Should I keep my camera in the bag?

 Is it better to look and enjoy the landscape or take a picture of it?

 This image was taken in Page Arizona in early May. It is an example of one of the many Slot Canyons that are all around the Colorado Plateau. An extremely large area of the country that encompasses several states, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. The canyons are everywhere but visitation is somewhat remote and controlled. It land that is essentially Navajo controlled and thus in order to visit one needs a guide. It is particularly beautiful and interesting, but crowded. Just be aware of the potential crowds especially if visiting in the peak summer months. Oh yea it is also very warm. We were there in early May and it was already 90+ degrees, about 30+ Celsius but worth the conditions to experience the area. 

 Just a quick post from today's photo shoot. We went to Griggs Dam to try and capture some bird images. It was a beautiful morning with plenty of Sun and a brief warm up in the air. The River was very high from last week's crazy amount of rain, almost 2 inches. The River is the Scioto and the area is Northwest Columbus, Ohio. The birding was not great. I am assuming the birds like the river as a good source of food and shelter. Today it was neither. The water was running way too fast for any sane animal to get fish or insects from. We did however grab a few shots of birds. Here is one such shot. A nice flock of Geese.Birds in flight are not easy to shoot, but the old saw that even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then. I hope to go back and get some more as Winter turns to Spring. It will be great. Love the changing of the seasons. All for now. Hope to post something tomorrow. 

 I took this picture in the middle of October at what I thought was the peak of color in Ohio. It was taken at Rose Lake in the Hocking Hills. About a mile from Old Mans Cave, a popular spot in the Hills. The Lake has no parking directly on the lake and is about a half-mile in from a small fisherman's parking lot. It is lovely because it has so few people. I got to the Lake early so as to catch the good light. For the photogs among the group, I shot it with a Nikon Z6 and a 24-70 f4 lens. I beautiful lens and very portable. I had to bring out the shadows on the left in Lightroom, and that made it a good image. 

Circles and Lines

 Every Fall I try and get to one of many local venues to catch some beautiful Ohio Colors. One of the places I go is a living historic farm run by our Columbus and Franklin County Park system. The house is closed this year due to the pandemic but the barn and fields are open. The visitors were few this year because of the pandemic so the photography was particularly good. This is one of the images. 

This is another which I converted to B+W. I like both images and can't really say which image is stronger. I am not sure where I am taking this blog but I want to mention one point. I watched Sam Abell talk on BandH OPTIC presentations that were virtual this year. I always enjoy hearing how other very successful photographers work and what they were thinking when they shot a particular image. We all work differently, but there are some common similarities, one of which is love of the image. Each image should have heart somewhere. It should be something that the artist wanted to shoot and record in some way. In other words the artist needs to have passion for the idea of the photograph. I think that is close to what Sam said in his talk. 

                                                     Mill Creek Covered Bridge

I have lived in Ohio almost my entire life and never realized that we had so many covered bridges. My wife and I were out enjoying the beautiful byways of Ohio and we came across this beautiful bridge. It was a challenge finding the proper perspective.  I shot it several ways both landscape and portrait view. For some reason I chose portrait view and was very happy with this image. This was a short blog purposely because I am multi-taxing and doing a zoom video while I write the blog.  

                                            Marblehead Lighthouse, Ohio

This is an image from a warmer time in the early Fall, September to be specific. I am going to try and re-start my small blog 3 days a week. At least that is my hope. A simple picture and maybe a few words surrounding the image. My wife and I love the "Northcoast" of Ohio. That is to say the shore of Lake Erie. This lighthouse is located on the Marblehead peninsula about 40 miles west of Cleveland and about the same distance from Toledo. The season on the Lake is very short maybe in a good year about 3 months. It gets cold and blustery in late summer and early Fall. Very windy around the lake but on good days it is beautiful. I grew up on Lake Erie in a suburb about 13 miles west of Cleveland, Bay Village, Ohio. A lovely suburb with green leafy lawns that are cut and manicured by the owners weekly. We moved to Bay in 1954 and my family bought a small (about 1000 square foot) house with the GI Bill. My Father was like all fathers during the 50s was a WW II veteran and qualified for the subsidized interest rate. We stayed in the house about 6 years before we moved to a larger house in the middle of Bay. Our house was located about one-half a mile from the Lake. The Lake was our playground. The beach was Huntington Beach which was great in the early 50's. However by the late 50's and early 60's it became too polluted to swim. The Clean Water Act was not passed until 1972 which went a long way to cleaning up the rivers and streams that fed the Lake. More to follow.