A Day at Sandy Ridge

I've been on vacation for the past week and last Thursday I decided to go to the Sandy Ridge Reservation in North Ridgeville. Here's a description of Sandy Ridge from their website....

Sandy Ridge Reservation is a 310 acre wetland and wildlife preserve located in North Ridgeville. The park opened in 1999 and has quickly become a favorite of outdoor enthusiasts and one of the most popular parks for birding in Lorain County. The reservation lies on level, soggy ground flanked to the north and south by ancient beach ridges and consists of forests and open lands to explore.

I thought maybe some of my photographer friends might want to join me, so I posted a Spur of the Moment Cool Photo Op at Sandy Ridge on the Cool Photo Ops facebook group. By the way if you're not familiar with the Cool Photo Ops group, it's a group where we post cool places to take photos in Ohio and beyond. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun and post photos and let other photographers know of great places to take photos, family and friends can come along too. To join just go here:  Cool Photo Ops

Well quite a few photographers saw the post and decided to join me, here's some photos of our adventure at Sandy Ridge  (Click on any photo to go to a gallery to see more photos)

Photographers exploring Sandy Ridge


Egrets in Flight                                          Caterpillar


        Slideshow


Everyone had a great time and got some really great photos.

The next Cool Photo Ops coming up are:

Historic Zoar Civil War Reenactment

Ashtabula Covered Bridges with Eileen Findak 

Two Fun Photo Shoots in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Hi Everyone, well last Saturday was a busy day for me, I went on two shoots in one day, first I got up at the crack of dawn and met up with some photographer friends at Kendall Hills for the Cuhahoga Valley Photo Society's summer photo walk. Some of us walked down to Kendall Lake to shoot the sunrise while others stayed at the top of the hill to catch the sunrise. The photo walks are a lot of fun, they have them 6 times a year and usually take place somewhere in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. If you like outdoor and Nature Photography you might want to check them out. Cuyahoga Valley Photo Society

Here are a few shots from the photo walk

Here's a link to some of the photo walks I've been on over the years with CVPS..... Photo Walks

After I left the CVPS photo walk I headed to the Fitzwater Rail Yard off Canal Road, this is where they work on the train that runs through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  Here a met up with 18 other photographers from the Cool Photo Ops facebook group and the Northeast Ohio Photographers Google community. We had a great time exploring the buildings where the work on the trains and also exploring the trains themselves.  In a couple of weeks 35 of us are going to a night photo shoot at Fitzwater when the 765 steam engine is going to be there.

Here's a slideshow of  the Fitzwater shoot.  Click on any of the photos on this page to see more photos in the galleries....





 If you like going on fun photo shoots like these then check out the Cool Photo Ops group on facebook, where we post fun places to take photos, everyone is welcome to join in the fun!!!

Some Cool Photo Ops coming up in August

Here's some Cool Photo Ops coming up in August.... Click on the Headings for more info

Civil War Reenactment at Hale Farm  August 9-11 10am -5PM

   

Thousands of visitors and re-enactors flock to Hale Farm & Village annually for this popular summertime event—one of the largest Civil War reenactments in Ohio. Meet soldiers and civilians. Hear the sounds of battle and smell the gunpowder. Shake hands with President Lincoln or shop for a hoopskirt. Don’t miss the excitement!

Admission:
General admission is $10.00 for adults, $5.00 for children 3 - 12 years of age. Members of the WRHS and children 0-2 years old are admitted free.
Group admission rates available. 330-666-3711
Special admission rates are $6.00 for handi-capped/mentally challenged adults, $6.00 for handicapped/mentally challenged children, $6.00 for chaperones (varies), and wheelchairs are no charge.
We gladly accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express in the Visitor Center Admissions area. If you are onsite making purchases or paying admission and a gate opened specifically for the event, we can only accept cash.

Directions:
Hale Farm & Village is located at:
2686 Oak Hill Road, Bath, Ohio 44210 .
Telephone: (800) 589-9703, out of Ohio (330) 666-3711.

Cool Photo Op - D-Day Reenactment Conneaut 8/16- 8/17

Here's a great event suggested by Robert R. Schleimer...


Join us for the largest D-Day Conneaut ever!


Once again D-Day Ohio, Inc. will invade the Lake Erie shores of Conneaut, Ohio, and stage the largest D-Day (1944) living history reenactment in the country. Featuring nearly 1,000 reenactors from across the US and Canada, spectators witness men, women, and their machines perform a living tribute to the veterans of WWII through dress, mock battles, and living history displays. 

Come join us at this Admission FREE event and experience what many call the most realistic and educational D-Day reenactment showcasing the WWII era.

The event occurs within the beautifully kept grounds of Conneaut Township Park, in Conneaut, Ohio. Just off Interstate 90 (Exit 241), 5 miles west of the Pennsylvania border, Conneaut is just about half way between Cleveland Ohio and Erie Pennsylvania. There's plenty of free parking with speedy shuttles. *Entry is free but donations of any size are always appreciated.



And for you Train lovers Duane Zen Loya event:

Fitzwater Train Yard Tour  8/17 9am - 12pm

Click the header for more info

Go here to see the latest Cool Photo Op Events

and remember to check out Cool Photo Ops Facebook group, where we post cool places to take photos everyone is welcome to join in the fun and if you hear of any cool places to take photos please post them in the group.

The New Smugmug

Hi Everyone, for years I've been hosting my photos on Smugmug, it's a great place for displaying and selling your photos, they don't compress the photos the way some sites do and you get unlimited uploads. Well Smugmug just got a lot better with new easier ways to customize your site to make it your own. In the past when you wanted to customize your site you had to know how to code CSS, HTML and Javascript, with the new site you drag and drop and change settings and colors in a dialog box and for those who want to use CSS and HTML for even more customizing you can. You can add slideshows to your homepage and other pages, you can display your galleries in many different ways, you can have a map page to display geotagged photos, you can have search and keyword pages.  I have a combination search/keyword page on my site. They added a cool way people can search for photos using a rotating keyword cloud. You can check it out here.

If you want to sell photos Smugmug makes it easy to do that to and you can set your own prices if you have a Portfolio or Business account.  For more casual users who just want to share photos with family and friend the Basic or Power user account are for you.

Here's a comparison of the different accounts: Smugmug Features

I recently redid my site in the new format and you can check it out here Digital Images by Ron Skinner. Feel free to explore the site and let me know how you like it.

Smugmug also interacts well with the social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and many more.  You can create FB Albums directly from Smugmug with their "Publish to Facebook" feature. You can quickly post links to your photos by sharing them with one click to FB, Google+ and Twitter

If you'd like to try Smugmug out free go here: Smugmug Trial
That link should insert a coupon code to get you a $5 discount on your account or you can just insert this coupon code if you decide to sign up....  aUvDzphm1l71Y


They even make it easy for you to put stupid photos of yourself in a blog like this one:




Well there you have it if you're looking for a place to host your photos or maybe even sell them then check out Smugmug.  Check out my site to see what you can do Digital Images by Ron Skinner 

and if you like what you see try it out here: Smugmug Trial


And for you photographers that are looking for cool places to take photos, check out the Cool Photo Ops Group on Facebook where we post fun places to take photos every week. Everyone is welcome to join in, but ya gotta have FUN!!!

Some of the events coming up in the next few weeks are Civil War Reenactment, D-Day Reenactment, A tour of the Fitzwater Train Yard tour in the CVNP

New Cool Photo Ops and Creative Challenges Facebook Group

Hi everyone, a lot of times I get asked "Hey Ron any good photo shoots happening this week?" I'm sure a lot you get asked where you're going to photos this week too, so I thought I'd create a group where people can post Cool Photo Ops, so if you know of any cool photo events that you or your photo group is having or if your just going out to shoot on your own and would like to let your photographer friends know where you're going feel free to post it on the Cool Photo Ops and Creative Challenge group on Facebook

 Also feel free to post photos from your photo adventures.

 I also want to have Creative Photo Challenges from time to time, where we can see how creative we can be with our cameras and lenses. For example going somewhere and shooting only with your widest angle lens. If anyone has any Creative Challenge suggestions feel free to post them


What the Cool Photo Ops and Creative Challenge Group is about....

A place where photographers share Cool places to take photos and to also have Creative Challenges suggested by group members to help photographers learn new photographic skills.

We want to be more than just another photo group where people post their photos, we want to encourage people to be creative and try new techniques with their photography and most importantly have fun with photography. If you're new to photography we encourage you to ask questions.

So in keeping with the goals of the the group, we'd like you to to keep these guidelines in mind.....

Cool Photo Ops posting Guidelines:

1. Please post Cool Photo Ops and Events that you think other photographers would be interested in attending. If you go to one of the photo ops feel free to post photos of the event and let others know how you liked it.

2. Feel free to suggest Creative Challenges that are fun and help people learn more about their cameras and lenses and photography techniques. For example taking all photos with a wide angle lens for a day, or taking panning photos, or as one member suggested shooting in manual mode for a day. Remember to share your photos taken during the challenge.

3. Photo Posting..... We encourage posting photos, but instead of just posting photos, lets share some info about the photos to help our fellow photographers, for example

Where the photo was taken
Techniques used: selective focus, panning, filters used, lens used, HDR etc
Time of day taken or best time of day to be at a location

So in general when posting a photo also post information that would be helpful to other photographers.

One more thing, remember when you're out taking photos to HAVE FUN! :)



Here's a Cool Photo Op on the upper rim trail in Conkle's Hollow in Hocking Hills

Ron on the Conkle's Hollow Rim Trail in Hocking Hills

 Let your friends know about the group, oh and this is a photo free zone post as many photos as you like!!!

Everyone is welcome to join the group, only requirement is to enjoy taking photos and getting out there and having fun!

Go here to join: Cool Photo Ops and Creative Challenge group

A Trip to the Columbus Zoo

Back in 2011, I went on a Photography Road Trip to the Columbus Zoo and had a great time photographing all the animals the Columbus Zoo has to offer. It's fun going and checking out other Zoos, a lot of times they have animals that you normally don't see at your local Zoo.  In the older part of the Columbus Zoo they still have a lot of fences that you have to shoot through, one photography trick to use to make the fence disappear is to shoot with a large wide open aperture of  F2.8. I really enjoyed spending the day at the Columbus Zoo, check it out if you get a chance.

Orangutan at the Columbus Zoo ( Click the photos to go to the Columbus Zoo Gallery)



They have lots of colorful birds at the Columbus Zoo


I think they have the animals trained to stick out their tongues at Photographers from Cleveland!!!


To see the photos nice and large you can view the Columbus Zoo Slideshow

If you are looking for cool place to take photos in Ohio and beyond you might also like to check out my Cool Photo Ops Blog

A Fun Time at Parade the Circle 2011

On Saturday June 11, 2011 I had another fun time photographing Parade the Circle in University Circle. Every year in June they have a Parade full of colorful costumes and great music. This was the 22nd Annual Parade. This is always a great photo op for photographers and if you get there early you can photograph the parade participants getting ready for the parade in the staging area. I arrived around 10am and headed to the staging area located on the top level of the Art Museum Parking garage and ran into a lot of my photographer friends from some of the areas camera clubs. After taking hundreds of photos in the staging area I ventured out to the parade route to scope out a good spot to photograph the parade. I wanted to find a spot where I could get shots of the parade headed straight toward me and I found it near the Botanical Gardens where I was joined by fellow photographers Troy Vodila and Dan Flocke. It was a great spot to photograph the parade but unfortunately there wasn't any shade and I got burnt to a crisp!!! All in all its a fun event to photograph, and I encourage you to check it out next year!!!




Cleveland Hoop Dance Click the photo to go to a Parade the Circle photo gallery.




CPS photographers at Parade the Circle, the best looking guy in the photo is the puppet!!! LOL

Go here to see a Parade the Circle 2011 Slideshow

To see photos of Parade the Circle from earlier years go here: Parade the Circle Galleries

You might also be interested in checking out my Cool Photo Ops Blog where I list cool places to take photos.