Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Amish Country Pics

Today was a day off from work, so Barbara and I drove over to Berlin, Ohio which is considered the heart of Amish Country. For January 10th, the weather was awesome!  Below are a few of the photos that I took today.



I really like this bright magenta colored wood door surrounded by the rough, earthy colored stones. The deep shadows helped to give this photo some nice dimension. 


Here is an exercise in getting two photos from the same subject. The photo above is a cropped shot of the gate to a farm wagon. The photo below is the same gate, only I moved in and just shot the interesting bolt-latch. For me, both work equally well although I am more partial to the bottom one.





Here is yet another example of the "two-from-one" concept. This time, the subject is the side rails of a hay wagon. Once more, both work well but again, I favor the more tight framed photo at the bottom. The nice blue sky helps this photo a lot!





And of course, one can't go into Amish Country without taking at least one photo of a horse and buggy. Here's mine.




Saturday, January 7, 2012

Blackhand Gorge Hike

Today was my day off, so Barbara and I took a ride over to Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve for a hike. What a BEAUTIFUL January day! 


Abandoned Train Tunnel

The tunnel for the Ohio Electric Interurban rail system, which was used to travel between Newark and Granville.



"Petroffiti"

Blackhand Gorge was named after a huge black petroglyph that was carved into the side of a sandstone cliff by the Native Americans. It was said that it had one elongated finger which pointed the way to the flint mines and that all Indians passing through the gorge must do so in peace. This is not a photo of the petroglyph. Petroglyphs had meaning, purpose and often times told a story. This is graffiti, today's sad interpretation of a petroglyph.


"Beautiful Litter"



"Sandstone Cliff"



"Barbara's Hike"



"Cliff Dweller"

I found these ferns growing off of the side of a cliff.



"Blackhand Gorge Quarry"






Monday, January 2, 2012

Wandering 'Coon

I woke up this morning feeling a bit "Blah". Barbara suggested we go for a short walk out in the woods before I had to head into work, thinking the cool brisk air and exercise might help me. No sooner had we stepped onto the path when this raccoon made his presence known. Barbara spotted him first. 

Yep.. the winter walk and finding a photo-op helped. Now.. off to work.



New Year Blue Jay

January 1st of 2012 brought me a Blue Jay and probably my best photo of one yet. I find them very hard to photograph, mostly because they are so dang jittery and do not stay lit in one place very long at all.


Finch's First Snow

January 2nd of 2012 found the backyard Finches in a feeding frenzy during the first snowfall of the year. It'll just be a dusting of snow. Has been a very mild winter.