The Shades State Park - The Waterfalls, Episode III (better than Star Wars Episode III)

As you might have guessed by now I took a lot of photos at Shades State Park. In my mind this park is better than Turkey Run State Park in some ways. Turkey Run has deeper dominating ravines, but Shades have a large multitude of rugged waterfall infested ravines.

Some variations in distance and shutters heed again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black and White Photography, Part 3

 

Its time to wrap up this multipart article. What better way to that than to end it with some monochrome photo's from my last trip to Turkey Run State Park. But first the tea of the day.

 

 

These first two photo's show another example of what did not work well in monochrome. The bule sky behind the birds in the color photo looks very beautiful. But in monochrome it looks very dull.

 

 

 

This set of photo's I like both in monochrome and color, There is enough variance in light, shade and texture to make the monochrome photo look nice. The lose of the bright green from the color does not harm the monochrome photo.

 

 

These next two photo's are equally uninteresting. I was trying to capture the imposing nature of these rock formations. As always when I have tried this I have I failed. I have read somewhere that zoom lens's will "flatten" an image. I have never been sure what this meant. Maybe that is what they were talking about. The depth of the photo has been flattened out making the rocks seem smaller and less imposing than they were in real life. Next time I will try shooting with my 50mm prime lens. That might keep the image from being flattened. Also I recently purchased an adaprer that makes regular len's into Wide Angle lens's. Since it only cost $12.00 I am sure it won't make a big diference but maybe it will help. That adapter and a couple of macro adapters will the subject of a future article.

 

 

 

I will end this article with my two favorite photo's from this trip. I think the monochrome and color photo worked well. The lines of the wooden bridge and the curves of the suspension wires lead the eye down the path. It would have been better if the shadow had not been cast on the wooden part of the bridge and the background foliage is a little too dark. But I still enjoy the photos

 

 

Well what I have learned about monochrome photography is that I need to avoid broad area's of a single color like a blue sky or brown river water. What seems to make a beter monochrome photo is area's of contrasting light levels and textures. These things draw more attention in monochrome photo.

I now have another tool I need to keep in mind during my photograpgy sessions.

More photo's from Turkey Run State Park

Here are a few photos from my last trip to Turkey Run State Park.

Wedge Rock

These stairs were cut in the side of the canyon to help hikers get past the flowing water when it gets too high.

 

I like photographing textures, lines and curves, and contrasts between light and dark. This next photo is a texture shot. I think it qualifies as "Minimalist Photography". I have been taking pictures like this before I knew it was a category of photography style. I think this is something I would like to pursue more. I am still looking for my "voice" in photography.

Tree bark

This steel cable is part of the suspension bridge that spans Sugar Creek.

 

 

Flowing Water

I traveled to Turkey Run State Park this past weekend. With the recent rain and melting snow I was hoping to get some photo's of water flowing through the canyons. That is exactly what I found. This was a good trip and I am happy with the quality of these photo's. I hope you enjoy them as much I do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here some non-water flow pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Day hike

I took my first "First Day Hike" at Turkey Run State Park this year. I had heard about it from their Facebook page about a week or two before. The link above is about the hike I went on. I am even in one or two of the pictures. Though it is hard to see me.

I hiked with the group for an hour or two then when it was over I hiked by myself for a few more hours. It was chilly at the beginning but it warmed up nicely later in the day. I did not stay as late as I would have liked too have because a snow storm was predicted to start in the afternoon or evening.

Lafayette did get about 3-4 inches of snow. Then a few days later we receive a lot more snow and an Arctic blast passed through. The wind chill dropped to -40 on Monday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Damn it, Damn It, Damn it!

For those who just want to see my latest Turkey Run pictures click here to skip past the story. Its probably for the best anyway. I am not very good at expressing myself in the written word. I am thinking about working on that. I am not sure how yet.
Well the Turkey Run trip did not go as well as I wanted it to. I was really looking forward to the trip all week. I have been in need of something to cheer me up. I was off work the last week of October to setup my Halloween display. That was a big a dissapopintment. I have been feeling blue for a long while and the Halloween vacation made it much worse. See my other blog Thomas's Stuff for details of how that went sometime soon.
Anyway as I was driving to Turkey Run Saturday morning I realized about 15 miles into the drive that I had no cash on me! I have no idea if they take credit cards. Should I go back home and see if I can find some cash laying around the house? If I do I will end up adding 30 miles to the trip and waste about half and hour. I have already started later than I wanted too. What happens if I keep going and they don't take credit cards? I will be really bummed if that happens
I decide to keep going.
I arrive at the gate and ask the lady park ranger if they take credit cards. Yes we do she says. Thank you very much I say. I made the right choice.
After paying the admission fee I drive into the parkling lot and park. I get out of the van, do some stretching and then start checking my backpack. Two bottles of water, 50mm primary lens, 75-250mm zoom lens, tripod, camera? Where is my camera. Damn it, Damn it, Damn it where is my camera?!?!? I CAN NOT BELIEVE I DID NOT PACK MY CAMERA! This darkened my mood for at least an hour and a half.
I did have my Samsung Galaxy Player with me. I was using it to listen to music while driving It is an Android device that is everything but a phone. Or as a co-worker calls it my "Android phone that is not a phone". It has an app that I use to I use to track my hiking miles and time. It does have a camera but it only takes OK pictures. Some time half way though the day it crash on me and I later found out I lost all the photo's I had taken before then.

The photo's that did survive that day
The newly repaired Suspension Bridge. As you ca see there is some fall color still. But in most of the park the leave were a week or two past their peak.


Some crazy stairs in Gypsy Gulch


A small section of Turkey Run Hollow.


An interesting curved stone wall near the Punch Bowl

The setting sun reflecting off of Sugar Creek