Great Time in the Smokies

Well I wasn't able to keep up with the blog while I was in the Smokies, but I'm back home now and posted a lot of the photos. I highly recommend a trip to the Smokies, there's lots of things to see and do there. Some of the highlights are Cades Cove, Clingman's Dome and the mountain streams. Here's a sunset photo from Morton Overlook



More photos here: Smoky Mountain Slide Show

My Smoky Mountain Trip - Day 1 Travel day.

I left early this morning for my trip to the Smoky Mountains. I'm doing a week long workshop with Jim Moore. According to my navigator Jill (That's the voice on my GPS), it took me 7 hours and 58 minutes of driving time to get here. Stay tuned to this blog as I post photos about my Smoky Mountain Adventure.

Parade the Circle

Well I attended my first Parade the Circle on Saturday 6/13 and had a great time and took lots of photos. Parade the Circle was first started in 1990 with 125 participants and about 1000 onlookers and has grown over the years. This past Saturday over 2000 people participated in the parade with over 70,000 people attending. Anyone who wants can march in the parade for an entry fee of $6.00, the participants ranged in age from little kids to senior citizens. I got there early an ran into a lot of other photographers, we went to the staging area by the Art Museum parking lot and got photos of the participants as they put on there costumes and makeup then I went off to find a good spot to shoot the parade. They have the parade every June, check it out next year if you get a chance.
Here are a few photos from the event:


More photos can be seen here: Parade the Circle Photos
And a slide show can be seen here: Parade the Circle Slide Show

My Hocking Hills Adventure

Just got back recently from a trip to one of my all time favorite places to take photos - Hocking Hills State Park. Hocking Hills is a photographer's paradise, lots of waterfalls, wildflowers, caves and interesting rock formations. Three of my photographer friends and I stayed at the State Park cottages for two nights and three fun packed days of photography.

The Three Amigos at Ash Cave

To see more photos from my trip to Hocking Hills go here: Hocking Hills Spring 2009

To see on a map where the photos were taken go here: GPS Photo Map of Hocking Hills

I'm On Vacation!!!!

Hooray!!!! My vacation starts tomorrow (5/22) and I plan on spending a lot of time taking photos. First up is the Chagrin Falls Balloon Fest this five day event is always fun with lots of colorful Hot Air Balloons to shoot. I have lots of information posted here Cool Photo Ops - Balloon Fest





Then on Saturday I'm heading down to the Flats and checking out the Veterans Memorial Bridge. If you like Cleveland History this is a cool place to check out. They open the bottom portion of the bridge for self guided tours. Trolley's used to travel through this part of the bridge to get to downtown Cleveland. More info can be found here Cool Photo Ops - Veterans Memorial Bridge Tour.





Next I'm heading down to one of the most scenic places in Ohio - Hocking Hills.





Then on the way home I'm stopping off to check out the Columbus Zoo.

All in all it should be a great time!!!

Bird Identification

When it comes to Identifying birds, I stink! Oh, I can ID a robin, or a blue jay or a blue heron and a few others but that's about it. A lot of times when I'm out taking photos I'll take some shots of some of the birds in the Cuyahoga Valley NP but I have no idea what bird it is or even how I would go about trying to identify it. Until recently I didn't have a clue on how to ID a bird or even where to begin looking in the birding books, but now thanks to the All About Birds site I have a better understanding on how to ID birds. They have some excellent videos that teach you how to ID birds. They have four videos that you can watch online right now to teach you the basics of bird identification:

1. Shape and Size
2. Color Pattern
3. Behavior
4. Habitat

So if you'd like to learn more about Bird Identification then check out this site: Inside Birding, Learn how to better identify birds

Good Sites to learn about birds

• All About Birds
  
• Birds of North America
• Northeast Ohio Birding Thanks Kirby for the link
  

If anyone knows of other great birding sites let me know and I'll add them to the list.

Looking for great places to take photos in Ohio? Then check out my Cool Photo Ops Blog

Chippewa Lake Park

I went on a fun shoot on Sunday to photograph what's left of Chippewa Lake Amusement Park. The park first opened in 1878 and closed for good in 1978. The park has sat unused for the last 31 years and Mother Nature has had her way with the park. Trees are growing through the Ferris Wheel and the tracks of the Coaster. Developers have now taken over for Mother Nature and are tearing down what's left of the park. Thanks to the Cleveland Photographic Society a bunch of us were able to photograph what remains of the park. The tracks for the Coaster are still standing and the Ferris Wheel frame ( with the tree growing through it) are still there, along with the tracks to the Wild Mouse and the Bug ride is still there with a few cars still on the track. There are still a few buildings standing but most of them are gone, either torn down or burned down by local teenagers. Pretty soon it will all be gone and new development will spring up on the site. It's a shame to see all the old amusement parks closing, but I guess it's a sign of the times.

Ferris Wheel

More Photos can be seen here: Chippewa Lake Park

To see a GPS photo map go here: Photo Map of Chippewa Lake Park