, rustic buildings.
Quaint, Old, Abandoned Indiana Farm House
The image above was selected for Flickr’s Explore Page.
Abandoned Home and Barn 1Quaint and OldAbandoned Home and Barn 2Rusty Fall
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.
Stones Not RollingShorts and TallsForest FeetDown into the ForestFall Layers – Gamboge, Green and RussetIntertwined – Vine WeaveMossy ForkVine MessengersTreelinePink FallPortal
Is this a natural scar or a portal into another world? If a portal, would the other world be weirder than our’s today?
Traveling an Indiana backroad I saw a group of old, rustic farm structures in various stages of structural failure. The roadway was narrow. Parking alongside the roadway and photographing from the roadway would not be satisfactory nor very safe. There was only one house nearby, so I stopped and knocked on the door. A lady with her hair in curlers opened the door and I briefly explained why I was there, asking if it would be ok for me to photography those old structures. She quickly said she was sure it would be ok, although, I’m rather sure she was not the owner, but maybe others have asked her this same question.
There was a short grassy, dirt road at the old buildings. I parked on that dirt road, just off of the pavement far enough for safety and proceeded to walk around the area photographing the buildings from various angles.
StackedGathering Grass – Monochrome with Selective Colorization
A rolling stone may gather no moss, but a stationary wheel can gather grass.
RelaxedIndiana Farm ShedsFall LoungeSupport3160
I lived in a house with this same number many years ago.
Wet, Rusty, Tin RoofFull Tilt FallLog BarnColorful Fall Hillside
After photographing the rustic farm building, I continued to meander around the backroads looking for other fall photographic opportunities. This final photo is a teaser for the next post.
My wife and I began a tradition of spending a couple of weeks in Indiana in the fall a few years ago. There are multiple reasons why we established this tradition. 1. My wife has relatives in the area, having lived in Indianapolis during her early childhood. 2. A relative allows us to stay in their weekend cabin that is very near Brown County State Park, which is a very popular place in the fall. 3. We both enjoy seeing fall color in the hardwood forests in this part of the U.S. 4. I get to photograph the fall color and write about it in this blog.
Timing our visit to see the best of the fall color is always hit or miss. Sometimes we are too early, sometimes too late and sometimes we see the peak fall color.
Photographing in the same location at the same time of the year is a challenge and I often worry about my photographic images being too repetitive. After all, how many ways can one photograph trees, forests, barns and fall scenes? Lots, actually, but how many are unique? Trying to get unique and interesting images is a challenge. I can only hope that the scenery varies sufficiently, year by year that my images will not be too boring.
Fall Backroad
Driving the backroads of Indiana is a good way to appreciate the fall color and other rural fall country scenes.
Fall MedleyIndiana Barn
The barn in this image sits far back from a roadway on private property. I shot it with a telephoto lens from the edge of the roadway, hand holding the camera. I shot from different perspectives trying to get shots with the least amount of that pile of debris in front of it in the image. However, this image may be the best overall, even with that unsightly mess in front of the barn.
Fall ProgressionBramble Morning
I was a little late for the actual sunrise at this location in Brown County Park, so I walked down a slope into the briars, weeds, grasses and brushy growth, thinking a shot from within all that foreground clutter might at least be different than that of the early photographers that were wrapping up their sunrise shoot from the top of the slope and there was no way to avoid getting that messy foreground in a shot from anywhere here.
I had to spend a considerable amount of time picking the stick tights from my clothing after this mornings’ shoot.
Crooked Tree FallPuddle FallExposedUp a Fall CreekFall Tease
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 2021Woodland 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 2021Hillside, 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 2021Green 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 2021Leaves, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021Path to the Light, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021
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 WildernessSplit DecisionParty’s (long) OverMossy LogThe Light BeneathRed GoldAge SpotsForest LightCommiserationRavine Shadows
