This is a continuation of a morning’s shoot in Brown County State Park. All of these images were obtained along roadways through the park.
This wraps up this morning’s shoot. Tomorrow I’ll investigate other area for fall photography in this part of Indiana.
Until then,
Ken
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
I found this old, abandoned house just a short distance from the cabin in which we were staying in the fall of 2022.
I returned this fall (2023) to photograph it again. The fall leaves had mostly fallen the year before, when I found it. This year the fall color was good and not yet peak.
The house is little changed since 2022, but the weeds around it were taller and thicker, as if the lot is more neglected now.
More Indiana Fall to come,
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
As has become a tradition, my wife and I spent a couple of weeks in Indiana in the fall of 2023. We stay in a cabin just a short distance outside of Brown County State Park, a popular park for fall leaf peepers.
I visited the park. on a number of our days in the vicinity, for photography and even when traveling to another destination, we most often took a route through the park just to enjoy the beautiful fall color in the park.
All of the photos in this post were shot at or near one of the overlooks within the park.
We had an interesting encounter at this location. I noted a park visitor on an electric bike and I asked him about his bike. He was kind enough to give me much information about the bike, its features and even how much he paid for it. When my wife joined in the conversation, she discovered that the biker and she had attended the same high school. Even though they attended the school some years apart, they knew some of the same people that were students at that school. Such a small world consequence!
Until next time,
Ken
This is the final post for my March 2023 visit to Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.
Sunset light turns these desert rock features into gold.
Sunset light fades away on the peaks. I’m so grateful for the natural lines and textures in the amazing geology and natural sculpture here, without which the photographs would not be nearly so interesting.
With a cache of fallen rocks in the eroded portion below the peak.
I could have yelled at this photographer for intruding into my composition, but I think he adds to the theme of photographing the geology here, as well as giving a human scale for reference.
Regular followers of this blog might recall that in an earlier post about this final sunset shoot I made a statement about thinking that there must be a better composition in the area where I made an early shot before sunset. Well, there was. I came back to that area, as the sun was very low in the sky, where I shot some of the images above. As I moved around the area, I found rocks that made very interesting foreground objects. These last three images are my best (I think) images from that location.
The rocks of Valley of Fire are the stars of this series, so it seem appropriate to name these last photos for those rocks.
Thanks for following this long series of blogs with photos from Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.
Until the next journey,
Ken
The natural features in the foreground rocks made great leading lines into the desert background for this image and the muted color of the rocks in the shadows contrasted with the sunset light enhanced color of the background rocks.
I know, this is not a wonderful photo, but as I sat in the shadows on the rock ledge on this image’s right side, I noted (again) how desert life tends to accumulate in the creases between rock units. And the ledge, which is not as wide as it looks near the camera lens, seems to be disappearing into the distance.
I kept with the “Transformation” theme for a number of photos, shooting from the shadows into the sunset light on the background. In this one, I liked the fracture leading upward toward the cylindrical rock feature, then the rock/skyline edge merging with the shadow line leading down into the sunlit valley.
For Transformation 8, I was inspired by the foreground rock layer that appears to be flowing downhill.
The title “Complex” is in honor of the complexity of the geology and rock details throughout this image.
My first inclination was to title this image “Let Sleeping Rocks Lie”, as I think the rock with the sunset light on it looks much like a resting puppy and that rock opening behind the head looks like a floppy ear. Then I noted that that opening was heart shaped. This detail might be more clear, if viewed on a large screen. Clicking on the image will take one to my Flickr page with this image.
The rocks here have some incredible detail and textures that can best be seen on a large screen, too.
To be continued,
Ken
