A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio 9780821419601, 4320119177, 0821419609

Citation preview

Ian Adams Foreword by Guy Denny

A Photographer’s Guide to OhioV o l u m e 2

A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio volume 2

A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio volume 2

Ian Adams Foreword by Guy L. Denny

Ohio University Press At h e n s

Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701 ohioswallow.com © 2015 by Ohio University Press All rights reserved To obtain permission to quote, reprint, or otherwise reproduce or distribute material from Ohio University Press publications, please contact our rights and permissions department at (740) 593-1154 or (740) 593-4536 (fax). Printed in the United States of America Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15

™

54321

Display photos: page i, Lincoln Theater, Massillon; page ii, Triangle Lake Bog State Nature Preserve; pages iv–v, Lake Erie, Headlands Beach State Park; page xv, Pumpkins, Circleville Pumpkin Show. Maps by Brian Edward Balsley, GISP

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Adams, Ian A photographer’s guide to Ohio / Ian Adams ; with a foreword by Guy L. Denny. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8214-1960-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Ohio—Guidebooks. 2. Ohio—Description and travel. 3. Landscape photography—Ohio—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 4. Landscapes—Ohio— Pictorial works. 5. Ohio—Pictorial works. I. Title. F489.3.A43 2011 917.7104--dc22 2010054479

Contents

vii Foreword by Guy L. Denny



ix Acknowledgments



xi Introduction



1 An Overview of Digital Landscape Photography



23 Natural Areas and Preserves



99 Scenic Rivers



134 Scenic Byways



184 Zoos and Public Gardens



217 Holiday Lighting Displays



238 Buildings, Murals, and Events



283 Regional Maps



291 Index

Foreword When the pioneer settlers arrived in the Ohio lands, they found a remarkable living tapestry of wild and diverse landscape types. These included primeval forests, pristine waterways, extensive marshes, bogs and fens, lush tall grass prairies, and numerous other such natural wonders blanketing the state from the banks of the Ohio to the shores of Lake Erie. Today, as a leading agricultural and industrial state, little remains of “Wild Ohio.” Yet, pockets of fragmented, but high-quality, natural areas, remnants of a once vast and pristine wilderness, survive tucked away here and there throughout our state. Ian Adams, with his exquisite photos that have been extensively published in numerous books, posters, calendars, and other media, has made it his life work to ferret out these natural wonders and bring them to life through his photographic expertise for all Ohioans who haven’t had the opportunity to discover them on their own. There are few such “natural gems” in Ohio that Ian hasn’t visited, studied, and photographed. In his first volume, A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio, Ian shares his wealth of knowledge as one of Ohio’s foremost nature photographers and naturalists, giving in-depth information about each site featured, as well as sharing the secrets of his trade as a photographer. Now, in Volume 2, we continue that journey with his introducing us to many marvelous new sites and features that beg to be examined and photographed. Ian provides a wealth of fascinating information about each feature and shares photographic tips that he has learned over the years. His new book is a treasure trove of in-depth information for both amateur and professional photographers alike who want to explore and share the natural wonders of Ohio with others. Ian is not just an accomplished naturalist, he is a highly skilled professional photographer with a keen artistic eye that sees not only the beauty in nature, but also the beauty in texture, color, and structure of man-made art. He shares this journey with us as we explore natural areas, scenic rivers, scenic byways, waterfalls, state champion trees, zoos and public gardens, and many other scenic features in the Ohio landscape. As the eminent Harvard scholar and author Stephen Jay Gould wrote in Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History, “Yet I also appreciate that

giraffes, cleveland zoo

vii

viii

we cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature—for we will not fight to save what we do not love (but only appreciate in some abstract sense). . . . We really must make room for nature in our hearts.” Or, as Baba Dioum, the internationally renowned conservationist from the West African nation of Senegal, simply stated in 1968 during a speech he gave in New Delhi, India, at a gathering of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, “For in the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, we will understand only what we are taught.” It is through the photos of special scenic landscapes and other scenic features we take and share with others that we teach others about the value of conservation and the need to protect rarity and beauty. It is with this effort, sharing what we know and love with others through the lens of a camera, that we, in turn, teach others so they, too, may understand, love, and fight to conserve these special places and features. For, after all, in the end, that is what scenic landscape photography is really all about. Guy L. Denny Guy L. Denny is the retired chief, ODNR Division of Natural Areas & Preserves, and has served as the executive director of the Ohio Biological Survey. He is president of the Ohio Natural Areas & Preserves Association (ONAPA).

foreword

Acknowledgments I am especially indebted to the staff of Ohio University Press for their continuing support of my Ohio photography. In particular, Gillian Berchowitz, Beth Pratt, Nancy Basmajian, and Chiquita Babb have guided my efforts, carried out painstaking editing of the text, and designed and produced a beautiful book. Brian Balsley designed the excellent regional maps. Fellow Ohio photographers David FitzSimmons, Jennie Jones, Don Iannone, Gary Meszaros, Jim Roetzel, Randall Schieber, and Art Weber have provided insight, valuable advice, and suggestions about places to include in this guide. Special thanks are due to Karen Pugh, gallery manager at the National Center for Nature Photography in Berkey, Ohio, for hosting two exhibits of my Ohio photography. I would like to thank Terry Lanker, Chair of the Division of Horticultural Technologies at Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI) in Wooster, and Laura Deeter for the opportunity to teach a horticultural photography program at ATI. I have been privileged to know and work with many of Ohio’s finest naturalists, including Linda Gilbert, Bob Glotzhober, Cheryl Harner, Jim McCormac, John Pogacnik, Rick Nirschl, Larry Rosche, Judy Semroc, and Peter Whan. I am indebted to Guy L. Denny for the foreword to this book, and for his friendship and support for my Ohio photography for more than twenty years. Many friends and professional colleagues have provided encouragement, good company, and support, including John Baskin, Lisa Bowers, Bob Gable, Shyna Gawell, Alice Goumas and Keith Misner, Paula Harper, Marcy Hawley, Mike Hocker, Nancy Howell, George and Katie Hoy, David and Elsie Kline, Elaine Marsh, Mary Ann and Tom Romito, Valerie Strong and George Faddoul, Jack and Barbara Renner, Bert Szabo, and Hope and Bob Taft. Finally, I am always thankful for the ongoing support and encouragement of my family: Margie and Tony McCarthy, Neil and Sandi Adams, Kelly and Matt Schron, Stacy and Eric Boise, and my fine feline companions, Fuji and Spicer.

ix

Introduction During the past forty years I have been fortunate to travel more than half a million miles in Ohio, exploring the natural, rural, historical, and garden areas of the Buckeye State. These travels have produced thousands of color photographs, on film and memory card, the best of which have been published in more than fifteen books and sixty-five Ohio calendars. I’m often asked at slide programs and workshops to name my favorite places in Ohio for taking pictures. My response: “Wherever in Ohio I happen to be at the time!” My answer never changes, because there are scenic places to photograph in every one of the eighty-eight counties in the Buckeye State. In June 2011 Ohio University Press published my book A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio, the first guide to finding and photographing more than one hundred and fifty of Ohio’s best scenic vistas; natural areas and preserves; waterfalls; public gardens and arboretums; historic barns and bridges, gristmills, and rural areas; and buildings and murals. Much to our delight, the initial printing of 1,000 copies sold out in seven weeks and the book is now well into its second printing. Since 1990 I have been privileged to conduct more than two hundred seminars and workshops throughout North America in nature, garden, landscape, and travel photography. At these programs the topics include selecting and using digital point-and-shoot (P&S) and single-lens-reflex (SLR) cameras; controlling exposure and depth-of-field; principles of lighting and composition; using tripods, filters, and other accessories; fine-tuning digital photos using Photoshop, Lightroom, and other image editors on a PC or Mac; and sharing digital photos with family, friends, and clients using email, slide programs, websites, brochures, color prints, and self-published books. A summary of this material, essentially a primer on digital landscape photography, was included as the first chapter in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. During the past four years the world of photography has continued to change at a rapid pace. More than half of all the world’s photographs today are now taken with cell phones, and new “mirrorless” digital cameras are becoming very popular. Millions of photographs are shared every day using Facebook

lake erie bluffs, lake erie coastal ohio trail

xi

xii

and other social media, and self-published books and eBooks are commonplace. In A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio: Volume 2, I have included an overview of this technological revolution in picture taking and some of the implications for the Ohio landscape and nature photographer. Ohio is blessed with several hundred state nature preserves and wildlife areas, of which more than forty, including waterfalls, were profiled in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. Another forty are described in this new book, including some of Ohio’s most photogenic geological sites, champion trees, wetlands, and prairies. I have also included an overview of Ohio’s fourteen state scenic rivers, which add up to more than 800 miles, and the Buckeye State’s twenty-seven state scenic byways, which cover more than 2,300 miles and include five national scenic byways. Ohio is fortunate to have five world-class zoos, which are home to thousands of fascinating and photogenic animals, and I have included a chapter on them, together with some additional public gardens and arboretums omitted from A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. Also new is a chapter on some of Ohio’s best holiday lighting displays and tips on how to photograph them. The final chapter covers more than twenty additional historical buildings and other sites, a few more of Ohio’s best town murals, and three of the most picturesque festivals held annually in the Buckeye State. Some readers may wonder why the such-and-such nature preserve, or their favorite building, isn’t in the book, so a word on how I picked the places in this new guide is in order. First, all the sites in this book are open to the public and freely accessible. Most are free, except for zoos and a few public gardens that charge a small entrance fee. Second, each place I describe is appealing from a photographic viewpoint. At least I think so. In general I have included Ohio natural areas with great views or with eye-catching displays of one or more kinds of wildflowers rather than a handful of rare or endangered plants; there are already too many admirers trampling the ground around these rarities—or worse—in order to add another “picture-perfect” close-up to their photographic collections. Ohio ranks third in the nation in its number of historic sites on the National Register of Historic Places, with more than 3,600 places, but only a small number are picturesque enough to be included in this guide. I have supplied numerous references, so, if you would like to discover other sites, you can use this guide as a steppingstone for your extended explorations.

introduction

introduction

I have visited and photographed each of the places described in this book, most of them more than once and some of them many times over the years, so you can be confident that information in this book is based on my experience as an Ohio traveler and photographer and not just on word of mouth or unconfirmed information. For each place described, I have included the location and, if available, a telephone number and a website where you can find more information. For most of the places, I have also included a GPS location, expressed in decimal degrees (not degrees, minutes, and seconds). For waterfalls and buildings, which have a relatively small geographical “footprint,” the GPS location has been established from Google Maps. For nature preserves, public gardens, and other places that cover a larger area, the GPS location given is for the visitor center or the main parking area. For scenic rivers and byways, I have included the GPS location of both ends of the corridor or route. Six color-coded regional maps of Ohio are included at the end of the book to help you plan your photography trips around the Buckeye State. Many place narratives include tips on the best time or season for photography, based on my visits, and, in some cases, suggested ways to interpret the subject from a photographic point of view. However, don’t expect to find specific instructions on exactly where to stand or what lens, f/stop, and shutter speed to use—this isn’t a cookie-cutter guide to Ohio travel photography. Use the information in this book to decide if you want to visit a place, but when you get there explore each location visually from your own perspective and decide how you would like to interpret and photograph the subject. Travel photography is a never-ending journey, and each time I return to a favorite Ohio location I challenge myself to find new ways to view the subject through my camera’s viewfinder. Many of us, especially birders, like to keep lists, and judging by the number of books available with titles like Five Hundred Places to Visit in ____ Before You Die, some people view travel, and, by implication, travel photography as a race. This often promotes a competitive “been there . . . done that” way of thinking which results in spur-of-the-moment snapshots, taken from familiar vantage points, rather than imaginative and original photographs based on an in-depth visual exploration of the subject. Take your time! Resist the herd mentality of following the crowds to the nearest “scenic overlook,” taking a quick “point-and-shoot” photograph with a smartphone, then hurrying back

xiii

xiv

to your vehicle to move on to the next “must visit” place. National Geographic photographers, who are among the world’s best, typically spend many months on location and submit thousands of images on their assigned subject to the magazine’s photo editors, who select fewer than twenty photographs for most finished articles. You may not have the luxury of devoting this much time to your Ohio photography adventures, but in the long run the more time you spend exploring a place, and the more familiar you become with it, the better will be your photographs.

introduction

A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio volume 2

An Overview of Digital Landscape and Nature Photography

The primary purpose of this book is to provide a guide to Ohio’s best natural and man-made landscapes for photography. However, the book is not intended to be a detailed reference manual on digital landscape photography. There are many excellent books that cover this topic in depth, and a few of my favorites are listed at the end of this chapter. I especially recommend John and Barbara Gerlach’s book, Digital Landscape Photography, which provides an excellent account of equipment and techniques for taking great landscape photographs. My book, The Art of Garden Photography, covers most of the information you will need for photographing gardens, but this book was completed in 2003 when I was still shooting mostly film, and it has limited information about digital cameras. What are the key elements of a great landscape or nature photograph? I pose this question at each of my photography seminars and workshops. I receive a variety of responses, but five critical elements of an excellent photograph in my opinion are: 1. An interesting or beautiful subject 2. Optimal sharpness and depth-of-field 3. Correct exposure 4. Great lighting 5. Strong composition

The rest of this chapter provides an overview of digital camera equipment and basic camera settings; techniques for optimizing sharpness and exposure; some thoughts on lighting and composition in landscape photography; and suggestions for fine-tuning, storing, and sharing your digital photographs. For more in-depth information, consult the references at the end of the chapter.

ionic columns, toledo art museum

1

S m a r t p h o n e P h o t og r ap h y

2

Today, more than 50 percent of all the photographs taken in the world are taken with a cell phone camera, almost 60 percent of Americans own a smartphone, and one-and-a-half billion photos are taken with a cell phone every day. In its November 2012 issue, Time Magazine used an iPhone photograph of Hurricane Sandy on the cover. My own introduction to mobile photography (i.e., photographs taken with cell phones) also occurred in November 2012 when I purchased an iPhone 5 as part of renewing my cell phone contract with AT&T. That winter I read every magazine article and book on iPhone photography that I could lay my hands on and took hundreds of iPhone photographs. I was very impressed by the high quality of the iPhone 5’s photographs, as well as by the simplicity and ease-ofuse of Apple’s iOS (operating system) 6 and the enormous number of inexpensive “apps” (computer programs) available to run on the iPhone. In April 2013 I conducted my first half-day iPhone photography workshop. It proved to be so popular that I have carried out several more, both for the public and also for several organizations whose employees use iPhones. I have no experience with Android phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy models, or with Windows phones, such as those made by Nokia, but most of my comments below relating to the iPhone should also be of value when using other smartphone cameras. The best camera, it is often said, is the one you always have with you—your iPhone. An iPhone is very lightweight and unobtrusive, and the 8-megapixel main camera in the newer iPhones is capable of producing high quality photographs which are more than adequate for sharing online and which can easily be enlarged for use in magazine articles, books, and color inkjet prints up to about 11×14 inches in size. The iPhone’s fixed wide-angle lens, roughly equivalent to a 28mm in 35mm terms, is excellent for scenic photography; the iPhone can also be used for close-up photographs of subjects as near as 4 inches from the camera. The iPhone’s camera has some limitations for photography. It is not well suited to fast-action subjects, such as sports; or high-contrast subjects; or wildlife photography, which requires a long-focus lens. The fixed 28mm wide-angle lens is not a great lens for head-and-shoulders portrait photography, and the iPhone camera is not a good choice for photographs requiring shallow depthof-field, or for making color inkjet prints that need to be larger than 11×14 inches. High-end digital point-and-shoot (P&S) or single-lens-reflex (SLR) cameras are better suited to these subjects and tasks.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

overview of digital landscape and nature photography

The very low-powered LED flash that is built into most smartphones is virtually useless and I recommend leaving it set to “off.” I set the HDR (high dynamic range) setting to “on” at all times. You can also activate a grid of lines on the screen designed to help position a subject when you would like to use a “rule-of-thirds” approach in composing a photograph. The “PANO” setting activates the iPhone’s excellent facility for taking panoramic photographs. Try to hold your iPhone as still as possible when taking a photograph. Spread your feet for extra stability. Hold the iPhone with both hands and tuck your elbows into your sides. By all means, lean on a tree, wall, or other solid object to further immobilize the iPhone. Shoot like a sniper—take a breath, hold it, gently press the shutter button on the iPhone’s screen, and release your breath. With Apple’s iOS 6, the photograph is not taken until you release your finger from the surface of the screen. This procedure has (sadly) been removed in Apple’s iOS 7, but you can reinstate it by using the Pureshot app on your iPhone and activating the appropriate shutter setting. The new Samsung Galaxy K smartphone, announced in May 2014, includes a 10x optical zoom, but the iPhone 5/5s and most other smartphones are only equipped with a digital zoom, in which you can digitally crop the image to magnify a section of it. Don’t use it—the image quality is very poor. Instead, zoom with your feet—get closer to the subject. There is also an excellent capture app called ClearCam with an “Enhance” option that effectively doubles the resolution of the iPhone—great for making large prints from your iPhone photos. The iPhone allows you to organize your photos into albums, which makes it much easier to find the photo you are looking for when you have accumulated hundreds of images on your iPhone camera roll. You can also synchronize your iPhone with your iPad, Mac, or PC using the iTunes program which can be downloaded for free from Apple’s website. Apple’s iCloud facility can be used to back up your photographs and includes five gigabytes of free online storage. The iPhone provides basic editing capabilities that allow you to crop your iPhone photos, remove “redeye” from portraits, rotate photos, and apply some basic filters. I don’t use any of these features, preferring to fine-tune my iPhone photos on my home/office PC, using Photoshop or Lightroom, exactly the same way I fine-tune photos taken with my Nikon SLR cameras. Edit your iPhone photos with the image editor(s) you are most familiar with on the largest screen or monitor you have available. That said, it’s fine to edit your iPhone photos on an iPad, which provides a much larger screen than the iPhone and

3

4

allows you to use more sophisticated programs such as Adobe Photoshop Touch and Adobe Lightroom Mobile as well as simpler image editors such as Snapseed, an excellent, easy-to-use program that is free for the iPhone and iPad. All of these programs allow you to quickly post a photo to your Facebook page or to Twitter, or attach a photo to an email or a text message, or even make a print if your printer is configured for Airprint or WiFi. There are also hundreds of iPhone/iPad apps that will allow you to create fine art from your iPhone photos. Two of my favorites are Aquarella, which transforms a photograph into a watercolor painting, and Moku Hanga, which creates an emulation of a Japanese woodcut. I have no doubt that the next few years will bring even more powerful cameras and other photographic features to iPhones and other smartphones, making these amazing devices more and more competitive with larger digital cameras, especially P&S cameras, which smartphones are already beginning to render obsolete. In the meantime, have fun with the camera that is always with you—your smartphone!

D igi t al C a m e r as a n d L e n s e s Point-and-shoot digital cameras are ubiquitous today, and they offer several advantages, including compact size, many automatic features, and affordability. The more advanced P&S cameras, such as the Canon Powershot and Sony Cyber-shot series, provide excellent image quality and many of the features of entry-level digital SLR (DSLR) cameras. However, P&S cameras also have some disadvantages, including: no optical viewfinders (or optical viewfinders with limited coverage); relatively small sensors; minimal depth-of-field control; some digital noise at high ISO settings; limited or no facility for using filters; minimal flash capabilities; and, in some models, no raw file availability. Although camera manufacturers continue to release scores of new P&S cameras each year, increasing competition from smartphones is steadily eroding the market share of P&S cameras. Digital SLR cameras have sensors that are roughly the same size as a piece of 35mm film (FX), or about a third smaller (DX). The full-frame (FX) cameras, primarily from Nikon and Canon, are rugged, sophisticated cameras designed for heavy use by professional photographers and they carry a hefty price tag. The smaller, APS-size (DX) SLR cameras are much less expensive, and are an excellent choice for most landscape and nature photography. The main

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

overview of digital landscape and nature photography

reason to consider a full-frame SLR, such as the 36-megapixel Nikon D800/800E or the Canon 5D Mark 3, for landscape photography is to obtain a larger sensor, which produces images that can be used to make mural size prints. The major limitations of SLR cameras are their larger size, higher cost, and the need to remove dust from their digital sensors from time to time. Entry-level SLRs from Canon and Nikon, the two major SLR manufacturers, are capable of producing professional-quality landscape photographs. So, if you have a limited budget, my advice is to purchase an inexpensive SLR camera body and invest in the best lenses you can afford. For landscape photography, your first purchase should be a wide-angle zoom lens, such as a 16–85mm or 18–55mm zoom; your next lens purchase, a 70–200mm or 70–300mm zoom. These two lenses will handle virtually all of your landscape photography needs. A macro lens, preferably a 180mm or 200mm, is very desirable if you plan to do a lot of close-up photography, and a longer telephoto lens, such as a 400mm or 500mm, is needed for some types of wildlife photography. Top-grade professional lenses are made from metal alloy and are very durable, with superb optical quality. Consumer-grade lenses have excellent, though not generally superb, optics, are usually made from plastic, and are lighter and much more affordable. Another important factor is the maximum aperture (f/stop) of the lens. Fast f/2 and f/2.8 lenses are important for sports photographers and photojournalists, but rarely needed for landscape photography, since lenses are usually stopped down to f/8–f/16 to obtain maximum depth-of-field. Zoom lenses with a maximum aperture of f/4 are perfectly adequate for landscape photography, and offer significant size and cost savings compared to faster lenses. Several camera manufacturers, notably Sony, Olympus, and Fuji, are investing heavily in the development of “mirrorless” cameras, in which the reflex mirror that is characteristic of SLR cameras has been eliminated. Removing the reflex mirror assembly allows the camera to be smaller and lighter, with fewer moving parts. Popular examples of these mirrorless cameras are the Sony NEX series, the Olympus OM-D EM-1, and the Fuji X-T1. The image quality of these cameras is beginning to match that of many SLR cameras, and the smaller size of mirrorless cameras and lenses makes them especially attractive for street photography or travel photography when weight needs to be minimized. However, removing the reflex mirror also removes the big, bright, optical viewfinder that is one of the best features of SLR cameras, and, although some of the latest electronic viewfinders are much improved, they lag behind the performance of the best SLR optical viewfinders.

5

6

I have no plans to invest in a mirrorless camera and lens system: for landscape and nature photography I feel that they are a solution in search of a problem. Compared to the large- and medium-format film camera systems that I used early on in my career, modern digital SLRs like the Nikon D800E and D7100 are relatively lightweight and are capable of superb image quality. Removing the reflex mirror assembly reduces the weight of a camera body by up to one pound, but switching from a 70–200mm f2.8 Nikkor zoom lens to a 70–300mm f4/5.6 Nikkor zoom lens reduces the weight from 52 ounces to 15 ounces, which is a saving of almost 2.5 pounds. When I switched from a 500mm f/4 Nikkor to my 50–500mm f/4.5–6.3 Sigma, I cut the size of the lens by 50 percent, reduced the weight by 4.2 pounds, and gained an extremely useful zoom capability with very little loss of image quality. Whichever type and model of digital camera you decide to invest in, be sure to check out the excellent camera reviews at www.dpreview.com before making your purchase.

T r ipods a n d O t h e r Ess e n t ial A cc e sso r i e s If you are not already doing so, using a tripod may be the best thing you can do to improve the quality of your landscape photographs. A sturdy tripod allows you to support heavy cameras and lenses, eliminates camera movement, facilitates the use of slow shutter speeds and small f/stops, and lets you study the image in the viewfinder carefully from a compositional viewpoint. Tripods made from carbon fiber are lightweight and very strong, but two to three times more expensive than metal tripods. The tripod should be tall enough when extended that you don’t have to stoop to look through the camera, but also versatile enough to allow use a few inches from the ground, facilitating close-up photography. I have a strong preference for tripods that do not have a center post; those add to the weight of the tripod and hinder close-up photography. Gitzo and Versa tripods are superb, but very expensive. Bogen and Manfrotto offer less expensive models. The best tripod heads use a ball-and-socket design, with an Arca-Swiss dovetail plate that grips a custom plate that is attached to the base of the camera or long lens. Two fine companies that specialize in tripods, tripod heads, and other support products are Really Right Stuff and Kirk Enterprises. Both provide outstanding products for supporting your cameras and lenses.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

overview of digital landscape and nature photography

Another useful accessory is a cable release, which helps to minimize any vibration of the camera at intermediate shutter speeds, such as 1/15th or 1/8th second. Unless your camera manual indicates otherwise, you will need to turn off image stabilization on your camera or lens. The only optical filter that is indispensable for landscape photography is a polarizing filter; all other filters, including color correction filters and graduated neutral density filters, can be easily simulated electronically, using an image editor such as Adobe Photoshop. Be sure to purchase a “circular,” not a “linear,” polarizer, and buy one that fits your largest-diameter lens, plus inexpensive step-down rings to fit your smaller lenses. A polarizer can be used to intensify colors and reduce specular reflections from the surface of water or other wet subjects, and, as a neutral density filter, to obtain a slower shutter speed when photographing a waterfall. Rotate the polarizing filter while you examine the scene through the viewfinder to obtain the effect that you want. I also carry a calibrated Whibal gray card or Macbeth Color Checker card to use when precise color accuracy is critical—for example, when I am photographing flowering plants. Get the small size for portability.

D igi t al C a m e r a S e t t i n gs Today’s digital cameras are equipped with a bewildering array of features, settings, and options. Many of these options can be safely ignored by the landscape photographer; others are very important and it’s critical that they be correctly set. For the most part, unless noted below, these options can be set once and thereafter rarely need to be changed. First, adjust the viewfinder diopter control to match your eyesight. Unless the setting slips out of adjustment, you should only have to do this once. All SLRs provide this feature, and many P&S cameras have it as well. At my photo workshops, I’m often amazed by the number of people who are unaware of this feature, and have been putting up with a fuzzy image through their camera’s viewfinder for years. Set the sensitivity (ISO) to the camera’s native value, usually the lowest or next to lowest value available (typically 100 or 200). The image quality is always better at the lower ISO values, and if you are using a tripod, as you should be, there’s really no reason not to use the lowest ISO value. By all means use a higher ISO if you plan to handhold the camera, or need a faster shutter speed to freeze movement of the subject, but remember that the higher the ISO

7

8

value the worse the picture quality. That said, today’s digital SLR cameras provide superb image quality with virtually no noise at 400, 800, and, in many cases, much higher ISO settings. Check out the www.dpreview.com detailed review of your camera to view sample photographs taken at high ISO values under controlled test conditions. Set the image size to the maximum number of pixels available. For example, if your camera has a 10-megapixel sensor, be sure the image size is set to record 10 megapixels, and not a lower value. In general, the more pixels your camera records, the better the image quality. How many megapixels do you need? Unless you plan to make very large prints (30×40 inches or larger) a camera with a 16-megapixel sensor will easily meet your needs. I use my fullframe Nikon D800E camera, which has a 36-megapixel sensor, on occasion, but find that my two smaller, 24-megapixel APS-sensor Nikon D7100 cameras are more than adequate for 95 percent of my landscape photography needs. Set the color space to Adobe RGB, if your camera provides this option, otherwise use the sRGB (default) setting. The Adobe RGB color space can record a slightly higher range (gamut) of colors than sRGB, so if you have the Adobe RGB option you may as well use it. Note that this setting does not affect raw files, only in-camera JPEGs. For most landscape photography, set the white balance to “sunny” or “cloudy,” based on the ambient lighting conditions. If you shoot in “raw” mode (see below), you can adjust the white balance later on your computer if you wish. It’s harder to do this if you are shooting JPEGs instead of raw files. I strongly recommend that you shoot raw files, rather than compressed JPEGs, if your camera provides this option. Raw files are able to record a longer tonal range than JPEGs and provide you with much more flexibility in controlling tonality and color, as well as a higher resolution. Raw files are 16 bit, rather than JPEGs, which are 8 bit. This means, in a nutshell, that you can make far more adjustments to the raw file on your computer, without compromising the picture quality, than you can with the same photo taken as a JPEG. Raw files do require an extra processing step on your computer to convert the raw file to a digital image, but this conversion facility is built into all image editors and in practice is easily carried out as part of your digital workflow. Depth-of-field, as discussed below, is determined partly by the f/stop (aperture) setting, so for landscape photography it’s usually best to set the camera’s program mode to “aperture-preferred” (A) rather than “shutterspeed-preferred”

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

overview of digital landscape and nature photography

(S). In other words, you set the f/stop for each photo, based on the depth-offield you need, and the camera’s exposure meter figures out the shutter speed needed at that f/stop setting to obtain a correct exposure for the photograph. Most digital cameras provide three options for measuring exposure: multisegment (Nikon calls this Matrix metering), spot, and center-weighted. I don’t use center-weighted, but multi-segment (usually the default method) and spot metering may be used to obtain very accurate exposures. I usually use multisegment metering, but if you are familiar with the Zone System by all means use spot metering in your landscape photography. Some subjects, such as waterfalls, which usually have lots of very light and very dark areas, are best metered using spot metering. Whichever method you use, adjust the exposure based on the in-camera histogram display after the photo has been taken, as described in the section below on exposure control. Many P&S cameras do not provide manual focusing, but all SLR cameras do, and for landscape photography I recommend you use manual, rather than automatic, focusing with your SLR. Autofocus can be invaluable when photographing sports or wildlife, where movement of the subject is a concern, but for the stationary subjects associated with landscape photography I always prefer to focus manually. If you do use autofocus, make sure the autofocus sensor is placed over the part of the image that you want the camera to focus on.

C o n t r olli n g S h a r p n e ss a n d D e p t h - of - F i e ld If you want your Ohio landscape photographs to be sharp, I mean really sharp, begin by investing in the best-quality camera and lenses you can afford. Armed with good equipment, there are three things you must do in order to achieve razor-sharp pictures: eliminate camera movement, eliminate subject movement, and optimize depth-of-field. Eliminate camera movement by using a sturdy tripod whenever you can. This is the single most important action you can take to improve the sharpness of your landscape photographs. The only exceptions should be locations where tripods are prohibited, such as a few Ohio public gardens, or places where you don’t want to draw attention to yourself, such as county fairs or other events that attract lots of people. If your camera provides image stabilization, be sure it is switched on if you plan to hand-hold the camera.

9

10

Except for a few high-end cameras and lenses, image stabilization should be switched off when using a tripod. If your camera has a mirror lock-up facility, use it, preferably in conjunction with a cable release, whenever you use a tripod. Buildings don’t move, but flowers, leaves, grasses, and animals do, and you need to wait until these subjects have stopped moving to ensure sharp photographs. This can be irritating on a windy day, but there will usually be lulls in the movement of a subject if you are patient. These enforced waiting periods provide excellent opportunities to slow down, reflect on the blessings in your life, and simply enjoy being outdoors in the Buckeye State. There is usually less wind early in the morning than at other times of the day, and the lighting may also be better at this time. Eliminating camera and subject movement still doesn’t guarantee a sharp photograph. You must focus on the right part of the subject and select the f/stop needed to obtain the depth-of-field you want. Some subjects, such as wideangle vistas, usually look best if everything in the picture is in focus. Other subjects, such as close-ups of flowers or portraits of animals and people, benefit from a shallow depth-of-field in which the main subject is sharp but the background is blurred so that the subject stands out. The depth-of-field increases as you stop down a lens. Most camera lenses are at their sharpest when stopped down 2–3 f/stops from the maximum aperture. For example, a wide-angle lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 will be sharpest at about f/5.6 or f/8. At higher f/stop values, such as f/22 or f/32, the depth-of-field will be higher but the sharpness will be less due to an optical effect called diffraction. So try to avoid using the smallest f/stops on your lens unless absolutely necessary. I take most scenic photos with my Nikon SLR cameras at f/stops between f/8 and f/16. With P&S cameras, f/4 or f/5.6 usually provides enough depth-of-field when shooting scenic vistas. To maximize depth-of-field in a scenic photo, focus on a point about halfway up the picture frame. Don’t focus on the closest point, or on the distant horizon; both of these settings waste valuable depth-of-field. Technically, you should focus on a point about a third of the way into the scene, called the hyperfocal distance, but focusing on a point roughly halfway up the picture frame will optimize your depth-of-field in most scenic photos. The great depth-of-field inherent in P&S camera zoom lenses and smartphone cameras can be a problem when shooting close-ups, because it is often hard to produce a diffuse, out-of-focus background that allows the subject to

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

overview of digital landscape and nature photography

stand out. To minimize depth-of-field with P&S cameras, use the longest telephoto setting on the zoom lens that will still allow you to use the “macro” setting, and set the f/stop to the widest aperture. With SLR cameras, use the longest macro lens (preferable) or telephoto lens possible, and use the widest aperture (usually f/4 to f/8) that will keep the main subject in focus but render the background as blurred.

E x pos u r e C o n t r ol What is exposure? In a nutshell, the exposure is the amount of light received by the camera’s digital sensor when you take a photograph. If too much light reaches the sensor, highlight detail will be lost and the picture will look washed out. This is called overexposure. If too little light reaches the digital sensor the picture will appear too dark and shadow detail will be lost. This is called underexposure. The best exposure is the longest exposure that can be given without losing detail in the highlights. The two factors that determine exposure are the shutter speed and the aperture, or f/stop. The longer the shutter speed, the more light reaches the digital sensor. The smaller the f/stop, the less light reaches the sensor. Different combinations of shutter speed and f/stop can be used to produce the same exposure. For example, a shutter speed of 1/60th second and an f/stop of f/8 produce the same exposure as a shutter speed of 1/30th second and f/11, or 1/15th second and f/16. The combination of shutter speed and f/stop you select should be based on the depth-of-field you need, as well as the shutter speed required to stop any subject movement. Your digital camera’s exposure meter reads the light reflected from the scene through the lens and suggests a shutter speed, based on the f/stop you have selected, to achieve the correct exposure. When you have taken the photograph, you can find out if the picture was correctly exposed by examining a display on the LCD screen on the back of your camera called a histogram. Figure 1 shows what a histogram looks like. Briefly, a histogram is a graph that shows the distribution of all the pixels in a photograph, from pure black, shown on the left of the histogram, to pure white, shown on the right. Consult your camera’s manual to find out how to display a histogram on the LCD screen, after an exposure has been taken. Typically, this is done via a thumbwheel setting after you have pressed the “playback” button on the back of the camera.

11

12

figure 1

The shape of the histogram will vary, depending on the subject and the exposure. The number of peaks will be determined by the nature of the subject and isn’t important from an exposure viewpoint. What is important is whether there are any gaps at either end of the histogram, and whether there are any vertical bars on the left-hand or right-hand side of the graph. A gap on the right, or a bar on the left, indicates that the picture is too dark and shadow detail may have been lost; you need to increase the exposure. A gap on the left, or a bar on the right, means that the image is too light and important highlight detail may have been lost; you need to decrease the exposure. A gap on the left and right simply indicates a low-contrast subject; no exposure correction is needed. Figures 2, 3, and 4 are photographs of a False Caesar’s mushroom, one of many colorful mushrooms that can be found in Ohio. In each case, I have superimposed the histogram for each photograph in the bottom left-hand cor-

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

overview of digital landscape and nature photography

ner. Figure 2 shows a correctly exposed mushroom. Note that the pixels are distributed across the entire graph, and there are no gaps or vertical bars at either end of the histogram. Figure 3 shows a photograph that is dark and underexposed. Note that the pixels are concentrated on the left of the graph, and there is a long gap on the right. The exposure must be increased. Figure 4 shows a photograph that is washed out and overexposed. There is a gap on the left and a vertical bar on the right, indicating that highlight detail has been lost, or “clipped.” The exposure must be decreased. How do we adjust the exposure? In landscape photography, it’s important to keep the f/stop fixed so that the depth-of-field will not be affected. Therefore, to adjust the exposure, the shutter speed needs to be increased or decreased. This is done using the exposure compensation control, which is typically a plus/minus toggle switch on the top or back of the camera used in conjunction with a thumbwheel to increase or decrease the exposure. If you are using an aperture-preferred mode setting (A) as recommended, the exposure compensation control will change the shutter speed. A +1 setting will double the exposure, and a -1 setting will halve the exposure. Generally, in landscape photography, we want to preserve highlight detail, even at the expense of shadow detail. This is done by “exposing to the right,” which means giving the longest shutter speed that does not result in clipped highlights, indicated by a vertical bar on the right side of the histogram. Occasionally you may photograph a subject that produces a histogram with a single peak in the middle and a gap at each end of the histogram. This indicates a low-contrast subject without any areas that are very light or very dark. No exposure adjustment is needed, and you can adjust the contrast to taste later using Photoshop, Lightroom, or another image editor. Many SLR cameras, and some P&S cameras, provide additional histograms for each of the three primary color channels: Red, Green, and Blue. This provides a finer level of exposure control than the composite (RGB) histogram. Adjust the exposure to eliminate any clipping in the Red, Green, or Blue channels. Some SLR cameras also offer the option of displaying blinking lights as part of the histogram; the lights indicate when highlight or shadow detail is being clipped. I can’t overemphasize the benefits of learning how to interpret in-camera histograms and use them to precisely control exposure with your digital camera. Take the time to acquire this important skill, and watch your exposures improve!

13

figure 2

below: (left) figure 3; (right) figure 4

overview of digital landscape and nature photography

L ig h t i n g Photography is derived from two Greek words, phos (light) and graphé (draw); photography literally means to “draw with light.” Understanding light and how it affects a scene is a critical skill in landscape photography. Beginners in photography often think that bright sunny weather at midday is ideal lighting for landscape photography, but experienced landscape photographers know that such light is flat and results in washed-out colors. Early morning and late afternoon light is much more interesting, and these are the times I generally prefer for serious landscape photography. Colors are warmer and more saturated, and there is usually less wind, which can be the bane of scenic photography. Another myth in photographic lighting is that the best light for outdoor photography should be frontal light, coming from “over your shoulder.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Frontal lighting is flat, lacks contrast, and does little to delineate shape or texture. Such lighting is boring and ho-hum and, if possible, should be avoided in landscape photography. It’s also difficult to avoid casting a shadow on the foreground of the scene if the light is directly behind you. Sidelight, in which the scene is illuminated from the left or the right as you face the subject, is usually far more attractive, especially early and late in the day when the sun is low in the sky, causing long shadows that help to define the shape of things as well as highlight textures in snow, sand, rock, and other surfaces. Sidelighting increases contrast, enhances the feeling of depth, and is especially effective early and late on sunny days for highlighting details in barns, buildings, bridges, and other man-made structures. Also, especially when the sun is at a 90-degree angle to the direction in which the camera is pointed, sidelighting maximizes the effectiveness of a polarizing filter. Backlighting, also known as contre jour (French for “against the day”), in which the camera is pointed at the light source behind the subject, is the most dramatic kind of lighting, and works well for translucent subjects, such as ice or leaves, or when you wish to render a subject as a silhouette. With backlit and, to a lesser extent, sidelit subjects, your camera meter may have a tendency to underexpose the photograph, so check your in-camera histograms carefully and make any needed exposure adjustments. Occasionally you may need to photograph in very high contrast lighting, either outside on a bright sunny day or inside a building where the lighting is very subdued, except for the daylight streaming in through the windows.

15

16

Digital cameras, even shooting raw files, are usually not able to record these scenes with huge tonal ranges in a single exposure. However, the availability of high dynamic range (HDR) software features and programs today makes it possible to merge multiple bracketed exposures to produce a single image that provides very good detail in both highlights and shadows. Photoshop CS6/CC provides an excellent HDR facility, and there are also several popular HDR programs, such as Photomatix.

C o m posi t io n The great photographer Edward Weston once defined composition as “the strongest way of seeing.” Assuming Weston was correct—and I believe that he was—how can we train ourselves to figure out the “strongest” arrangement of the lines, forms, tones, and colors that make up a photograph? Strong compositions are created, not found, by the photographer. Once you have located an attractive subject, you need to devote some time and effort to designing a composition that showcases the subject in the most effective manner. As you learn how to apply guidelines, principles, and rules of thumb relating to composition, your photographs will gradually improve and the compositional process will become more and more intuitive. You can begin by studying the work of professional nature photographers whose photographs you especially admire. Your purpose should not be to slavishly copy the approach of these masters, but to learn how they compose their great photographs so you can apply some of their compositional techniques in your own pictures. My list of admired landscape photographers includes Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter, Jack Dykinga, Tom Till, Carr Clifton, John Sexton, William Neill, Art Wolfe, Craig Blacklock, Tim Ernst, Paul Rezendes, and Larry Ulrich. I also enjoy the impressionistic nature photography of Freeman Patterson. Ansel Adams once said, “There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.” If you are not able to clearly define the subject of your photograph, you will have a hard time making a good photograph of it. Simplicity is often an ingredient of great nature photographs, so strive to emphasize the main subject in the picture frame and try to remove all distracting elements from the photograph so that the viewer’s attention will be focused squarely on the subject. Will a horizontal or vertical composition work best?

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

overview of digital landscape and nature photography

Where in the picture frame should the main subject be placed? Should the horizon be positioned high or low in the frame? If the subject is a wildflower portrait, is the background diffuse and unobtrusive so that it enhances the subject and does not compete with it? Are there any tonal mergers or other distractions, such as a flat white sky, that will reduce the impact of the photograph? Are you making the best use of leading lines or framing elements in the photograph that will help to focus the viewer’s attention on the primary subject? Use a tripod whenever practical, but don’t be in too much of a hurry to set it up when you find an appealing subject. Hand-hold the camera with a zoom lens attached, so you can explore different camera orientations, positions, lens focal lengths, and depth-of-field settings. When you have designed an effective composition, examine it critically to see if any picture elements can be strengthened, or need to be eliminated because they are distracting. In particular, check the corners and edges of the picture frame and use the depth-of-field control on your camera to ensure there are no items that will divert the viewer’s attention away from the subject.

D igi t al W o r k flow When you get home after your Ohio photography trip, you’ll want to transfer your digital photos from your camera’s memory card to your PC or Mac, edit and organize the photos, and process the best of them with image editing software. This is usually referred to as digital workflow. Provided that your PC or Mac is no more than a few years old, it will probably be more than adequate for processing your digital photographs. If you plan to spend several hours or more each week working on your digital photos, invest in the largest, best quality LCD monitor you can afford, and be sure to calibrate the monitor, using a calibration hardware/software package such as Pantone’s ColorMunki or Colorvision’s Spyder3. LCD monitors are very stable, so you won’t need to calibrate your monitor more than a couple of times each year. Calibration ensures that your monitor’s brightness, contrast, white point, and color rendition are all set to optimal levels. You will also need an image editor software package to process your digital photos. The de facto industry standard is Adobe’s Photoshop (PC and Mac), but this powerful and complex program, used by virtually all professional

17

18

photographers and graphic designers, has a steep learning curve and is expensive to use. Beginning in 2013, Adobe’s Creative Suite of programs, which includes Photoshop, can no longer be purchased outright and must be rented on a month-to-month basis from Adobe. The cost of renting Photoshop CC is currently $10 to $20 per month for most users. Adobe’s newer program, Lightroom (PC and Mac) may still be purchased for about $145, and is much easier to learn. Lightroom does not provide all the bells and whistles of Photoshop, but it is more than adequate for the weekend or casual photographer. Another option is Adobe Photoshop Elements (PC and Mac) or Corel Paintshop Pro; both are easy to learn and cost well under $100. I store all my digital photographs in a Lightroom database, and use Lightroom and Photoshop CS6/CC for image editing. I also teach Lightroom at Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster, Ohio, as part of a fourteen-week program in horticultural photography during summer and fall. In essence, digital workflow involves converting your raw files; cropping the images if necessary; removing any dust spots or other digital imperfections; fine-tuning the tonality and color of each image; sharpening the photos; adding “metadata” that describes the content of each photograph; and organizing and storing your digital photos as TIFF “master files” which can be used in a variety of ways, discussed in the next section. There are also many other software packages, designed to be used as “plug-ins” to image editors such as Photoshop or Lightroom, that offer specific tools for: sharpening digital photos (e.g., Photokit Sharpener); processing high dynamic range (HDR) photographs (e.g., Photomatix); removing digital noise (e.g., Nik Dfine); or providing special color effects (e.g., Nik Viveza). There are many excellent books available on Photoshop and Lightroom, and I’ve included one or two of my favorites at the end of this chapter.

S h a r i n g Yo u r O h io P h o t os wi t h F a m il y , F r i e n ds , a n d C li e n t s When you have processed and fine-tuned your best digital photos and saved them as TIFF master files, you may want to share them with family, friends, or clients via email, slide shows, and websites, as color prints, or, even, in a self-published book. Photos that you plan to send as email attachments should be sized to about 1,000 pixels in the longest dimension (width or height) using your image edi-

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

overview of digital landscape and nature photography

tor, sharpened, then finally saved as compressed JPEG files (Quality=8), converted to the sRGB colorspace. These same JPEGs can be used to create a slideshow of a collection of your digital photos, using special commands available in Lightroom, Aperture, and other image editors. Or you can export the JPEGs from your image editor and use them to create a slide show in a presentation software package such as Microsoft’s Powerpoint, Apple’s Keynote, or Photodex ProShow Gold. I have used Powerpoint for my slide presentations and photography workshops and seminars for years, and have found it to be very satisfactory. If you want to present a slide program to a large group of people you will need to purchase or borrow a digital slide projector. Most slide projectors have a resolution of 1,024×768 pixels (XGA). A few have a higher resolution of 1,400×1,050 pixels (WSXGA), including the Canon Realis line of digital projectors, which I have used for several years for all my presentations. It’s best to size your JPEGs to the maximum resolution of the projector you will be using; I size horizontal photos to 1,400 pixels wide and vertical images to 1,050 pixels high, at a resolution of 96 pixels per inch. Sharpen the JPEGs using your image editor and convert them to the sRGB color space, which is optimal for any multimedia display that will be viewed on a screen. Today the Internet is rapidly becoming the most popular way to disseminate and share photos, either via your own website or using a proprietary system such as Flickr, Picasa, or Facebook. It’s very easy to upload your favorite photos to these social-networking websites, but you should be aware that some of these sites, including Picasa and Facebook, require you to accept terms and conditions that grant the owner of the website (e.g., Google), broad access to the content of your photographs. This may not be an issue for weekend or casual photographers, but it is definitely a concern to professional photographers who are striving to control access to their images. Be sure to read the “terms and conditions” of the site carefully before you tick the “accept” box. Also note that Facebook may reduce the resolution of some photographs you upload to its website, so be sure to back up your original photos on your computer system. If you have your own website, you can upload your digital photos and create one or more galleries of your images. Some image editors, including Lightroom and Aperture, will automatically generate the HTML or Flash programs needed to create a basic website gallery, or you can use a proprietary software package to develop and manage your website galleries. I converted my entire

19

20

website to Wordpress during 2013, which allows me to maintain the website with a minimum of effort and without the need for complex programming skills. I can add, modify, and delete website pages easily, as well as manage my blog and other website content. I use the Nextgen Gallery plug-in to create and manage the photo galleries on my website. Another popular way to share your photography is to make color inkjet prints. During the past decade a dramatic improvement in the quality, cost effectiveness, and longevity of inkjet prints has occurred, with superb printers available from Epson, Canon, and Hewlett Packard in sizes from 8.5 to 72 inches in width. I have used an Epson Stylus Pro 9600, 9800, and 9900 for more than a decade to produce hundreds of color prints up to 40×60 inches in size for corporate and private clients, and I have been thrilled with the quality of the prints as well as the reliability and durability of these large-format printers. Epson inkjet printers use pigmented inks and can be used to print on a wide variety of glossy and matte papers as well as on canvas. The archival life of these pigmented inks and papers exceeds one hundred years. An ongoing challenge when producing color inkjet prints is to ensure that your color prints match the photographs that you view on your computer’s LCD monitor. This process is called color management. In essence, it involves always using a carefully calibrated monitor in conjunction with accurate paper/ ink “profiles” created for each type of paper on which you plan to print your photos. These profiles are usually included with the inkjet printer, or you can download them from the printer manufacturer’s website. Another way to share your photographic collections is with a self-published book. Web-based, print-on-demand, publishing services such as Blurb, Lulu, and MyPublisher now allow you to download free software that provides templates which you can use to design your own book. After creating a pdf to proof the book design, templates may be uploaded to the Blurb website and used to create one or more printed copies of the book. During 2012 Adobe released Lightroom 4.0, which included a book module that allows the user to produce a self-published book using Blurb.com’s services. As part of the fourteen-week course in digital photography I teach each year at Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI), my students use this module to design a self-published book, featuring a selection of some of the photographs they have taken during the course. Some of the students achieve excellent results in the program using only their smartphones to complete the photography.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

overview of digital landscape and nature photography

S t o r i n g Yo u r D igi t al P h o t os How do you store your digital photos? Can you find any photo quickly and easily? And if, heaven forbid, you suffered a “disaster” in the form of a flood or fire, do you have another copy of your important digital photographs? I asked myself these questions a couple of years ago, and the answers were not very encouraging. To begin with, most of my digital photos were stored on several external hard drives, but some were only on my computer’s main hard drive. I had some, though not all, of the images backed up on cd/dvds. The computer and external drives, plus the cd/dvds, were stored in my basement office at home. Also stored there were more than 50,000 35mm, 6×8cm, and 4×5-inch color transparencies, filed in nine four-drawer metal filing cabinets. Although my basement office is sealed against flooding, and has a couple of fire sensors connected to my security alarm system, a major fire could potentially wipe out almost thirty years of professional photography. All computer hard drives eventually fail, and storing important information and digital photographs on your computer’s main hard drive is asking for trouble. In addition, digital photographs eat up lots of disk storage, eventually degrading your computer’s performance. Today most professional photographers store their digital photographs on external hard drives, preferably using a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) configuration which provides a backup of all data stored on the external drives. RAID is efficient but can be complicated to set up and maintain unless you are a computer expert. After a few hours of online research, I settled on a DROBO, a data robot storage system developed and marketed by Data Robotics, Inc. I purchased the largest version, with four 1-terabyte Western Digital SATA drives, expandable to 16 terabytes, for a little over $1,000. DROBO automatically makes a backup of all data entered, with absolutely no programming involved. Simply transfer your digital files to the DROBO and DROBO does the rest. New, larger, drives can be added when needed, and if a drive ever fails, DROBO goes to work to recreate the data from the other drives. The latest DROBO models accept 2- and 3-terabyte drives and the new USB 3.0 protocol enables very fast data transfer speeds. I spent a couple of weeks reorganizing my digital photos into about forty major folders, then copied the folders to the DROBO, which used up roughly 35 percent of the available storage. This represented about eight years of digital photography, so there’s plenty of space left on my DROBO for many more

21

22

years of work. To guard against the (unlikely) possibility of the DROBO unit itself failing, I also purchased an extended warranty. To further ensure against fire, flood, or theft I installed backup software on my PC. Each month I copy the entire contents of the DROBO (currently about 1.5 terabytes ) to a 2-terabyte external drive which is kept at another location. The newest DROBO models provide a fast, USB 3.0 connection to my PC, which allows me to use the DROBO as primary online storage for my digital photographs. So far, I’m very pleased with the DROBO, and so, apparently, are many other users, because several hundred thousand DROBO units have been sold worldwide to date.

References Adams, Ian. The Art of Garden Photography. Portland: Timber Press, 2005. byThom Sites. http://www.bythom.com. Great information on landscape photography and Nikon cameras and lenses. Detrick, Alan L. Macro Photography for Gardeners and Nature Lovers: The Essential Guide to Digital Techniques. Portland: Timber Press, 2008. Digital Photography Review. http://www.dpreview.com. Excellent camera reviews. Drobo. http://www.drobo.com. Elegant, cost-effective, data storage hardware and software. Evening, Martin. Adobe Photoshop CS6 for Photographers. Boston: Focal Press, 2012. ———. The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers. San Francisco: Peachpit Press, 2013. Gerlach, John and Barbara. Digital Landscape Photography. Boston: Focal Press, 2010. Imaging Resource. http://www.imaging-resource.com. Good reviews of cameras and lenses. The Luminous Landscape. http://www.luminous-landscape.com. Excellent camera and other photography equipment reviews. Wolfe, Art, and Martha Hill. The New Art of Photographing Nature: An Updated Guide to Composing Stunning Images of Animals, Nature, and Landscapes. New York: Amphoto Books, 2013. Wolfe, Art, and Rob Sheppard. The Art of the Photograph: Essential Habits for Stronger Compositions. New York: Amphoto Books, 2013.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

Natural Areas and Preserves

Ohio does not flaunt its natural areas. A traveler driving across the state on the Ohio Turnpike or heading north or south on Interstate 71, or 77, will not encounter vistas of snow-capped peaks, rocky canyons, or a rugged coastline. A window-seat view of Ohio from 30,000 feet in a commercial jetliner will reveal a patchwork quilt of rolling hills, farm fields, a few lakes, and a network of many rivers, roads, and railroad lines, peppered with villages, towns, and cities, and bordered by Lake Erie to the north and the mighty Ohio River to the east and south. Draw a line on a map of Ohio joining Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, our state’s largest three cities. West of that line, the terrain is fairly level, becoming even more so as you travel west or north. East of the line, as you travel east or south, the land rises gradually into the foothills of the Appalachians that crest beyond Ohio’s border in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Sadly, only a tiny fraction of the Buckeye State has escaped the hand of man and remains undisturbed from pre-settlement times. Virtually all of

tundra swans, funk bottoms

23

24

Ohio’s old growth forest has been cut, and more than 90 percent of her wetlands and prairies have been drained for farming or development. Despite this huge loss, Ohio still has much to offer the nature photographer. More than a million acres of woodlands are preserved in the Wayne National Forest and twenty smaller state forests spread around the Buckeye State. Ohio has 134 state nature preserves, 74 state parks covering 160,000 acres in sixty counties, and 108 state wildlife areas encompassing 135,000 acres. There are also over 800 miles of state scenic rivers, hundreds of city and county parks, and hundreds more privately owned natural areas. These diverse natural regions are home to about 1,800 species of plants, 51 mammals, 418 birds, 66 reptiles and amphibians, 135 species of butterflies, 165 kinds of dragonflies, thousands of moths, beetles, and other insects, and numerous rare and endangered species in many of these groups. You would need several lifetimes to thoroughly explore the photographic possibilities of the diverse natural areas, flora, and fauna of the Buckeye State. A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio provides detailed information on about forty of Ohio’s natural areas and preserves. This new book covers forty more places that provide good opportunities for photographing the geology, big trees, wetlands, prairies, and wildlife of the Buckeye State. Ohio’s geological attractions are modest in size. Big Pine Pillar and Umbrella Rock would not merit a second glance in Monument Valley or Bryce Canyon. The rock arches at Rockbridge and Raven Rock State Nature Preserves would easily be overlooked at Arches or Canyonlands National Park, and Castalia Quarry would be lost in the immensity of the Grand Canyon. So you can head west and experience the long lines of traffic, steep hotel and gas prices, packed parking lots, and crowds of sightseers waiting for the chance to point their iPhones at the same grand vistas of the American West that have already been memorialized and posted on Facebook by millions of tourists before you. Or you can escape the summer crowds, save a bundle of money, avoid wear and tear on your car, stay in the Buckeye State, and enjoy a pleasant hike off the beaten track to one of Ohio’s rock outcrops, where you will more than likely have the place to yourself. As a lover of quiet and solitude on my photographic quests, the choice for me is a no-brainer. It’s the same story with Ohio’s big trees. Your lifetime bucket list of American natural wonders worth a visit should certainly include the sequoias and coast redwoods of the Pacific Northwest, which are the largest and tallest trees not only in America, but also in the world. These enormous trees have been

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

natural areas and preserves

alive for millennia, and their sheer immensity will make you shake your head in disbelief. But so will some of Ohio’s biggest trees, ten of which are the national champions of their species. The nation’s largest American sycamore, near Jeromesville in Ashland County, is more than 50 feet around the circumference of its four huge trunks, and the giant white oak at Logan’s Old Cemetery is more than six hundred years old. At Sugarcreek MetroPark you can walk through a long tunnel of Osage orange trees, and the magnificent eastern cottonwood at Alum Creek State Park is less than a 2-minute stroll from your car. The Ohio Division of Forestry maintains a comprehensive database of Ohio’s big trees, and this book will introduce you to a few of them. When you pay them a visit, you will more than likely have them to yourself. I have always enjoyed exploring and photographing Ohio’s bogs, fens, swamps, marshes, and vernal pools, and more than half of the places described in this chapter include one or more kinds of wetlands, which are home to more than a third of Ohio’s rare and unusual animals and plants. Just be sure to wear waterproof boots and pack some mosquito repellent when you visit Ohio’s wetlands. Some of the finest remaining prairies in the Buckeye State are also included in the natural areas and preserves described in this chapter. I occasionally dabble in wildlife photography around Ohio, and several places that provide good opportunities for photographing birds and other wildlife are mentioned in this book, but it is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to Ohio wildlife photography. The Buckeye State is home to many talented wildlife photographers, notably Gary Meszaros, Jim Roetzel, Robert Royse, Matthew Studebaker, and Brian Zwiebel. Visit these photographers’ websites to admire their great wildlife images and learn more about photographing Ohio’s birds and other wildlife.

Tips fo r P h o t og r ap h i n g O h io ’ s B u t t e r fli e s , D r ago n fli e s , a n d D a m s e lfli e s I have a special fondness for dragonflies, damselflies, and butterflies, and have spent countless hours observing and photographing these elusive and beautiful gossamer-winged creatures. Several of my nature photography workshops and website blog articles have focused on how to observe, identify, and photograph these fascinating fliers, and in the following few paragraphs I share a few tips on photographing butterflies and dragonflies.

25

26

Most smartphones have a fixed, wide-angle lens that is too short for photographing insects, and most butterflies and dragonflies won’t allow you to get close enough to make a phone camera effective. In addition, the extensive depth-of-field of cell phone cameras makes it hard to obtain an out-of-focus background that will focus the viewer’s attention on the insect rather than on what is behind it in the photograph. Point-and-shoot cameras with optical zoom lenses are much more flexible, and many of the so called “super zoom” cameras, such as some of the Panasonic Lumix and Sony Cyber-shot models, are lightweight, have excellent sensors and optics, and can be quite effective for insect photography. Make sure the camera is equipped with a high-quality electronic viewfinder, because an LCD screen is very hard to see on the sunny and bright cloudy days that butterflies and dragonflies favor. If you are looking for the finest image quality in your butterfly and dragonfly photographs the best camera to use is a digital SLR with an APS-size (DX) sensor and an optically-stabilized long macro lens in the 150–200mm range. The APS-size sensor provides a longer reach, which means that a 150mm macro lens becomes the 35mm equivalent of a 225mm, and a 200mm macro lens becomes a 300mm in 35mm terms. These macro lenses are easy to handhold for long periods, which is essential when you are pursuing free-flying butterflies and dragonflies. I am especially impressed by the new Sigma 150mm and 180mm APO OS macro lenses, which provide excellent optical stabilization, are very well constructed, and have outstanding optical performance when coupled with cameras such as the 24-megapixel Nikon D7100 or the 18-megapixel Canon EOS 70D. Some photographers prefer to use 400–600mm wildlife lenses, but these lenses are heavy, hard to hand-hold for any length of time, and very cumbersome when wading in rivers and wetlands in pursuit of elusive butterflies and dragonflies. What about tripods? Although I generally prefer to use a sturdy tripod for close-up photography of wildflowers, mushrooms, and other static nature subjects, I find a tripod to be an encumbrance for insect photography, except for early in the morning when most insects are stationary and roosting on vegetation, making it possible, with care, to manipulate a tripod into position without disturbing the insect or dislodging it from its perch. In late summer, dew-covered dragonflies and butterflies are best photographed using a tripod in this way. Today many digital SLR cameras provide superb image quality at ISO settings of 400–800 and higher, especially when used to produce raw files rather

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

natural areas and preserves

than in-camera compressed JPEGs. I prefer to always work in aperturepreferred program mode in order to control depth-of-field. Although I have a strong preference for natural light in scenic and most close-up photography, I often use flash for photographing butterflies and dragonflies in order to better control exposure and color rendition. Some photographers use a single flash with a diffuser and others prefer a macro setup with twin flashes that can be positioned at different angles. I find these twin flash systems to be somewhat heavy and cumbersome, especially when working in dense vegetation, and prefer to use a compact ring flash such as a Nikon SB29s or a Sigma EM-140 DG Macro Flash. I use a full-power setting and an f/stop of f/8–f/16 when photographing large insects from a distance, and a 0.25-power or 0.5-power setting and an f/stop of f/11–f/22 when photographing skippers, other small butterflies, or damselflies where the camera and lens need to be positioned close to the subject to obtain enough magnification. I carry a pair of 10×42 close-focusing binoculars to help identify butterflies and dragonflies at a distance to decide if I want to stalk and photograph them. To get close to flying insects, move slowly and avoid casting a shadow on the insect with your body, which will often cause the insect to take flight. To help identify butterflies, take photographs of both the upper and lower surfaces of their wings. Dragonflies usually rest with their wings held at 90 degrees to their abdomen, while damselflies fold their wings over their body or hold them at a 45 degree angle. For identification purposes, photograph dragonflies and damselflies from above and from the side, and try also to obtain close-up photographs of the insect’s head, thorax, and the tip of the abdomen, all of which aid in the identification process. When composing portraits of insects, try to frame the creature so that it is positioned along a diagonal rather than parallel to the side of the frame, and position the insect off-center so that it is looking into the picture space rather than looking out of the frame. In addition, try a few “head on” views in which the insect is looking directly at the camera. If you would like to learn more about Ohio’s butterflies, skippers, and moths, consider joining the Ohio Lepidopterists, a group which publishes a newsletter four times each year, holds several meetings in which experts make presentations on identifying butterflies and moths, and schedules field trips during the summer to butterfly “hot spots” throughout the Buckeye State. To learn more about Ohio’s dragonflies and damselflies, consider joining the Ohio Odonata Society, whose expert members will help you to identify and learn more about the 165 species of dragonflies and damselflies that have been observed in the

27

juniper hairstreak

baltimore checkerspot and chrysalis

blue dasher

calico pennant

Buckeye State. More information about these two organizations is included in the resources section at the end of this chapter.

30

T h e F u t u r e of O h io ’ s Na t u r al A r e as and Preserves This book and its predecessor, A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio, include information on more than twenty-five of the most scenic and diverse of Ohio’s 120+ state nature preserves. Most of these preserves were established and managed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Natural Areas and Preserves (DNAP) during the tenure of retired DNAP chiefs Dick Moseley and Guy L. Denny. Unfortunately, during the Strickland administration, beginning in 2009, state budgetary shortfalls resulted in DNAP being essentially dismantled, and its responsibilities, including the ongoing management and conservation of Ohio’s many state nature preserves, was transferred to ODNR’s Division of Parks and Recreation and ODNR’s Division of Wildlife. Neither of these divisions possesses enough qualified staff or the budget to effectively manage Ohio’s state nature preserves, and, as a result, some of the preserves are deteriorating from a lack of maintenance and many others are being overrun by a host of invasive trees, shrubs, and plants. For Ohio photographers it is not a pretty picture (pun intended). What can you do to help? For starters, please consider joining and lending your support to the Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association (ONAPA), a group of highly-qualified Ohio naturalists and many ex-DNAP staff dedicated to promoting, protecting and improving Ohio’s natural areas and preserves for educational, charitable, and scientific purposes. To learn more about ONAPA, visit www.onapa.org.

Adams Lake State Park, Adams County Location: From the junction of State Route 41 and State Route 125 in West Union, travel north on State Route 41 for 1.5 miles to the entrance to Adams Lake State Park. Website: http://www.parks.ohiodnr.gov/adamslake GPS Coordinates: 38.813095N 83.519876W

Adams Lake State Park is a small (95-acre) park near West Union, the largest town in Adams County, which lies west of Portsmouth and north of the Ohio River. Adams Lake was originally constructed to provide drinking water to West Union, but was sold to the State of Ohio in 1950 and is now managed as a state park. The main attractions for photography are the lake itself and a a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

natural areas and preserves

prairie dock, adams lake state nature preserve

xeric prairie hidden in an oak forest that is a refuge for many interesting plants and animals. A paved road, just under a mile long, leads west along the edge of the lake from the park entrance, ending in a turnaround near the western end of the lake. From the turnaround, a foot trail follows the southern shoreline of the lake east for about three quarters of a mile. When I visited in mid-August, a large colony of American lotus was blooming just north of the park road turnaround in the shallows at the western end of the lake. This is also a good location for sunrise photographs of the lake. Powerboats are not allowed on Lake Adams, and the western section of the park is usually a tranquil place to visit early or late in the day. A parking area a few hundred feet east of the turnaround is the starting point for the Post Oak and Prairie Dock Trails in the 22-acre Adams Lake Prairie State Nature Preserve. The Prairie Dock Trail, about a mile long, takes you through a prairie opening in the oak-hickory woodland. This is a xeric (dry) short grass prairie, with many plants that are more common south of the Ohio River. The trail is named for a large colony of Prairie Dock, a spectacular plant with yellow flowers that blooms here in midsummer on stems that may be 10 feet tall, with rough, sandpapery basal leaves that are up to 18 inches long and a foot across. At one point the tall Prairie Dock stems arch over the trail creating a tunnel that makes a great subject for photography, preferably

31

natural areas and preserves

with cloudy lighting, or early or late on a sunny day. There are also blazing stars, several milkweed species, and other prairie plants growing here, and many butterflies visit the prairie in summer. As you travel the Prairie Dock Trail, notice the large mounds of earth, up to several feet high. These mounds are home to huge colonies of Allegheny mound ants (Formica exsectoides); each mound may contain up to 100,000 worker ants in summer. By all means photograph the ant mounds from the trail, but don’t get too close. The ants are very aggressive and will bite if their mounds are disturbed. A small butterfly, the Edwards’ hairstreak (Satyrium Edwardsii), takes advantage of the mound ants’ bellicose behavior with a unique partnership. The hairstreak’s larvae, which dine on oak leaves, are vulnerable to predators, especially parasitic insects, but the caterpillars are looked after and guarded by the ants, which receive sugary secretions from the larvae as their reward. From Adams Lake State Park it’s only a 15-minute drive to Chaparral Prairie State Nature Preserve, northwest of West Union, and about a 25-minute drive to the Serpent Mound, which is on State Route 73 north of Peebles.

American Sycamore, Ashland County Location: In a wood on a private farm, about 0.5 mile northeast of the intersection of U.S. Route 30 and State Route 89, near Jeromesville, Ashland County. From the intersection, head north on State Route 89, past some new houses, to a dirt track that leads east through a farm field for 0.25 mile to a wood. Just inside the wood, follow a trail north, roughly parallel to the edge of the woods, for a few hundred feet, down a hill, to an open area. There you’ll see the giant sycamore, standing near a small stream next to another farm field. Website: http://www.jeromesvilleoh.us/sycamore GPS Coordinates: 40.78951N 82.17791W

The giant American sycamore near Jeromesville in Ashland County is the largest living thing in the Buckeye State. It’s also the national champion, bigger than any other sycamore in the United States. This behemoth measures more than 48 feet around its base, and its largest single trunk is over 35 feet in circumference. The tree stands 129 feet tall and its average crown spread is 105 feet, giving it a total of 577 points, more than any other tree in the Buckeye State. Its closest rival in Ohio is the huge eastern cottonwood in Delaware County, with 540 points. The cottonwood is also described in this chapter. Ohio forester and big-tree expert Brian Riley has compared these two majestic trees in an article, “Tree Talk with Brian Riley,” published in the Fall 2010 issue of the Ohio Woodland Journal. The American sycamore in Ashland sunrise, adams lake state park

33

base of american sycamore, jeromesville

County is several hundred years old, and Riley estimates that the Delaware County eastern cottonwood is one hundred and fifty to two hundred years old. The American sycamore in Jeromesville is more challenging to photograph. While the eastern cottonwood is very accessible and makes a great image from virtually any viewpoint around its huge, almost symmetrical, trunk, the sprawling multiple trunks of the American sycamore are hard to photograph from any angle. Sycamore foliage is not very attractive, but the light gray and white trunks and upper branches contrast well with a blue sky in winter. Even with an ultra-wide-angle lens, you need to stand some distance from this sycamore in order to include the entire tree in a photograph. To truly appreciate the tree’s enormous dimensions, try to take a photograph with something that will provide the viewer with a size reference, such as yourself (use your camera’s self-timer). When I visited the tree, I set my camera on a tripod, activated the self-timer, and sprinted over to the tree as fast as my mid-sixties body could cover the distance. I stand around 5 feet 11 inches and top the scales (to my chagrin) at about 240 pounds, yet I take on the dimensions of an 34

natural areas and preserves

queen of the prairie, seibenthaler fen, beaver creek wetlands

insect when compared to this monumental tree. The large cavity in the base of the largest trunk has enough space for a dozen people to fit inside.

Beaver Creek Wetlands, Greene County Location: Beaver Creek Wetlands lie along a 12-mile corridor between Fairborn and Xenia in northern Greene County. The center of the corridor is east of Interstate 675, 7 miles south of Fairborn, 7 miles northwest of Xenia, and about 12 miles east of Dayton. Website: http://www.beavercreekwetlands.org GPS Coordinates: 39.738198N 84.011638W (Seibenthaler Fen Parking Area)

Despite the loss of more than 90 percent of Ohio’s original wetlands since the mid-1800s, there have also been many success stories in Ohio wetlands preservation, and Beaver Creek Wetlands is an excellent example. Since 1988, when the Beaver Creek Wetlands Association (BCWA) was established, a team of dedicated local volunteers, working in partnership with the Nature Conservancy, the Ohio Division of Wildlife, Greene County Parks, and other state and local groups, has managed to conserve more than 1,800 acres of wetlands and other natural areas along the 12-mile Big Beaver Creek/Little Beaver Creek corridor in Greene County, east of Dayton.

35

frosted grasses, big island wildlife area

Beginning in early spring, look for skunk cabbage, marsh marigold, and other woodland wildflowers. Later in spring, many songbirds, waterfowl, and other bird migrants use the Beaver Creek corridor on their northward journey. The fen and prairie wildflowers bloom from July through late September, when fall bird migrants make their way south along Beaver Creek. All of these wetlands are worth exploring for the many species of butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies that may be found here during the summer months. Late September and October bring fall color displays in the wetlands and woodlands. For detailed information, visit the Beaver Creek Wetlands website, a model of clarity, useful information, and ease of use. Each of the eleven wetland areas has its own website page with key information, excellent photographs, and a downloadable pdf map. BCWA also publishes a quarterly newsletter, The Spotted Turtle. Some areas within Beaver Creek Wetlands are owned by the Ohio Division of Wildlife, which permits hunting from September through February. Please be sure to wear brightly colored clothing in these wetlands during hunting season. 36

big island wildlife area

Big Island Wildlife Area, Marion County Location: Big Island Wildlife Area is located about 5 miles west of Marion, and is roughly bounded by DeCliff–Big Island Road to the north, State Route 203 to the east, LaRue–Prospect Road to the south, and New Bloomington to the west. State Route 95 passes through the main section of the wildlife area. Website: http://www.ohiodnr.com/LinkClick.aspx?link=19696&tabid=19694 GPS Coordinates: 40.586386N 83.226212W (Wildlife Viewing Deck)

Big Island Wildlife Area covers 5,872 acres and is the largest wetland prairie area in the Buckeye State. About 60 percent of the flat terrain consists of meadows, crop fields, and prairie grasses. Twenty percent is woodland, and the remainder comprises ponds, marshes, and other wetlands. The extensive wetlands are managed for waterfowl and furbearing animals, including muskrats and beavers. Big Island Wildlife Area is not especially scenic, though there are some nice views of the marshes along State Route 95 and Larue–Prospect Road, especially during winter, when the marsh grasses turn gold early and late on

37

38

sunny days. During spring and fall, migrating waterfowl and dozens of species of songbirds visit the area; there are nice stands of wetland and prairie wildflowers during summer and early fall. The wildlife area has three bald eagle nests, including one along the Scioto River south of LaRue–Prospect Road and west of Township Road 84. Rough-legged hawks, northern harriers, redtailed hawks, and American kestrels hunt meadow voles and other rodents here in winter, and short-eared owls often winter in the marshes. During the warmer months, many kinds of butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies may be found in the meadows and wetlands. Nearly six thousand acres is a lot of terrain to scout, and my approach is to drive slowly along the roads, with my camera and Sigma 50–500mm lens or Nikon 200–400mm lens resting on the passenger seat next to me, as I look for raptors or other wildlife subjects. Short-eared owls usually do not appear until twilight, though occasionally they will hunt earlier, allowing for photos. Shorteared owls look like giant moths in flight, and they often perch on fences and other places near the ground. Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area is only a 20-minute drive to the north, and I invariably plan to visit both of these places when I’m in the vicinity.

Big Pine Pillar (Balanced Rock), Hocking County Location: Big Pine Pillar is on a hillside south of Big Pine Road in Hocking State Forest. It is accessed from a large parking lot on the north side of Big Pine Road (County Road 11), 1.1 miles east of State Route 374. Cross Big Pine Road and follow the path over Big Pine Creek on a metal bridge. When you reach a kiosk, where rock climbers must register, turn left, and follow the bridle trail east. The trail parallels Big Pine Creek, crosses a stream, passes near a house with a red roof on the left, then climbs a series of steep switchbacks up the hillside to a cleft bordered by tall cliffs of sandstone. Follow the trail through the cleft to the top of the cliffs, and after a few more yards you will see Big Pine Pillar on the left, just beyond the edge of the cliffs. The pillar is about 0.75 mile from the parking lot. Website: N/A GPS Coordinates: 39.459208N 82.55844W (Parking Area) 39.457784N 82.551938W (Pillar)

Big Pine Pillar, also known as Balanced Rock, is one of the most impressive rock pillars in the Buckeye State. The pillar is the remains of a slump block that was originally part of the neighboring sandstone cliff. The softer base of the pillar has eroded more quickly than the harder, upper section, creating the balanced rock on top. Eventually, the softer rock at the base of the balanced rock will weather away and the rock will topple off its pedestal. a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

big pine pillar

40

There are many tall trees surrounding the pillar, and on a sunny day they cast shadows on the pillar, creating a scene that is visually very complex and difficult to compose well. I suggest visiting the pillar on a cloudy day, or early/ late on a sunny day, so that the tree shadows are eliminated. There are several viewpoints on top of the cliffs, or you can scramble along the base of the cliff, which leads to a dramatic view of the pillar from its base. From this angle, the top rock appears to be truly balanced on the pillar, ready to fall at any time. There is another balanced rock on the east side of Crane Hollow Nature Preserve, an extensive hollow that lies north of the parking area on Big Pine Road. Crane Hollow is privately owned, and a permit is needed to visit this area, though you can hike without a permit north from the parking area as far as Airplane Rock, a large rock outcropping that provides a great view from the top.

Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve, Licking County Location: The main (east) parking lot for Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve is located about 12.5 miles east of Newark, near the tiny town of Toboso, 1.5 miles south of State Route 146 on County Road 263, just south of the Licking River. Website: http://www.naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/blackhandgorge GPS Coordinates: 40.056169N 82.218365W (Main Parking Area)

Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve is a 957-acre, 4-mile-long gorge in central Ohio cut by the Licking River through a rock formation known as Blackhand sandstone. The name “Blackhand” refers to a dark, hand-shaped Indian petroglyph that was carved in a large sandstone cliff along the north side of the river. The Blackhand was destroyed in 1828 when canal builders dynamited the cliff face during the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal, which ran through the gorge. Remnants of the canal towpaths and locks, as well as an old railroad tunnel and cutting, may be seen along the trails that follow the river. In addition to more than 10 miles of foot trails, Blackhand Gorge has a 4-mile bike trail that winds through the gorge. There is another parking area at the west end of the gorge, on Brushy Fork Road SE near the junction with County Road 668. The 4.3-mile Blackhand Trail is a flat, paved trail that parallels the Licking River through the gorge. The trail passes through Deep Cut, a man-made sandstone gorge excavated for the Central Ohio Railroad tracks that once ran through the gorge. There are many attractive views of the Licking River along the trail, and several places where birch tree roots embrace the sandstone cliffs and boulders. My favorite hike is the 1-mile Quarry Rim Trail, which a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

quarry rim trail, blackhand gorge state nature preserve

follows the rim of some quarries where the rock used to build the canal locks and other structures was obtained. The quarries are now filled with water, and this trail provides many excellent viewpoints, though in places is so high above the water that a good head for heights is needed to enjoy it. The Canal Lock Trail visits Lock 16, a well-preserved canal lock, and a 300-foot tunnel that was blasted through a hillside for the railway. There are seasonal waterfalls along the Chestnut Oak and Marie Hickey Trails, and the forests have great displays of wildflowers in spring.

Burton Wetlands Nature Preserve, Geauga County Location: Burton Wetlands Nature Preserve is located 3.5 miles southwest of Burton at 15681 Old Rider Road, about 200 yards north of Pond Road, in Geauga County. Website: http://www.geaugaparkdistrict.org/parks/burton.shtml GPS Coordinates: 41.442911N 81.180534W (Main Parking Area)

The Cuyahoga River rises in northern Geauga County, and flows through several thousand acres of glacial lakes, ponds, and bogs known as the Cuyahoga Wetlands south and west of Burton. While Ohio has lost more than 95 percent

41

lake kelso, geauga county

of its original wetlands, the Cuyahoga Wetlands include some of the most pristine boreal natural areas remaining in the Buckeye State. One of the jewels of this area is Lake Kelso, a beautiful glacial lake that is part of Burton Wetlands Nature Preserve, a 305-acre parcel that also includes the Charles Dambach State Nature Preserve west of Lake Kelso. From the parking lot on Old Rider Road, the 0.22-mile Glacier Trail heads east to an observation platform overlooking Lake Kelso. This is a great place for sunrise. In midsummer the surface of the lake near the shoreline is covered with the white blossoms of fragrant water lilies. The fall color here is vibrant, and many species of dragonflies and damselflies are on the wing in late spring and summer, including rare species like the American emerald. However, 42

natural areas and preserves

poison sumac is abundant near the edge of the lake, so be sure you can recognize and avoid the leaves and berries of this toxic shrub. Just south of Lake Kelso is the smaller Fern Lake, surrounded by tamarack trees. There are no trails to Fern Lake, which is owned by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and requires a visitor’s permit. If you want to photograph tamarack trees, whose needles turn yellow gold in fall, visit Triangle Lake Bog or Kent Bog state nature preserves in Portage County. Both of these preserves have many more tamarack trees and excellent boardwalk trails and are open to the public without a permit. If you like to observe and photograph butterflies, the large meadow west of the main parking lot is well worth a visit, using the 1.12-mile Kettle Trail, which features a loop past a beaver pond through the swamp forest at the Charles Dambach Preserve. To the south of Burton Wetlands, the area north of Snow Lake includes the Lucille Nash Preserve, protecting the only example of a white pine bog forest left in the Buckeye State. Sandhill cranes nest in this marshy area, managed by the Ohio chapter of the Nature Conservancy. You’ll need a permit to visit this preserve, but interpretive hikes for members and guests are scheduled here regularly by Nature Conservancy staff during the warmer months. Finally, Punderson State Park in nearby Newbury has several large glacial lakes, 10 miles of hiking trails, a manor house resort, and excellent fishing and recreational activities.

Caesar Creek Gorge State Nature Preserve, Warren County Location: The preserve is located at 4080 Corwin Road, Oregonia, OH 45054. From Waynesville, follow State Route 73 east, cross the Little Miami River, turn left on Smith Road, then left on Corwin Road. Follow Corwin Road south for 2.6 miles to a large parking area on the left, just south of the bridge over Caesar Creek. Website: http://www.stateparks.com/caesar_creek_gorge.html GPS Coordinates: 39.491776N 84.101507W

Caesar Creek Gorge in Warren County was formed, about 450 million years ago, by glacial melt water, scouring out a deep gorge with walls of Ordovician limestone and shale, rich in fossils. Caesar Creek flows from the outlet of Caesar Creek Lake in Caesar Creek State Park through the gorge for about 2 miles to its confluence with the Little Miami River north of Oregonia. Most of this scenic gorge is protected in the 483-acre Caesar Creek Gorge State Nature Preserve. Caesar Creek is named for a black slave, Cizar, captured and adopted by Shawnee Indians, who liked to hunt in this area.

43

44

mayapples and phlox, caesar creek gorge state nature preserve

From the parking lot, walk back to the bridge over Caesar Creek on Corwin Road and enjoy the view downstream to the Little Miami River. When I last visited in summer, several white-tailed deer were wading in the shallows of the creek. A short trail takes you from the parking lot to a 2.25-mile loop trail that circles through the northern section of the gorge on the west bank of Caesar Creek. There is an excellent display of wildflowers in spring, and good views of the creek and the adjacent floodplain. Some of the many large American a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

caesar creek gorge

sycamores along the edges of the creek are very photogenic, with gnarly roots and attractive bark patterns. The walls of the gorge, mostly obscured by greenery in summer, are best observed and photographed in winter, early spring, or late fall. Just east of the gorge is Caesar Creek State Park. Its focal point is the 2,830acre Caesar Creek Lake, created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1970s for flood control. Near the large dam at the south end of the lake, the water is 115 feet deep, deeper than any other lake in Ohio. Just south of the dam, a large emergency spillway, about 0.5-mile long, was excavated in the bedrock. This is one of the best places in Ohio to observe and collect fossils, plentiful in the Ordovician limestone. You’ll need a permit, available at the visitor center, to collect fossils from the spillway.

45

pond, castalia quarry metropark

In addition to camping, boating, and fishing, Caesar Creek State Park has more than 40 miles of hiking trails, including one along Flat Fork that starts near the spillway and leads to a fine view of Horseshoe Falls, the largest waterfall in this area. Nearby is Caesar Creek Pioneer Village, a collection of about twenty restored eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century log cabins and other buildings that were moved here to save them from destruction when Caesar Creek Lake was created.

Castalia Quarry MetroPark, Erie County Location: The parking area for Castalia Quarry MetroPark is on the north side of State Route 101, 1.6 miles west of Castalia and 10 miles southwest of Sandusky. The main quarry, open to the public daily from 8 a.m. to dusk, is on the south side of State Route 101. Website: http://www.eriemetroparks.com GPS Coordinates: 41.39125N 82.829781W

One of Ohio’s most unusual nature preserves is a large, abandoned limestone quarry near the town of Castalia in northwest Ohio. The limestone rock formations that underlie this area were formed during the Devonian Period, 46

natural areas and preserves

rock pile, castalia quarry metropark

about 380 million years ago. Sediments settled to the bottom of the shallow sea that covered northwest Ohio. Over a long period the sediments, composed of the shells of tiny sea creatures, were compressed into layers of limestone rock. The top layer, Columbus limestone, is about 50 feet thick and contains many fossils, including horn corals, brachiopods, and crinoids. Below the Columbus limestone is a layer of Dolomite limestone. High-grade limestone has been quarried in this area since the early 1800s, for use as a building stone as well as for aggregate used in highway construction. The 110-acre Castalia Quarry was deeded by its owner, the Wagner Quarry Company, to Erie MetroParks in 1987, and is now managed as Castalia Quarry MetroPark. About 2.5 miles of trails have been established in the quarry, including the 1.8-mile Quarry Rim Trail along the edge of the cliffs that surround the quarry. Surprisingly, there are few views of the quarry from this trail, which for the most part stays well back from the edge of the 50- to 60-foot limestone walls. If you hike the trail in a clockwise direction, in about 0.5 mile you will reach the wooden Wagner Quarries Company Observation Platform, where, on a clear day, a powerful binocular viewer allows you to see Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial at Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island, 18.5 miles

47

48

away as the crow flies. By all means take a snapshot or two of the platform view, but most of the best photo opportunities are down on the terraces or floor of the quarry. About halfway around the Quarry Rim Trail, heading in a clockwise direction, the trail leads west a short distance then turns north, with the rim of the quarry on your right. You can walk out onto a terrace, which includes a permanent pond and a line of cliffs stretching east to west. Another permanent pond lies just north of the south terrace cliffs. When I visited in mid-September, many dragonflies and damselflies were patrolling the edges of the pond. Scattered in the main quarry, especially in the southern section, are several piles of limestone boulders, making interesting foregrounds for wide-angle views of the quarry floor. The floor of the quarry is remarkably flat—mostly bedrock and patches of shallow gravel and soil. Goldenrod was blooming everywhere during my mid-September visit. More than two hundred and forty species of native plants and eighty-eight species of trees grow in the quarry. Fifty species of butterflies and more than one hundred kinds of birds have been observed here. A few items of old quarrying machinery can be found in the main quarry.

Chair Factory Falls, Lake County Location: The closest parking access is at Concord Township’s Old Stone School at 7125 Ravenna Road (500 feet north of Concord–Hambden Road). From the parking lot, walk down a short access path to the paved Lake Metroparks Greenway Corridor and turn left, then walk 0.2 mile to the Chair Factory Falls trailhead. A 0.3-mile trail leads through a wood and down a hill to an observation area opposite the waterfall, just a few hundred feet south of Interstate 90. Website: http://www.lakemetroparks.com/select-park/greenway.shtml#chair/ GPS Coordinates: 41.680446N 81.220251W (Falls) 41.676105N 81.224626W (Parking Area)

Lake Metroparks installed this 0.3-mile trail to provide safe public access to view the falls, which were previously privately owned. Lake Metroparks acquired this property in Concord Township. Near the falls stood a nineteenthcentury chair factory that harnessed the falling water to power the wood lathes at work in the mill. The factory was destroyed by a fire in 1893; the only sign of it today is an old metal waterwheel that has been revealed by bank erosion below the falls. Chair Factory Falls is on Jordan Creek (formerly called Gordon Creek), an 8-mile-long tributary of Big Creek, itself a tributary of the Grand River. The 30-foot waterfall cascades over gray Bedford shale capped by Berea sandstone.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

natural areas and preserves

chair factory falls

Chair Factory Falls faces roughly northwest, and is surrounded by trees, which block the view of the waterfall to some extent in summer. In addition, Jordan Creek can almost dry up during long periods without rain, so a visit on a cloudy day in early spring or late fall, especially after some rain, will generally provide the best conditions for photography. In addition to the view from the observation area, it’s possible to hike along the edge of the gorge to the top of the falls, but there is no easy access to the base of the waterfall. Paine Falls, another picturesque Lake County waterfall, is a 20-minute drive from Chair Factory Falls.

49

ironweed, rattlesnake master, and prairie dock; chaparral prairie state nature preserve

Chaparral Prairie State Nature Preserve, Adams County Location: From the courthouse in West Union, travel north on State Route 274 for 0.7 mile, turn left on Chaparral Road (County Road 22) for 2.7 miles, then turn right on Hawk Hill Road (Township Road 23. The preserve is 0.2 mile on the left, with a visitor parking area next to a maintenance barn. Website: http://www.naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/state-nature-preserves/find-a-state -nature-preserve/chaparral-prairie GPS Coordinates: 38.839841N 83.574332W

Most of Adams County in southern Ohio forms part of the Interior LowlandBluegrass Region of the state, an extension of the much larger Bluegrass Region of Kentucky. The Silurian limestone and shale that occur in this area are the oldest rocks in Ohio, formed hundreds of millions of years ago. This area was not reached by the Wisconsinan and Illinoian glaciers that scoured most of Ohio further north, so many of the trees and plants in Adams County are more common further south across the Ohio River. Chaparral Prairie is a great place to visit from mid-July through late September, when the shortgrass prairie openings are covered with the tall yellow

50

natural areas and preserves

flowers of prairie dock, purple spikes of blazing star, and dozens of other prairie plants, including Ohio’s largest colony of rattlesnake master, whose spherical, pale green flowers resemble a thistle. Rattlesnake master’s name comes from the use of its roots by Native Americans as an antidote for rattlesnake venom. In late summer Joe Pye weed, ironweed, and goldenrod add to the floral spectacle. This is a great place to observe and photograph many species of butterflies in summer, including unusual species like Edwards’ hairstreak and the gorgeous green juniper hairstreak. Try to visit Chaparral Prairie on a cloudy day, or early/late in the day during sunny periods, to minimize contrast and the visual complexity caused by the shadows cast by the tall prairie plants. The Hawk Hill Trail is a 0.75-mile loop that provides an easy way to explore the prairie.

Copperas Mountain, Ross County Location: Copperas Mountain is near Paint Creek about 5 miles south of U.S. Route 50, between Bainbridge and Bournville, in Ross County. From Bournville, drive southwest on U.S. Route 50 for 1.4 miles and turn left on Jones Levee Road. Turn right onto Spargursville Road after 1 mile, then right onto Storms Road after 1.4 miles. Shortly after the road makes a sharp right, turn left onto Copperas Mountain Road. Follow this dirt road for about 1 mile until you reach Paint Creek, with the cliffs of Copperas Mountain towering alongside. There is a pull-off just north of the cliffs. Website: N/A GPS Coordinates: 39.234397N 83.198029W

Copperas Mountain in rural Ross County is one of southern Ohio’s most interesting geological sites. Paint Creek has eroded the western edge of the 550-foot forested ridge into steep cliffs that are around 350 feet high. The lowest section, about 285 feet of Devonian-age Ohio shale, is capped by 85 feet of Bedford shale and a few feet of Berea sandstone at the top of the cliffs. Spherical concretions, formed where dolomite or other carbonate minerals have been deposited around a mineral or fossil fragment, can be seen in the Huron shale at the lowest levels of the cliffs. “Copperas” is another name for the iron sulphate, also called melanterite, which coats parts of the cliff face. Fragments of shale and minerals form piles at the base of the cliffs near the road. The cliffs stretch for about 0.25 mile along the road, offering many vantage points for photography. Because of the friable nature of the rock, I recommend parking at the north or south ends where you and your vehicle are not

51

copperas mountain

directly below the shale cliffs. One of my favorite viewpoints is along the rocky banks of Paint Creek, which provide an interesting foreground as well as a less attenuated view of the cliffs. Because the cliffs face west, afternoon light is generally most favorable for scenic photography here. If you are in good physical shape and have a head for heights, you can climb the mountain to an overlook at the top of the cliffs that provides a spectacular view of Paint Creek and the nearby farmland to the north, west, and southwest. From the dirt road just south of the end of the cliffs, a scramble up the hillside leads to another dirt road that provides access to some utility towers at the top of the ridge. A trail leads from this access road to an overlook at the top of the shale cliffs. Please be very, very careful and don’t get too close to the fragile edge of the cliff. Some areas adjacent to the cliffs are on private property; please don’t trespass when you visit. About 10 miles east of Copperas Mountain, Paint Creek flows through a deep gorge west of Chillicothe in the 1,332-acre Earl H. Barnhart Buzzards Roost Nature Preserve, which includes scenic views of the gorge and is described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio, pages 36–37.

52

natural areas and preserves

Cucumbertree Magnolia, Stark County Location: The national champion cucumbertree magnolia is located at 24 Auburn Avenue SE, North Canton, OH 44709. This is a gated residential community. The giant magnolia tree’s “caretaker” and visitor guide, Rod Covey, can be reached at (330) 494-6443. Website: http://www.americanforests.org/bigtrees/tree-tales/the-resilient-cucumbertree -magnolia/ GPS Coordinates: 40.858881N 81.393763W

The cucumbertree magnolia is the largest of the three kinds of native magnolia tree that grow in Ohio, and the huge specimen that grows on private property in a residential area at North Canton is the national champion, with a spring 2013 circumference of 299 inches, a height of 96 feet, and an average crown spread of 79 feet, giving it a total of 415 points on the Big Tree scale. Most cucumbertree magnolias live for 100 to 120 years, but the North Canton tree is estimated to be more than 430 years old. The tree’s name is based on the resemblance of its unripe fruit to a cucumber. The big tree owes its continued existence largely to the efforts of its biggest fan, retired advertising executive Rod Covey, whose condominium is across the street from the tree. During September 2000, one of the tree’s largest branches, weighing more than 2 tons and spanning 70 feet, blew down in a windstorm. Residents of the community received an anonymous note stating that the tree was unsafe and would soon be cut down. Rod Covey persuaded the local homeowner’s council that the tree was still safe and it was spared from destruction. Thirteen years later the tree is healthy and has become a celebrity in the local community. Before you visit, call Rod Covey, who will be pleased to show you the tree and tell you its story. Ask Rod to pose next to the base so you can take a photo that shows the scale of the giant tree. With a wide-angle lens, try a view looking up the main trunk from a viewpoint near the base. You may also want to take some photos from further away, including part of the nearby homes to give a sense of where the big tree grows. When I view this tree, and other giants like it, I’m reminded of a statement attributed to the playwright, George Bernard Shaw, “Except for the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree does.” Thanks to Rod Covey, the national champion cucumbertree magnolia continues to manage its affairs with grace and dignity at its home in North Canton.

53

national champion cucumbertree magnolia

natural areas and preserves

daughmer savanna state nature preserve

Daughmer Savanna State Nature Preserve, Crawford County Location: Daughmer Savanna State Nature Preserve is located in southwest Crawford County, 8 miles southwest of Bucyrus, at the intersection of Scioto Chapel Road and Marion–Melmore Road. There is a parking area just south of this intersection on the west side of Marion–Melmore Road. Website: http://www.crawfordparkdistrict.org/daughmer.html GPS Coordinates: 40.729222N 83.092503W

More than 200,000 acres of Crawford, Marion, and Wyandot counties in north-central Ohio were once covered with tall grass prairie and oak savanna known as the Sandusky Plains. After John Deere invented the steel plow in 1837, the fertile prairie soil was systematically converted to farmland. Today this area of Ohio is virtually all fields of corn, soybeans, and wheat, with a mere 74 acres remaining of the original plains. The largest remnant is the 34-acre Daughmer Savanna, one of Ohio’s newest state nature preserves. Although Daughmer Savanna was never plowed, the land has been used extensively for grazing sheep, suppressing many of the native prairie grasses

55

56

and forbs, but also helping to prevent the growth of woody seedlings. Careful management, including controlled burns, by Ohio’s Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, and more recently by Crawford County Parks, which now administers Daughmer Savanna, has allowed many of the original prairie plants to reclaim this unique habitat. Summer is the best time to visit this preserve, especially from mid-July through late August, when the prairie grasses and wildflowers are in bloom. There are good views from the roadside of the large bur oaks, some more than two hundred years old, that tower over the prairie, and a trail system has been developed. Plenty of mosquitoes are present in summer, so bring insect repellent. Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area is about 10 miles to the west, and Big Island Wildlife Area is roughly the same distance to the southwest.

Eastern Cottonwood, Alum Creek, Delaware County Location: In a woodland near the intersection of Africa Road and Cheshire Road (County Road 72) just east of Alum Creek Lake, 9 miles southeast of Delaware and 25 miles north of Columbus. The tree is opposite the offices of veterinarian Dr. Don R. Mann, 5110 Cheshire Road. Park here, cross the road into the woods, walk down the slope, and you’ll see the enormous cottonwood, which was nominated as a Big Tree by Dr. Mann. Website: http://www.ohiogeologyandbiodiversity.blogspot.com/2008/02/ohios-champion -eastern-cottonwood.html GPS Coordinates: 40.239013N 82.961554W

The Buckeye State is home to more than 275 species of trees, and, for nine of them, Ohio has the largest example of their kind in the United States. Two Ohio trees are enormous, an American sycamore near Jeromesville in Ashland County, and this towering eastern cottonwood tree in Delaware County. When you stand next to this giant tree and look up, the huge size of the main and subsidiary trunks takes your breath away. The tree has a circumference of 370 inches (that’s about 31 feet), a height of 136 feet, and a crown spread of 135 feet, giving it a points ranking of 540, only a few points less than the Jeromesville American sycamore, which scores 577 points on the national Big Tree scale. The Jeromesville sycamore has stopped growing and is deteriorating within, but the eastern cottonwood is vigorous and still growing, gaining a couple of inches in girth each year. In a short time, this tree will surely overtake the Jeromesville sycamore and reign supreme as Ohio’s largest tree. This tree, my favorite in Ohio, is photogenic at any time of year, and offers a variety of views as you walk around the base of the main trunk. My favorite eastern cottonwood, delaware county

58

view, looking up the main trunk from the west side of the tree, was made using a full-frame 35mm Sony Alpha 850 camera and a 16–35mm zoom lens at the 16mm setting; you’ll need an ultra-wide-angle lens to capture the entire trunk of this enormous tree. As always, I used a tripod, plus a polarizing filter to darken the blue sky. The sun was partly behind the tree, putting the main trunk in shadow, so I needed to shoot several bracketed exposures and combine them later using Photomatix HDR software to hold detail in the dark trunk as well as in the sky and other lighter areas of the image. When shooting multiple exposures, it’s important to use a sturdy tripod so that there is no camera movement, and to wait until the foliage stops moving or some of the leaves will be blurred in the final composite image.

Gallagher Fen State Nature Preserve, Clark County Location: South of Old Columbus Road and north of State Route 40, between North Bird Road and Redmond Road, about 5.7 miles east of downtown Springfield. The parking area is a pull-off on the south side of Old Columbus Road, 0.7 mile east of North Bird Road and 0.3 mile west of Redmond Road. Park in the grassy area near the trailhead at the edge of the woods. Website: http://www.naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/gallagherfen GPS Coordinates: 39.938705N 83.716696W (Parking Area)

Gallagher Fen State Nature Preserve in Clark County includes one of the finest fens in Ohio. The 213-acre preserve is named for John F. Gallagher, an environmentalist from Springfield who founded the Clark County Audubon Society in 1964 and also cofounded the Ohio Audubon Council. In addition, Gallagher fought a nine-year, successful battle to prevent Cedar Bog Nature Preserve, south of Urbana in Champaign County, from being destroyed by the construction of State Route 68 nearby. The northern section of the preserve is primarily a mature oak/hickory wood, with a display of marsh marigolds in mid-April. The western fen meadow and eastern fen meadow are bordered on the north by a gravel ridge known as an esker, which supports a bur oak savanna and numerous xeric (dry) prairie plants, including nodding wild onion, big and little bluestem, hoary puccoon, prairie buttercup, and sideoats gramma grass. The elevated esker provides several vistas of the fen meadows along the trail. In swamps and bogs the water is often colored or muddy, but the water in the stream that flows through the fen meadows at Gallagher Fen is crystal clear. Dip your hand in the water and note how cold it feels, a result of the spring water bubbling up from the depths of the limestone aquifer at a constant temperature of about 55 degrees. Many plants cannot absorb sufficient nutrients a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

natural areas and preserves

purple coneflowers, gallagher fen state nature preserve

from the cold water to survive in these fens, but a number of drought-tolerant prairie species thrive here, including cut-leaf prairie dock, shrubby cinquefoil, grass-of-Parnassus, Ohio goldenrod, and Canada burnet. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tall prairie dock plants put on a spectacular display in midsummer. The rare spotted turtle is also found here in the fen meadows. Gallagher Fen does not feature rugged cliff scenery, tumbling streams, or waterfalls like Hocking Hills State Park or Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve. The main attraction here is a superb display of prairie flowers and other unusual plant species from mid-July through September, with the peak of bloom occurring sometime in August. There are also many kinds of butterflies, dragonflies, damselflies, and other flying insects on the wing here during the summer months.

Glen Helen Nature Preserve, Greene County Location: Glen Helen Nature Preserve is located at 405 Corry Street, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. Tel: (937) 769-1902. Yellow Springs is 10 miles south of Springfield and 20 miles east of Dayton. Website: http://www.glen.antiochcollege.org/glen_helen/ GPS Coordinates: 39.802997N 83.881738W

Glen Helen is the legacy of Antioch College alumnus Hugh Taylor Birch, who donated the wooded glen in 1929 to Antioch College in memory of his

59

pompey’s pillar, glen helen nature preserve

natural areas and preserves

daughter, Helen. “The Glen” has grown to 1,000 acres of woodland, with profuse wildflowers in spring, two-hundred-year-old trees, limestone cliffs and a pillar, an attractive waterfall, and the yellow spring for which the nearby town is named. The Glen Helen Ecology Institute, part of Antioch College, manages the area and is dedicated to preserving its natural heritage in perpetuity. From the parking lot on Corry Street, a steep trail with stone steps leads downhill to Yellow Springs Creek. Cross the bridge and follow the Inman Trail, a 1-mile loop that includes many of the most photogenic sites at Glen Helen. High on the list is Pompey’s Pillar, a 15-foot limestone pedestal that stands on the hillside overlooking Yellow Springs Creek. Further along the loop is the yellow spring, which discharges 70 to 80 gallons of water, colored orange by iron, through the Euphemia limestone. Nearby is an attractive tenfoot waterfall, the Cascades, along a tributary of Yellow Springs Creek. The Raptor Aviary at Glen Helen is worth a visit, and dozens of programs for children and adults are scheduled at the Ecology Institute each year. There is also a small store at the main building that sells field guides and other nature-themed merchandise. Further south on Corry Street is a covered bridge and Grinnell Mill, which offers bed-and-breakfast accommodations in a picturesque restored gristmill on the banks of the Little Miami River. If you are hungry after your visit to Glen Helen, check out Winds Café in Yellow Springs, or Young’s Jersey Dairy, 1 mile north on U.S Route 68.

Great White Oak, Logan, Hocking County Location: In Old Logan Cemetery, opposite 432 N. Mulberry Street, 0.2 mile north of State Route 93 in downtown Logan. Website: N/A GPS Coordinates: 39.544298N 82.406744W

Sometime in the early 1400s, a white oak acorn sprouted on a grassy knoll in the hills of what today is Hocking County in southeast Ohio. The tree grew slowly but steadily, and was more than seventy years old when Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World in 1492. For the next three centuries the white oak continued to grow, sheltering legions of squirrels, song birds, and Mingo Indians led by their chief, Logan. By the time Ohio became the seventeenth state in 1803, the white oak’s massive trunk was more than 15 feet around and stood 50 feet tall, with several huge horizontal limbs that were so heavy they reached the ground many yards from the base of the tree. Two hundred years later, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, core samples

61

great white oak, logan

natural areas and preserves

taken by the Ohio Division of Forestry suggest that this white oak may be more than six hundred years old. Logan’s Great White Oak today has a trunk circumference of 249 inches, stands 67 feet high, and the crown of the tree covers 102 feet, giving it a Big Tree score of 344. That’s less than the 418 points scored by Ohio’s champion white oak, which grows on a farm near Canfield in Mahoning County. But the six-hundred-year-old Logan white oak may be the oldest living thing in the Buckeye State, and is well worth a visit, and a photograph or two, if you’re an admirer of big trees. You can park on North Mulberry Street and walk a few feet up the hill in the northeast corner of the cemetery to the tree. I prefer to photograph the Great White Oak with Old Logan Cemetery in the background, facing west or southwest, in the morning when the light is better. Try including one of the huge limbs of the tree as a leading line, and, perhaps, the church near the west side of the cemetery to provide a sense of scale. Foliage will shade the tree from June through September, so visit from late fall through early spring if you would like to emphasize the main trunk and branches of the white oak in your photographs. When you visit, please give the tree my best wishes and a big hug.

Honey Run Falls, Knox County Location: The parking area for Honey Run Falls is located at 11416 Hazel Dell Road (County Road 71), 1.2 miles east of State Route 62. From the intersection of State Route 36 and State Route 62 in Millwood, head south across the Kokosing River Bridge and take the first road on the left, which is Hazel Dell Road. Honey Run Falls are about 13.3 miles east of Mount Vernon and 5 miles south of Danville. Website: www.knoxcountyparks/org/honeyrunwaterfall.html GPS Coordinates: 40.382685N 82.266034W

There are few notable waterfalls in central Ohio, but Honey Run Falls is a gem. The 25-foot waterfall cascades over sandstone rock in a secluded hemlock hollow a few hundred yards south of the Kokosing River. Knox County Parks acquired the 2-acre property which includes the falls in late April 2007. A parking area with room for several vehicles is located near the falls on Hazel Dell Road. A short trail leads to the base of the waterfall. Honey Run Falls faces north–northwest, and can almost dry up after long arid periods in summer and fall. On a sunny day, early morning and late evening are the only times the falls will be totally in shade. On a cloudy day, you can photograph the falls anytime, though afternoon provides the best

63

honey run falls

directional lighting. Most of the best views of the falls are from its base, but you can also scramble up to the top of the falls and photograph it from above. From the base of the waterfall, a woodland trail leads a few hundred yards to the Kokosing River, one of Ohio’s most picturesque state scenic rivers. Large sandstone boulders along the edge of the river provide good vantage points for photography. In April 2010 the park district purchased an additional 348 acres of meadows and woodlands across Hazel Dell Road, including a 60-acre restored prairie and 4 miles of hiking trails.

Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve, Lucas County Location: The parking lot at Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve is on the south side of Bancroft Road, about 10 miles west of Toledo and 4.5 miles west of Interstate 475, 0.25 mile past the intersection with Irwin Road. Website: http://www.ohio-nature.com/irwin-prairie.html GPS Coordinates: 41.653195N 83.779017W

64

natural areas and preserves



irwin prairie state nature preserve

Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve covers about 226 acres in the Oak Openings region of northwest Ohio, and is the finest wet prairie remaining in the Buckeye State. The prairie, really a sedge meadow, is all that remains of a much larger wet prairie, 7 miles long and up to 1 mile wide. The thin layer of sand at the surface covers an impermeable layer of clay, creating wet conditions that are home to a unique assemblage of plants, including rare species like red baneberry, fringed gentian, several sedges, Kalm’s St. John’s wort, and Riddell’s goldenrod. Unusual birds are often seen here, including the yellow rail and Bell’s vireo. From the parking lot on Bancroft Road, a trail leads south through a shrubby meadow past a group of pin oaks to Irwin Road. A boardwalk leads from the road through the main sedge meadow, ending at an observation platform that looks out over Grass Lake, which may be dry or covered with standing water, depending on the amount of rainfall. Irwin Prairie is like a miniature version of the Florida Everglades, with twig rush, a type of sedge, taking the place of sawgrass. Like the Everglades, the sedge meadow is flat and challenging to photograph because of the lack of distinct features in the landscape. Try including

65

66

tamarack trees, kent bog state nature preserve

a section of the boardwalk to add interest and provide a sense of depth and scale. In summer, a group of blue flag iris, ferns, or other conspicuous wildflowers can work well as a foreground subject in a wide-angle vista of the wet prairie. Secor Metropark, where the National Center for Nature Photography is located, is due north of Irwin Prairie, and Kitty Todd State Nature Preserve, with beautiful displays of lupine in spring and the rare Karner blue butterfly, is about 3 miles south on Old State Line Road.

Kent Bog (Tom S. Cooperider) State Nature Preserve, Portage County Location: Kent Bog State Nature Preserve is on the south side of Meloy Road, just west of U.S. Route 43, 2 miles south of Kent. Website: http://www.naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/cooperriderkentbog GPS Coordinates: 41.129716N 81.353678W

A visit to Kent Bog is like being transported through time to the end of the last Ice Age, about twelve thousand years ago, when a huge block of ice was trapped beneath a layer of glacial silt, sand, and gravel. When the ice finally melted, water filled the deep depression to form a 50-acre kettle lake, sura photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

natural areas and preserves

rounded by sphagnum moss and other boreal plants. Over the next several thousand years, plants continued to colonize the lake until it eventually dried up, leaving today’s landscape, which resembles parts of the boreal forests of Canada hundreds of miles north of Portage County, Ohio. The dominant feature at Kent Bog is the largest, most southerly stand of tamarack trees in the continental United States, with more than 3,500 large tamaracks and robust seedlings. The tamarack is a deciduous conifer that sheds its needles in late fall, when the tamarack forest turns to yellow-gold. Visit Kent Bog early or late on a sunny fall day to photograph the tamaracks against a contrasting blue sky, or in winter after a fresh snowfall. Or visit in summer on a foggy morning, when the tamaracks are festooned with delicate spider webs and drops of water hang from the bottom of the tiny tamarack cones along the branches of the trees. A half-mile boardwalk loop made of gray recycled plastic takes you through the heart of the tamarack forest. Some of the boardwalk planks are inscribed with the names of people who have contributed to the preservation of Kent Bog. In summer, watch for the tiny spotted turtle; listen to the self-harmonizing song of the veery, a type of thrush; and look for small, bright red russula mushrooms growing on the sphagnum hummocks after a period of rainfall. My home in Cuyahoga Falls is only a 15-minute drive from Kent Bog, and several times each year I take a stroll along the boardwalk, enjoying this tiny vestige of northeast Ohio’s boreal past. Usually, I combine this trip with a visit to Triangle Lake Bog State Nature Preserve, a 10-minute drive east of Kent Bog, which has similar vegetation but also includes a pristine kettle lake.

Killbuck Marsh and Funk Bottoms Wildlife Areas; Wayne, Ashland, and Holmes Counties Location: Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area is located about 7 miles south of Wooster along State Route 226, north of Shreve. Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area is near the village of Funk, about 12 miles west of Wooster via State Route 30 or State Route 95. Website: http://www.wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/killbuckmarsh (Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area) http://www.wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/funkbottoms (Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area) GPS Coordinates: 40.717046N 81.989597W (Killbuck Marsh–Willow Road) 40.751321N 82.107129W (Funk Bottoms–Observation Tower)

Killbuck Marsh is a 5,761-acre wildlife area in Wayne and Holmes counties located about 8 miles south of Wooster. It is the largest inland marsh in Ohio. Funk Bottoms is another wildlife area covering 1,498 acres surrounding the village of Funk, about 12 miles west of Wooster. These two wetlands

67

68

autumn, killbuck marsh wildlife area

provide outstanding opportunities for wildlife observation and photography, especially of waterfowl during spring and fall migration. Killbuck Marsh stretches for 9 miles from north to south, and up to 3 miles from east to west. It is best explored by downloading a detailed map from the ODNR website listed above and driving to as many locations as you can in the time you have available. Some of the best places to visit are Willow Road in the northern section of the marsh, the open water along Cemetery Road further south, the wetlands along Force Road and Harrison Road, and any of the dirt roads that crisscross the interior of Killbuck Marsh. There is also a 4-mile, wildlife-observation, walking trail that follows the abandoned B&O Railroad tracks through the center of the area. Bald eagles and endangered trumpeter swans nest here. Killbuck Creek and the adjoining swamps are also home to a thriving population of river otters, which were released at Killbuck Marsh in 1991. Many kinds of butterflies and dragonflies may be observed in the meadows and wetlands during the summer months. Funk Bottoms consists mostly of bottomland hardwoods and hundreds of acres of wet fields, a magnet for tundra swans, geese, and other waterfowl in

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

funk bottoms wildlife area

early spring. Sandhill cranes, an endangered species in Ohio, began nesting at Funk Bottoms in 1988 after a sixty-year absence from the Buckeye State. The best places to observe wildlife here are wetlands north of Funk on Funk Road, and the flooded fields south of State Route 95 east of Funk. Another local hotspot is along Wilderness Road, accessed from Elyria Road south of Blachleyville. The birds at Funk Bottoms are often a long way off in the fields, so bring your longest lens if you plan on doing some wildlife photography. Twenty-three species of waterfowl and twenty-eight kinds of shorebirds have been seen at Funk during the spring migration period.

69

70

On March 18, 2014, after a long, brutally cold winter, I joined two Amish friends for a visit to Funk Bottoms. Along Wilderness Road, hundreds of tundra swans fed in flooded farm fields, accompanied by large flocks of Canada geese and thousands of lesser scaups, pintails, ring-necked and redhead ducks, canvasbacks, mallards, and American widgeons. At Killbuck Marsh, several bald eagles soared in lazy circles over the open water of the marsh. One of the best ways to learn more about Killbuck Marsh and Funk Bottoms is to attend the annual Shreve Spring Migration Sensation, a one-day event held on a Saturday in late March at Shreve Elementary School, 598 North Market St. (State Route 226) at Shreve, about 10 miles south of Wooster. During the day, six 45-minute workshops on wildlife and conservation topics are conducted by experts that include Ohio Division of Wildlife Specialist Jim McCormac, Ohio conservationist Cheryl Harner, and renowned bird experts Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman. Guided visits to Killbuck Marsh, Funk Bottoms, and Shreve Lake are held throughout the day, and there is a Birder’s Market Place with binoculars, spotting scopes, nature photographs and books, birdhouses, and wildlife art by local artists on sale. There are also exhibits by the Greater Mohican Audubon Society, Ohio Division of Wildlife, Medina Raptor Center, and other Ohio nature groups. Great home-cooked Amish meals are available nearby at Des Dutch Essenhaus in Shreve.

Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area, Wyandot County Location: Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area is located about 8 miles south of Upper Sandusky in rural Wyandot County, and covers 9,230 acres roughly bounded by Harpster to the east, Marseilles to the west, County Highway 71 to the north, and county highways 77 and 78 to the south. Website: http://www.wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/killdeerplains GPS Coordinates: 40.708836N 83.327588W (Sportsman’s Service Center)

Killdeer Plains is in the heart of what was once a 30,000-acre tall grass prairie in north-central Ohio. Most of the prairie has been drained and converted to corn and soybean fields, but extensive remnants of prairie habitat can be found throughout this area. Killdeer Plains also includes 1,000 acres of marsh, a 360-acre reservoir, and more than 125 ponds up to 50 acres in size. During the summer, a drive along the dirt roads at Killdeer Plains will provide vistas of blazing star, american tree sparrow, killdeer plains

natural areas and preserves

tickseed sunflowers, killdeer plains

prairie dock, several species of coneflowers and sunflowers, big and little bluestem, and Indian grass. The prairie remnants are home to the Eastern massasauga rattlesnake and the state endangered Eastern plains garter snake. A stroll around any of the ponds on a sunny day in summer will reveal many species of butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies. The Sportsman’s Service Center, located on County Highway 75, roughly in the center of the area, is a good place to view short-eared owls hunting in the fields during winter, usually beginning around dusk. Northern harriers and rough-legged hawks are also common visitors in winter. Long-eared owls occasionally roost in several stands of conifers in the area. Killdeer Plains is an excellent birding destination at any time of year. You never know what may turn up during a drive around the plains. I set my Nikon D7100 camera, usually with a Sigma 50–500mm lens attached, on the front seat of my vehicle, making sure that the camera is in “A” (aperturepreferred) mode, the f/stop is set at f/8, the ISO is set at 400, “O/S” (optical stabilization) is switched on, and the lens is set to autofocus. These settings are a good starting point for a wildlife subject. Big Island Wildlife Area is only a 20-minute drive south, and well worth a visit if you are in this vicinity with time to spare.

71

lake erie bluffs, lake county

Lake Erie Bluffs, Lake County Location: The parking area for Lake Erie Bluffs is 6.5 miles northeast of Painesville, reached by driving east on U.S. Route 20 for 5 miles, then north on Blackmore Road, which turns into Clark Road, for 1.5 miles. Website: http://www.lakemetroparks.com/parks/lake-erie-bluffs.html GPS Coordinates: 41.791537N 81.174059W

Lake County in northeast Ohio is the smallest county in the state, with a land area of only 227.5 square miles. Attractions include the James A. Garfield Historic Site in Mentor, the Kirtland Temple, Lake Metroparks, and The Holden Arboretum. Lake County is a great place for nature photography, with forested hills, wetlands and woodlands, rivers and streams, and some of the best undeveloped sections of the Lake Erie coastline in northern Ohio, notably Lake Erie Bluffs, one of the crown jewels of the Lake Metroparks system. The original parcel of 140 acres includes 20 acres of bluffs along Lake Erie, up to 40 feet high, and an adjacent sand-and-cobble beach north of Clark Road. Another 460 acres west of the Clark Road area was acquired in February 72

natural areas and preserves

2013, purchased by Lake Metroparks with help from The Western Reserve Land Conservancy, The Trust for Public Land, and the Nature Conservancy. There is an overlook and a short trail that leads from the parking lot down to the beach. My favorite time to visit Lake Erie Bluffs is early or late on a sunny or partly cloudy day, when the beach is in the shade and the lighting contrast is minimal. From midmorning through midafternoon, bright sunshine obliterates the highlight detail in the bleached driftwood that covers many parts of the beach. Some of the logs display intricate patterns in the wood, providing abstract compositions on a cloudy day or when the driftwood is in shade. John Pogacnik, one of Ohio’s finest field naturalists, lives near Lake Erie Bluffs and has done extensive research there, tallying more than fifteen rare or endangered animals and plants so far at Lake Erie Bluffs, including Oakes’ evening primrose. The most spectacular wildflower at Lake Erie Bluffs is the greater fringed gentian (Gentianopsis crinita), which blankets large sections of the clay bluffs in fall with thousands of deep blue flowers, each with a delicate fringe. The flowers close at night, so visit later in the day when they have reopened if you want to photograph them.

Lake Katherine State Nature Preserve, Jackson County Location: Lake Katharine is about 4 miles northwest of the center of Jackson. From State Route 93 in Jackson, turn left onto Bridge Street, which becomes County Road 76. After another 1.5 miles, turn right on Lake Katherine Road (County Road 85) and drive north 2 miles to the parking area for the preserve. Website: http://www.naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/lakekatharine GPS Coordinates: 39.086008N 82.669583W (Parking Area)

Jackson County in southern Ohio is home to more species of plants than any other county in the state, and Lake Katherine State Nature Preserve is one of the best places to see and photograph many of them. At 2,019 acres, Lake Katharine is one of the largest of Ohio’s state nature preserves, and a great place to photograph spring wildflowers, rugged rock scenery, picturesque streams, an attractive lake, and several species of trees and shrubs that reach their northern limit in this area. The lake and preserve are named for the wife of Edwin A. Jones, who, together with James J. McKitterick, purchased and donated most of the land at the preserve. The western section of the preserve is used for research and is off limits to the public. All 6 miles of the hiking trails are in the eastern part of the preserve. This is bumpy terrain, and you will get a good workout walking up and down the hillsides as you traverse the trails.

73

74

lake katherine state nature preserve

Visit Lake Katherine in April and enjoy one of the best displays of spring wildflowers in the Buckeye State. In late May and early June, mountain laurel blooms along the Calico Bush (another name for mountain laurel) Trail. The largest populations of bigleaf and umbrella magnolia in Ohio bloom here in June. Bigleaf magnolia is well named—its leaves are up to 3 feet in length. Later in the summer, the tiny roundleaf catchfly blooms on the hillsides. There are unusual animals here as well—both the bobcat and the endangered timber rattlesnake have been observed at Lake Katherine. The trails at Lake Katherine take you past cliffs of Sharon conglomerate, a type of sandstone which features quartz pebbles embedded in the rock. Some of the cliffs are more than 100 feet in height, and the rock has been weathered into honeycomb and other picturesque shapes and patterns. sycamores, lake katherine state nature preserve

natural areas and preserves

rhino tree, lawrence woods state nature preserve

Lawrence Woods State Nature Preserve, Hardin County Location: Lawrence Woods is located at 13278 County Road 190, Kenton, OH 43226. The preserve is about 4 miles south of Kenton and about 60 miles north of Columbus. Website: http://www.naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/lawrencewoods GPS Coordinates: 40.569795N 83.627079W

Lawrence Woods is the largest mature woodland remaining in west central Ohio. It is named after its original owner, the Honorable William Lawrence (1819–99) of Bellefontaine, who was the first comptroller of the United States treasury (1880–85). The 1,035-acre woodland was purchased and dedicated as a state nature preserve in 1997. The dirt road from County Road 190 to the parking area at the northwest corner of the woodland passes through a large meadow that stretches for several hundred acres along the northern edge of the woods. This area is a great location for butterflies in summer, and in winter is home to hawks and shorteared owls, which hunt rodents in the grasses and often perch on the fence posts along the road. There is a kiosk next to the parking area with trail maps and other information about the preserve.

75

76

During April and May more than one hundred species of wildflowers bloom in the woods, which are best explored by a boardwalk that loops through the western section of the preserve. There are several rare species here, including a large colony of heart leaf plantain, an endangered species that is only found in Adams, Hardin, and Mahoning counties. A small buttonbush swamp, accessed by a spur of the boardwalk, attracts amphibians in early spring and is home to many species of dragonflies during the summer months. One of the most unusual photographic subjects at Lawrence Woods is the Rhino Tree, a deformed white oak along the boardwalk near the entrance that bears a striking resemblance to the head of a rhinoceros. Lawrence Woods is about 30 miles west of Big Island and Killdeer Plains wildlife areas, and a visit to all three places provides a great day trip.

Medusa Marsh, Erie County Location: Medusa Marsh is south of Barrett Road, 2 miles southeast of Bay View and 5 miles west of Sandusky in Erie County. Barrett Road is just south of Sandusky Bay and runs parallel to State Route 2, which forms the southern boundary of the marsh. Website: http://www.ohioebirdhotspots.wikispaces.com/Medusa+Marsh GPS Coordinates: 41.459871N 82.797139W

Most of the marshes remaining in northwest Ohio between Toledo and Sandusky are owned by private hunting clubs, including Winous Point Shooting Club, the oldest shooting club in the United States, founded in 1896 by a group of wealthy Clevelanders. The elite members, never more than thirty, combine a passion for hunting waterfowl in mid-October with an equal zeal for conserving the local marshes on which the ducks and geese depend. Winous Point Marsh Conservancy, established in 1999, manages nearly 5,000 acres in Ottawa and Sandusky counties, and helps to protect wildlife habitat, control invasive species, and fund ecological research at Winous Point and nearby areas. The hunting club marshes are generally off limits to the public, but Medusa Marsh, although privately owned, is accessible for wildlife observation and photography along Barrett Road. Parking is allowed (or at least tolerated) along either side of the road, but be certain to pull off the pavement. Traffic moves very fast along this stretch of road, so exercise caution. The marsh, also known as Neilson’s Marsh, is named for the Medusa Cement Company, which once owned the land hereabouts. The large marsh is managed for waterfowl

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

natural areas and preserves

medusa marsh

and other wildlife, and the area along Barrett Road is a popular destination for birders. In midsummer, the flowers of native swamp rose mallow and swamp milkweed, as well as those of the invasive alien purple loosestrife, turn the marshes pink and purple. Swamp rose mallow also grows in the ditches along the railroad tracks north of the road; these plants are very accessible for close-up portraits of the beautiful mallow flowers, which are deep pink and several inches across. In winter, the standing water in the marsh often freezes; often, a pair of mute swans can be seen out on the ice. During the warmer months, great blue herons, night herons, egrets, and a variety of ducks frequent the area, as well as migrating songbirds, muskrats, and other furbearers. Sandusky Bay has flocks of thousands of ducks in winter, and Magee Marsh Wildlife Area and the nearby Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge are only a 30-minute drive west along State Route 2. Much nearer is the town of Castalia, 6 miles south of Bay View on State Route 269, where a pond that never freezes is host to large flocks of wintering ducks.

77

Mentor Marsh, Mentor Lagoons, and Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve; Lake County

78

Location: Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve and Marina are located 4.4 miles north of downtown Mentor at 8365 Harbor Drive, Mentor, OH 44060. Tel:(440) 205-3625. The visitor center at Mentor Marsh is located 3.5 miles west of Painesville at 5185 Corduroy Road, Mentor, OH 44060. Tel: (800) 317-9155. Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve is at the extreme east end of Headlands Beach State Park, located west of Fairport Harbor at 9601 Headlands Road, Mentor, OH 44060. Tel: (614) 265-6561. Website: http://www.cityofmentor.com/play/explore/mentorlagoonsnaturepreserve/ https://www.cmnh.org/Mentor-Marsh http://www.naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/headlandsdunes GPS Coordinates: 41.752201N 81.291665W (Shipman Pond, Mentor Marsh) 41.729641N 81.318989W (Wake Robin Trail, Mentor Marsh) 41.761101N 81.283897W (Headlands Dunes) 41.726287N 81.338102W (Mentor Lagoons Parking Area)

In 2006, the city of Mentor in Lake County was named by Money magazine as one of the one hundred “Best Places to Live in America.” I’m certain that a major reason for this award is the wealth of natural areas and preserves within the boundaries of the city. Three of these areas are especially attractive for photography: Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve, Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve, and Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve. Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve covers 673 acres, making it one of the largest marshes in the Buckeye State. The dominant plant is phragmites, a type of reed grass that may be up to 10 feet tall and is found throughout temperate and tropical regions worldwide. Phragmites is an extremely invasive plant, and can be controlled only through repeated burning for several years. Phragmites cover most of Mentor Marsh, except for narrow strips of oak and maple woods along the edges, and a little open water at Shipman Pond and along the boardwalk at the Wake Robin Trail. These are my favorite places for photography at Mentor Marsh, a preserve managed by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Shipman Pond is in the extreme northeast corner of the marsh, along Headlands Road 0.2 mile west of the northern end of State Route 44, just south of Headlands Beach State Park. There are open water views to the north and south of the bridge that crosses the pond. Wake Robin, accessed from a parking area at 8918 Woodbridge Road, 0.4 mile west of Corduroy Road and north of the visitor center, is the only trail that enters the phragmites marsh. Rare sparrows, rails, and other uncommon species of birds are often seen along the 0.25-mile boardwalk. The boardwalk is also an excellent place to photograph a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

headlands dunes state nature preserve

mentor lagoons nature preserve

80

butterflies, dragonflies, damselflies, and other insects in midsummer, when swamp milkweed and other wetland flowers bloom profusely along it. Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve includes a 1.5-mile section of wild shoreline along Lake Erie, and several hundred acres of wet woodlands along the western edge of Mentor Marsh. Five miles of hiking trails provide many opportunities for scenic and wildlife photography. This place can get crowded on summer weekends, so visit early or late on weekends, or on weekdays, if you are looking for a little solitude. Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve abuts the eastern end of Headlands Beach State Park, a popular swimming and sunbathing area during summer. Park at the far (east) end of the large parking lot and walk north into the 25-acre preserve, which protects one of the last remaining sand dune plant communities along Ohio’s Lake Erie shoreline. Plants that are more typical of the Atlantic coast, such as beach grass, beach pea, sea rocket, and seaside spurge, are found here. The eastern boundary of the preserve is the Fairport Harbor break wall, capped at the north end by a picturesque lighthouse. Walk the beach and photograph the driftwood, pebbles, surf, and other subjects along the edge of Lake Erie. As this is an important migratory stopover for birds and monarch butterflies, you will often be rubbing shoulders with birders and butterfly lovers if you visit Headlands Dunes during spring and fall.

Mohican State Park and Mohican Memorial State Forest, Ashland County Location: Mohican State Park and Memorial State Forest are south of Loudonville and west of State Route 3. State Route 97 runs east to west through the heart of the forest. Website: http://www.mohicanstatepark.org GPS Coordinates: 40.613427N 82.316647W (Covered Bridge) 40.610756N 82.286874W (Gorge Overlook)

Mohican State Park and the surrounding Mohican Memorial State Forest include the Clear Fork of the Mohican River, which flows through the deepest gorge in the Buckeye State, the Clear Fork Gorge. The scenic upper section of the gorge was flooded by the creation of Pleasant Hill Lake in 1937 for flood control, but downstream from the dam the scenic Clear Fork flows for 6 miles through the gorge, which runs up to 300 feet deep and 1,000 feet wide. The covered bridge, built in 1963 over the Clear Fork about 0.75 mile south of the dam, is a popular subject for photography, and good views may be obtained from the banks of the gorge north or south of the bridge. From the covered bridge, the 2-mile Lyons Falls Trail heads north along the west side of Clear Fork Gorge below towering hemlocks to a loop that leads past a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

natural areas and preserves

clear fork gorge, mohican state park

Big Lyons Falls, an 80-foot cascade over a sandstone overhang. Nearby is Little Lyons Falls, cascading 25 feet into a rocky gorge. Both of these waterfalls are often little more than a trickle of water unless heavy rains have occurred. John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed, is reputed to have visited the falls and carved his initials in the rock, though any evidence of his visit has long since disappeared. Spring wildflowers are plentiful along these trails, and many species of mushrooms fruit here after wet periods in summer and early fall. Clear Fork Gorge State Nature Preserve, established in 1990, protects a 29-acre section of the gorge east of the covered bridge where a stand of oldgrowth white pine and hemlock trees may be found. There is a short loop trail through this area, reached by a path that leads north from the fire tower. If you have a good head for heights, you may climb the fire tower for a bird’s-eye view of the surrounding forest. For the best views of Clear Fork Gorge, head to the Gorge Overlook, a mile east of the fire tower. A mile west of the fire tower is the picturesque sandstone Memorial Shrine, built in 1945 to honor the 20,000 Ohioans who have given their lives in combat since World War II.

81

82

overlook park falls

More than a hundred species of birds nest in Mohican Memorial State Forest, including twenty-five species of warblers. In winter, northern visitors often include crossbills and a flock of evening grosbeaks that hang out at a bird feeder behind a private home along the road just west of the gorge overlook. Near the junction of state routes 3 and 97 is the restored Wolf Creek/Pine Run gristmill, where a pioneer village is being developed from log cabins and other historic buildings that have been moved here and reassembled. Malabar Farm State Park, about 10 miles north, is also well worth a visit.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

natural areas and preserves

Overlook Park Falls, Miami County Location: From the junction of State Route 48 and State Route 571 in West Milton, go north on State Route 48 for 0.5 mile. Look for a long blacktop drive on the right with a “444” on the mailbox, next to a “Speed Limit 35” sign. Go up the drive, past a pavilion, to a parking area. Walk down to the fence and overlook to see the falls from above. Website: The falls are privately owned. Before visiting, please call Jim Sarver at (937)-902-1397 to obtain permission. GPS Coordinates: 39.970321N 84.327238W

There are several waterfalls along the tributaries of the Stillwater River in Miami County. One of these cascades, West Milton Falls, is described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. Overlook Park Falls is about 0.5 mile north of West Milton Falls, in Overlook Park, a once-popular resort that opened in 1902. The waterfall plummets in a clear drop of about 50 feet, and is impressive after a heavy rain. Below the falls, the stream cascades down a series of small rapids before joining the Stillwater River. There are excellent views of the falls from above, or you can walk down the hill below the pavilion, cross a small bridge over the stream, and scramble up the bank to view the falls from below.

Paine Falls, Lake County Location: Take the Vrooman Road exit (205) from Interstate 90. Drive south for 0.5 mile to Carter Road. Turn left, to travel east, on Carter Road for about 2 miles to Paine Road, then turn left, to go north. The park is 0.5 mile on the left, just past the bridge up the hill. Website: http://www.lakemetroparks.com/select-park/paine-falls.shtml GPS Coordinates: 41.716955N 81.143567W

Paine Falls is about 5 miles southeast of Painesville, and is owned by Lake Metroparks. The park includes restrooms, grills, and a picnic area, as well as a short trail that leads downhill and then follows the rim of the gorge of Paine Creek, providing excellent views of the falls. For your own safety, several signs warn you to stay on the trails, threatening you with fines and trespassing if you leave them. Paine Falls, which is about 25 feet tall and 80 feet across, was once called Bakers Falls, then renamed Paine Falls in 1974 when the park was created. The falls face northwest and are shaded early in the morning. Because they are much wider than they are tall, horizontal compositions of the entire falls usually work best, especially if you wish to exclude the ugly metal bridge on Paine Road that spans Paine Creek just above the falls. Like many waterfalls,

83

a moderate amount of water in Paine Creek seems to work best for photography. Too little water reduces the cascade to a trickle, while heavy rains create a strong flow of water over the entire crest of the falls, obliterating the delicate details of the rock formations of the waterfall. It’s only a 20-minute drive from Paine Falls to Chair Factory Falls, so you may want to include both of these attractive sites when you plan your visit to Lake County.

Pearl King Prairie Savanna, Madison County Location: Pearl King Prairie Savanna is on David Brown Road (State Route 119), 1 mile northeast of State Route 29, 5 miles southeast of Mechanicsburg. There is no parking area; park on the edge of the road near the meadow.

paine falls

Website: http://www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com /2012/07/pearl-king-savanna.html GPS Coordinates: 40.044372N 83.479836W

Prior to settlement in the early 1800s, more than 1,000 square miles of tall grass prairie covered parts of central and western Ohio. Almost 400 square miles were concentrated west of Columbus in Madison, Union, Crawford, Champaign, Franklin, Clark, and Pickaway counties. Low areas of wet prairies were interspersed with bur oak savannas on the higher ground. Today, more than 99 percent of this prairie has been tilled and planted with corn, soybeans, and wheat, leaving less than 100 acres of bur oak savanna in the entire Buckeye State. Those acres are concentrated in only two sites: Daughmer Prairie Savanna, in southwest Crawford County; and the smaller Pearl King Prairie Savanna, in southwest Madison County. Pearl King Prairie Savanna comprises 14 acres of bur oak and hickory with a grassy understory, buffered on the north and west by 6 acres of meadows that have been seeded with prairie grasses and wildflowers, including bergamot, purple coneflower, gray-headed coneflower, and royal catchfly. Pearl King is at its best from mid-July through late August, when the fields adjacent to the grove of trees are ablaze with colorful wildflowers, making a great foreground for wide-angle vistas of the oak savanna. Early morning or late evening usually 84

pearl king prairie savanna

provides the best lighting for scenic photography. Close-ups of wildflowers favor overcast lighting, and butterflies and dragonflies are most active during warm, sunny weather. A few miles north of Pearl King Savanna, west of Plain City, Bigelow and Smith Cemetery state nature preserves are two other tiny remnants of the original Darby Plains, where headstones rise from a sea of prairie wildflowers covering the graves of early Ohio pioneers. These two preserves are described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio.

85

86

rockbridge state nature preserve

Rockbridge State Nature Preserve, Hocking County Location: From Rockbridge, go east on State Route 33 for 1.5 miles to the Dalton Road (County Road 503) exit. Turn left onto Dalton Road, and follow it east, then north, for 0.7 mile to a parking area on the left for Rockbridge State Nature Preserve. A 0.75-mile trail leads north to the arch. Website: http://www.naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/state-nature-preserves/find-a-state-nature -preserve/rockbridge GPS Coordinates: 39.566744N 82.499281W (Parking Area)

The town of Rockbridge in Hocking County is named for Ohio’s largest rock arch, which spans a wooded ravine near the south bank of the Hocking River. The arch is almost 100 feet long, with an average width of 15 feet. The arch began as part of the roof of a recess cave in Mississippian-era, Blackhand sandstone. The rock nearer the hillside eroded faster, leaving the arch. A seasonal waterfall cascades 40 feet over the lip of the roof near the arch into a plunge pool. From the parking area, the trail works its way uphill alongside farm fields before reaching the edge of the woods, where it leads downhill, then forms a fork. The rest of the trail is a loop, with both branches leading to the rock arch. The left branch is a bit shorter; the right branch forms a longer loop leading through the beech-maple forest. The trail goes right over the top of the arch, a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

natural areas and preserves

to a short, but steep, path that descends to a lower viewpoint, providing an excellent vista of the arch and the waterfall. Because the arch is located in a heavily wooded area, an overcast day is usually best for photography, in order to minimize shadows. Try to visit after a rainy period, when the waterfall will be at its best. Spring wildflowers bloom in the woods during April and early May; fall color will usually be best here in mid- to late October.

Springfield Bog Metro Park, Summit County Location: The parking lot, equipped with restrooms, for Springfield Bog Metro Park is located at 1400 Portage Line Road, Akron, OH 44312, about 1.2 miles south of State Route 224 in Springfield Township. Website: http://www.summitmetroparks.org/parksandtrails/Springfield-Bog.aspx GPS Coordinates: 41.012604N 81.393849W

Springfield Bog Metro Park is one of the newest additions to the Metroparks, Serving Summit County, a system of parks surrounding Akron in northeast Ohio. The 256-acre park, which includes more than 100 acres of wetlands, opened in January 2011 after it was purchased for $2.1 million by The Trust for Public Land, then transferred to Metroparks. In the southwest corner of the area are Young’s Bogs, 12- and 5-acre kettle bogs named for the Young family, who settled nearby in 1877. Highbush huckleberries were grown commercially in the bogs until the 1950s. Another 91-acre wetland is located on the western edge of the property. From a photographic perspective, the most attractive part of the park is a 165-acre prairie being developed on the old farm fields at the Metro Park. Since 2010, the fields have been seeded with more than forty species of prairie plants, which bloom from late spring through the fall. In midsummer, black-eyed Susan, Canada wild rye, plains coreopsis, purple coneflower, and many other species put on a grand display. A level 1.6-mile loop trail skirts the edge of the prairie. More than thirty species of butterflies have been found here, and widow skimmers, halloween pennants, black saddlebags, and common green darner dragonflies hunt in the grasses. Giant yellow and black cicada killers patrol sections of the loop trail, while cottontail rabbits scamper for cover as you hike around the edge of the prairie. The park is a popular destination for local birders, who visit to observe and study the growing number of bird species that are making this developing prairie their seasonal home. The star of the avian community at the prairie is

87

natural areas and preserves

the dickcissel, a sparrow-sized bird that looks a bit like a miniature eastern meadowlark, or a house sparrow painted with patches of yellow. Dickcissels are common in prairies and old farm fields in the Midwest and in recent years have been extending their range eastward into Ohio. The dozen or so dickcissels that have nested in the Springfield Bog prairie are on the eastern edge of their North American breeding territory. Dickcissels arrive in Ohio during May or early June, and build a nest near the ground in the prairie grasses and shrubs. Later in the summer, when their breeding activities are completed, they gather into flocks and migrate south to winter in the Llanos of Venezuela, where they assemble into huge flocks that may exceed one million birds. Dickcissels are fairly tame, and with patience singing males may be approached close enough to allow portrait photography with a long telephoto lens.

Sugarcreek MetroPark, Bellbrook Location: Sugarcreek MetroPark is about 15 miles south of Dayton and 7 miles north of Waynesville, near Bellbrook. The main (Ash) parking area is at 4178 Conference Road, Bellbrook, OH 45305. Tel: (937) 275-7275. The Oak parking area is 0.7 mile east on Conference Road then 0.5 mile north on Ferry Road. Website: http://www.metroparks.org/Parks/Sugarcreek/Home.aspx GPS Coordinates: 39.617194N 84.096483W (Ash parking) 39.621727N 84.082216W (Oak parking)

Sugarcreek MetroPark is a popular destination for hikers, joggers, and nature lovers. The 618 acres of old farmland and woods were purchased by Dayton MetroParks in 1976. A picturesque stream, Sugar Creek, flows over limestone rock through the woods, carpeted with wildflowers in spring. Near the main (Ash) parking area, a trail meanders through a planted prairie, providing opportunities in summer and fall for scenic photography, as well as close-ups of grasses and wildflowers, and of the birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and other insects that thrive in a prairie habitat. From the Oak parking area on Ferry Road, a trail leads south to Sugar Creek. Cross the creek on steppingstones to visit two of the most interesting features of Sugarcreek MetroPark—three ancient white oaks and a tunnel in the trees. The Three Sisters are a trio of white oaks, the oldest estimated to be about 550 years old. In other words, this ancient oak was already a sturdy young tree when Christopher Columbus discovered the New World at the dawn of the sixteenth century. The three oaks grow on a hillside, with the most impressive

summer wildflowers, springfield bog metro park

89

three sisters, sugarcreek metropark

natural areas and preserves

osage orange tree tunnel, sugarcreek metropark

tree at the top. Although, like most very old trees, this oak has lost some branches and gained many scars, it is still a magnificent sight. The middle tree succumbed to old age and fell a few years ago; the third tree is lower on the hillside. During my visit to Sugarcreek MetroPark, I observed more Osage orange trees than anywhere else in Ohio. In earlier times, homesteaders planted rows of closely spaced Osage orange trees as a “living fence.” A few hundred yards east of the Three Sisters, a line of Osage orange trees arches over the trail to create a tunnel that extends for several hundred feet. When you encounter a new subject like this, take your time and use a systematic approach to fully explore the photographic possibilities. I walked slowly through the tunnel in each direction, trying wide-angle and telephoto settings on my 16–85mm Nikkor zoom lens, and experimenting with vertical and horizontal compositions. I also made a few photographs with hikers in the tunnel to provide a sense of scale. Because there were many trees and branches in each view, creating a great deal of visual complexity, I was grateful for the overcast lighting that eliminated shadows. My favorite image, shown in this book, used a setting of 70mm (equivalent to roughly 100mm in 35mm terms) to compress the perspective and distance and create more of a “tunnel” sense. I found the Osage

91

triangle lake bog state nature preserve

orange tree passage to be fascinating and plan to return and photograph it in other seasons. In late December, when I made my first visit, the woodland floor beneath many of the Osage orange trees was littered with their large, yellowish-green, wrinkled circular fruits, which provide another interesting subject for photography. Osage orange wood was greatly prized by Native Americans for making bows, and hunters would travel for hundreds of miles to find straight-grained Osage orange trees for bow making.

Triangle Lake Bog State Nature Preserve, Portage County Location: Triangle Lake Bog State Nature Preserve is on Sandy Lake Road, about 1 mile west of State Route 44, 3 miles south of Ravenna. A narrow paved road leads south from Sandy Lake Road to a small parking area. Website: http://www.naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/trianglelakebog GPS Coordinates: 41.118935N 81.26142W

In 1989 I joined fellow photographer Gary Meszaros for an epic adventure at Triangle Lake Bog, a classic sphagnum peat bog surrounding a pristine kettlehole lake near Ravenna in Portage County. The zones of vegetation near the lake included poison sumac, pockets of deep peat-stained water, and an 92

natural areas and preserves

outer moat that we needed to cross. We were wearing fishing waders and were carrying heavy tripods, a stepladder to get an elevated viewpoint above the lake, and, in my case, a heavy backpack containing a 4×5-inch Sinar view camera with holders loaded with sheets of film. There was no boardwalk or trail of any kind in those days. We made it out to the lake and back—sweaty, scratched, and covered with mud. I managed to get my first photos of one of Ohio’s most pristine natural areas, a throwback to the last Ice Age. Twenty-five years later, a sturdy boardwalk has been constructed and visitors can stroll out to a viewing area on the edge of Triangle Lake with minimal effort. The trail and boardwalk form a loop about 0.5 mile in length. From the parking lot, turning right on the loop is the most direct way to the viewing area by the lake. I prefer to walk the left loop, which leads through a wood, crosses the moat, and zigzags through the sphagnum bog to a junction, where a left turn leads to the viewing area. Along the way, you’ll see blueberry shrubs, carnivorous pitcher plants, and tiny sundews, ferns, and poison sumac—whose leaves, white berries, and bark are every bit as toxic as poison ivy. Look, but don’t touch. I have photographed cecropia moth caterpillars here, feasting on blueberry leaves. The bog is also home to at least two rare species of dragonflies —the frosted whiteface and Hagen’s bluet. In late September or early October, red maples burst into fiery fall color around the lake. The viewing area provides grand vistas: it is an excellent place to capture sunrise or a panorama of the lake, ringed with tamarack trees. The gated access road from Sandy Lake Road leads to a locked gate near the parking lot with a private home beyond. Usually the owner opens the gate fairly early in the day, but it may be closed if you arrive before sunrise.

Umbrella Rock, Tuscarawas County Location: Umbrella Rock is about 4.4 miles north of Newcomerstown and 5.8 miles south of the Stonecreek exit on Interstate 77. From Newcomerstown, go north on Stonecreek Road (County Road 21) for about 4 miles to Williams Road. Turn left on Williams Road and go about 0.5 mile to a gate with an FCC sign on the west side of the road. Beyond the gate, an access road curves up the hill and south to a cell phone tower. Umbrella Rock is on top of the ridge in a field, just south of a woodlot, and can be seen clearly from the road. The gate was chained but not locked when I visited in December 2013. Website: N/A GPS Coordinates: 40.324447N 81.578735W

Umbrella Rock is a sandstone pillar on the Coshocton County/Tuscarawas County border 0.5 mile west of Interstate 77; it can be seen from the interstate

93

umbrella rock

natural areas and preserves

if you know where to look. The pillar is quite small, only about 15 feet high, but what it lacks in stature it makes up in girth. Almost as wide at the top as it is tall, the pillar rests on a narrow base that makes it look like a giant parasol or mushroom. The top is made of highly erosion-resistant sandstone and overhangs the base on all sides; you would need to be quite adept as a climber to scale this stone. My favorite way to photograph Umbrella Rock is from a low angle, using a wide-angle lens, against a clear blue sky. Use frontal or side lighting to emphasize the color and texture of the sandstone rock, or back lighting to highlight the unusual, top-heavy shape of this ancient geological formation. A few miles west of Umbrella Rock, on a wooded ridge about a mile east of the village of Pearl, stand three more rock pillars known as the Chili Standing Rocks. The west pillar is about 30 feet high, the center rock is about 10 feet tall, and the east pillar stands about 20 feet. The rock appears to be the same type of sandstone that forms Umbrella Rock. The ridge is posted with “No Trespassing” signs, indicating that written permission from the Kimble Clay and Limestone Company, the owner of the property, must be obtained to visit this area.

Wahkeena Nature Preserve, Fairfield County Location: Wahkeena Nature Preserve is on Pump Station Road, 1 mile west of Old Logan Road, 6 miles south of Lancaster in Sugar Grove, south of U.S. Route 33 in Fairfield County. Website: http://www.visitfairfieldcountyoh.org/naturepreserves.php?type=0 GPS Coordinates: 39.630474N 82.568395W

In 1931, Dr. Frank Warner of Columbus gave his bride, Carmen, a wedding gift of 94 acres of old farmland in southern Fairfield County. The Warners transformed the old farm over the next twenty-five years, planting one hundred thousand trees and building a lodge and a guesthouse. They also built the Casa de Burro, where they kept their two pet burros. An avid gardener, Mrs. Warner built terraces and created colorful flower gardens. A cornfield near the lodge became a lake. By the 1950s, the property, which Mrs. Warner called “Wahkeena,” a Native American word meaning “most beautiful,” had grown to 150 acres of forested hills. In 1957 the Warners bequeathed Wahkeena to the Ohio Historical Society, “to be used for nature study and as a preserve for birds and other wildlife.” Wahkeena Nature Preserve is open from April to early November, Wednesdays through Sundays, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and is managed by Fairfield County Historical Parks.

95

wahkeena pond and nature center

In addition to a fine display of spring wildflowers, Wahkeena is home to the state-endangered flame azalea, which blooms in May or early June, and the state-threatened great rhododendron, which blooms in late June or early July. There is a fine display of rosebay rhododendron along the hillside next to Pump Station Road, just east of the entrance. About thirty different kinds of ferns grow here, and more than a hundred species of birds have been observed during the spring migration. There are two hiking trails through the woodlands. My favorite trail at Wahkeena is the loop trail around the lake below the nature center. When I visited in late June, a large colony of lizard’s tail was blooming along the edge of the lake, and many species of dragonflies were on the wing. There is also a short boardwalk through a marsh near the parking lot. Adjacent to Wahkeena is Rhododendron Cove State Nature Preserve. In the past, a state permit was required to visit the preserve, but it is now open to the public. A short but steep trail leads uphill to a rocky bluff with a large number of great rhododendron shrubs growing in a rocky hollow nearby. Clear Creek Metro Park is also in this area. 96

natural areas and preserves

References Adams, Ian. Trees: A Photographic Celebration. 2012. This is a self-published book, available in print or as an eBook from http://www.blurb.com, with seventy-two tree photographs from thirteen states, including forty-seven images from Ohio. Adams, Ian, and John Fleischmann. The Ohio Lands. San Francisco: Browntrout Publishers, 1994. This was my first major photography book on Ohio; it includes more than two hundred color photographs taken around the Buckeye State. Camp, Mark J., and James Lainsbury. Roadside Geology of Ohio. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Company, 2006. This book, which includes twentyfive road guides that cover the entire state of Ohio, provides an in-depth account of the complex and fascinating geology of the Buckeye State. Daniels, Jaret C. Butterflies of Ohio Field Guide. Cambridge, MN: Adventure Publications, 2004. This is an excellent, well-illustrated, and compact guide to Ohio’s butterflies. Lafferty, Michael B., ed. Ohio’s Natural Heritage. Columbus: The Ohio Academy of Science, 1979. This excellent introduction to the natural history of Ohio is out of print but available on DVD. Used print copies can be found at Amazon.com. McCormac, James S., and Gary Meszaros. Wild Ohio: The Best of Our Natural Heritage. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2009. This book covers forty of Ohio’s best natural areas, described concisely by one of Ohio’s best field naturalists and illustrated with fine photography by Meszaros. ODNR Division of Forestry, Ohio Big Trees Program. http://www.forestry.ohiodnr .gov/bigtrees. This website provides a wealth of information on Ohio’s common trees, as well as a detailed listing of Big Trees in the Buckeye State. ODNR Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. Directory of Ohio’s State Nature Preserves. This is a spiral bound notebook with a description of 121 of Ohio’s state nature preserves, along with maps and directions for the preserves that are open to the public. Ohio Lepidopterists. http://www.ohiolepidopterists.org/. “Ohio Leps” is a great organization to join if you want to learn more about Ohio’s butterflies, skippers, and moths. The Ohio Lepidopterists publish a quarterly newsletter and hold several meetings each year, with field trips to many of Ohio’s butterfly “hot spots” during the summer months. Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association (ONAPA). http://www.onapa.org. ONAPA is a new statewide organization dedicated to promoting, protecting, and improving Ohio natural areas and preserves for educational, charitable, and scientific purposes. ONAPA volunteers help to monitor and maintain Ohio’s nature preserves, and Ohio naturalists lead field trips to nature preserves throughout the Buckeye State. Ohio Odonata Society (OOS). http://www.marietta.edu/~odonata/. If you have an interest in learning more about Ohio’s dragonflies and damselflies consider joining the Ohio Odonata Society, which publishes a quarterly newsletter and holds a one-day annual meeting, usually in late June, with presentations by Ohio

97

98

dragonfly experts and afternoon field trips where you can observe and photograph many kinds of dragonflies and damselflies. Ostrander, Stephen, ed. The Ohio Nature Almanac. Wilmington, OH: Orange Frazer Press, 2001. This monumental book provides 550 pages of useful information about all things natural in Ohio. Platt, Carolyn V., and Gary Meszaros. Creatures of Change: An Album of Ohio Animals. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1998. This elegant book examines two hundred years of wildlife in Ohio, based on articles published in Timeline, the magazine of the Ohio Historical Society. It includes more than 150 beautiful color photographs by Meszaros. Rosche, Larry, Judy Semroc, and Linda Gilbert. Dragonflies and Damselflies of Northeast Ohio. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 2008. Exceptionally detailed and well-illustrated, this book covers more than 80 percent of Ohio’s dragonflies and damselflies. Schumacher, Gregory A., Brian E. Mott, and Michael P. Angle. Ohio’s Geology in Core and Outcrop: A Field Guide for Citizens and Environmental and Geotechnical Investigators. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey, 2013. An introduction to Ohio’s geology, this book includes detailed fact sheets on sixty-five geologic rock formations, illustrated with excellent diagrams and photographs. Snyder, Timothy A. Rainbows of Rock, Tables of Stone: The Natural Arches and Pillars of Ohio. Granville, OH: The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, 2009. This is a detailed guide to eighty-three rock arches and eighteen stone pillars in the Buckeye State. Studebaker, Matthew. A Guide to Ohio’s Best Places for Bird Photography. A Birds as Art Site Guide: http://www.birdsasart.com/siteguides. 2007. This useful guide, written by an expert Ohio bird photographer, describes Buckeye State hot spots for bird photography. TrekOhio: Exploring Ohio’s Nature Preserves and Parks. http://www.trekohio.com. TrekOhio is the blog of Bob and Deb Platt, a central Ohio husband-and-wife team who have visited many of Ohio’s nature preserves and parks. TrekOhio provides a wealth of useful information on Ohio’s natural areas, animals, and plants, accompanied by excellent photography and detailed guides to many of the best hiking trails in the Buckeye State.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

Scenic Rivers

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters. —Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

Ohio is named for a river, based on an Iroquois word, “Ohi-yo,” which means “great river.” Wherever you find yourself in the Buckeye State, you are never more than a mile or two from a river, creek, or stream. Ohio has more than 60,000 miles of streams, making it a water-rich state, though only 15 of the 3,300 named streams in Ohio have watersheds larger than 1,000 square miles. Streams in the northern third of the state flow into Lake Erie and streams in the southern two-thirds drain into the Ohio River, which borders Ohio to the east and south for 452 miles. Surprisingly, nearly all of the Ohio grand river, ashtabula county

99

100

River along Ohio’s border belongs to Kentucky and West Virginia. Ohio has only that portion of the river between its 1792 low-water mark and the present high-water mark on the Ohio side of the river, since the United States Congress ruled that where a river marks the boundary between two states the states to the south and east own the entire river. The geography of the Ohio River has changed dramatically during the past century. From 1910 to 1929, a series of locks and wooden wicker dams were built to deepen the river and facilitate commercial transportation of coal, ore, and other bulk products. The locks and wicker dams were replaced with larger concrete structures during the 1940s, which allowed the use of much longer barges and other commercial boats. As a result, the swift and shallow Ohio River of the preindustrial era has been canalized into a series of long lakes separated by man-made structures. Despite the changes made to the Ohio River, Ohioans have also recognized the benefits of protecting our state’s most unspoiled rivers, and in February 1968 Ohio passed the nation’s first scenic river protection legislation, eight months before President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act into law in October 1968. Ohio currently has 800 river miles on fourteen rivers throughout the state designated as scenic, wild, or recreational, based on the natural condition of the river. Ohio’s Scenic Rivers Program is administered by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Watercraft and its four scenic river districts: northwest, northeast, central, and southwest. Currently there are no scenic rivers in southeast Ohio. The fourteen rivers are the Ashtabula, Big and Little Darby Creek, Chagrin, Conneaut Creek, Grand, Kokosing, Little Beaver Creek, Little Miami, Maumee, Mohican, Olentangy, Sandusky, Stillwater River /Greenville Creek, and Upper Cuyahoga. In addition, sections of Big Darby Creek, Little Beaver Creek, and the Little Miami River are also designated as national scenic rivers. Each of these rivers has excellent water quality, exceptional biological diversity, and a high degree of natural appeal. Other Ohio rivers, including the Mad, Paint Creek, Upper Great Miami, Upper Sandusky, and Hocking are being considered for possible scenic river designation. All of these rivers offer great subjects for outdoor photography, including scenic vistas, rock formations and waterfalls, riverine forests, wildflowers, wildlife, covered and metal bridges, gristmills, and fishing, canoeing, and kayaking. Be aware that scenic river designation does not restrict or affect private landowner rights, and does not grant any public access to rivers or streams on private property.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

scenic rivers

Tips fo r P h o t og r ap h i n g Ri v e r s a n d S t r e a m s Tips on photographing scenic vistas, waterfalls, natural areas, bridges, and gristmills, many of which may be found along Ohio’s rivers and streams, are included in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. In this chapter, I will share some tips on photographing rivers and streams themselves. Rivers and streams are wet places, and it’s important to keep your cameras and lenses dry, especially if you plan to photograph from a canoe or a kayak. I learned this lesson the hard way early in 2004, the year I switched from film to digital SLR cameras. I was the proud owner of two Fuji S2 Pro digital SLR camera bodies, designed to work with Nikon SLR lenses. (This was prior to 2005, when Nikon produced their superb D2X digital camera, which became my primary 35mm digital camera for the next five years.) I was finishing the photography for my book, The Floridas, and had rented a canoe for a paddle along the beautiful Loxahatchee River near Jupiter, inland from Florida’s east coast. The canoe was resting on a sandbank, with my camera bag, containing both of the Fuji S2 bodies and a couple of Nikon lenses, perched on the bow seat near the front of the canoe. While loading a cooler and some other gear, I inadvertently tipped the canoe, dumping my camera bag in a foot of brackish water in the Loxahatchee River. I quickly retrieved the bag, which was underwater for a few seconds at the most. When I opened it a stream of water flowed out, and both camera bodies were soaked. I knew that if water had penetrated the cameras the worst thing I could do was to switch them on, which would ruin the electronics inside, so I quickly wiped off the water, canceled my canoe trip, drove three hours north to my parents’ home near New Smyrna Beach, and spent the rest of the day attempting to dry out both camera bodies with a hair dryer. One of the Fuji S2 camera bodies worked for a few days before it died, the other never worked again; both cameras were pronounced dead on arrival when I sent them to a Fuji service station. Digital SLRs in those days were expensive: the two Fuji S2 camera bodies cost around $5,000. Fortunately the cameras were insured, but I was without a camera for several days and had to reschedule some photo shoots for my Florida book project. Simply placing my camera bag inside a waterproof bag (also called a dry bag), or even one of the heavy-duty plastic garbage bags that I always carry in my vehicle, before putting it in the canoe, would have prevented this expensive accident from occurring. Dry bags are very inexpensive and

101

102

available from sporting goods stores or many online sources. Garbage bags are even cheaper. Most digital SLRs are water-resistant, which means that they are designed to be impervious to a few water droplets. Some cameras, such as the Pentax K-series and Olympus SLRs, are very well sealed and can be used in heavy rain without damage. Both the camera body and the lens must be sealed. It is also important to keep water droplets off the front element of the lens by using a lens hood and wiping off water droplets before each photograph is taken. Digital SLRs are not waterproof, and they are not designed for underwater photography in a river or stream unless they are sealed inside an underwater camera housing. Underwater housings are available for most SLR camera models, but they are bulky and expensive. If you plan on taking photographs while canoeing or kayaking, especially in whitewater conditions, you may want to invest instead in a fully waterproof point-and-shoot camera, such as the Nikon AW110, Canon Powershot D20, or Olympus TG-2. These are compact rugged cameras with 12–16 megapixel sensors, a zoom lens, a movie mode, and GPS capabilities; they are also waterproof to depths of 30–50 feet and capable of being dropped from 3–6 feet without damage. Most of the major digital camera manufacturers now offer these waterproof cameras, attractively priced at $300–350. You can also use your iPhone or other smartphone, enclosed in a waterproof case. In general, I prefer to photograph rivers and streams in periods when the water levels are low. Heavy rains produce flood conditions that may obliterate rocks and other features; turn river banks and trails into seas of slippery mud, and muddy clear water into something that resembles chocolate soup; and create dangerous conditions for visitors. Unsafe conditions may also occur in early spring when river ice, formed during a cold winter, begins to break up and create ice jams near the mouth of the river. A canoe or a kayak trip on a river can be very rewarding. These craft allow you to reach areas of a river that may not be accessible on foot, and you are likely to see more birds, turtles, and other kinds of wildlife that are harder to observe from the banks of the river. A tripod is useless in a small boat out on a river, and hand-held photography is the norm when using a canoe or kayak. Most digital cameras or, in some cases, lenses, provide optical stabilization— be sure to switch on this feature if you have it. And don’t forget to store your camera in a waterproof bag when not in use. Scenic vistas of rivers taken with a wide-angle lens usually need a strong foreground to be effective, so look for islands, rocks, rapids, logs, or vegeta-

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

scenic rivers

tion that you can include in your river compositions. You need to be able to fill the lower part of the picture frame with the foreground subject, which may involve wading in the river. I always carry a pair of knee-length rubber boots (e.g., Wellington boots) for this purpose, and occasionally use thigh waders if the water is too deep for rubber boots. If the river is too deep for thigh waders I generally avoid wading—it’s too risky and all too easy to slip and dunk your camera in the river. I often wade using a tripod with the legs extended, which provides good support for both the camera and the photographer. A circular polarizing filter is a very useful accessory when photographing rivers and streams. A polarizer can be used to minimize or eliminate specular reflections from wet rocks, and to increase color saturation. Also, because polarizing filters require an exposure increase of 1–2 f-stops, they can serve as neutral-density filters and facilitate the use of slower shutter speeds to emphasize movement in the water. Because the lowest ISO setting on most digital cameras is 200 or 100, it may be difficult to use slow shutter speeds without overexposing the scene, especially on bright days, so carry a polarizing filter when you’re photographing rivers and streams. You can also use neutral-density filters to enable slower shutter speeds to be used, but they will not increase color saturation or minimize reflections like a polarizing filter. I abhor white skies, and a white sky reflecting in the surface of a river or stream is even worse. When I review my favorite photographs of Ohio’s rivers and streams, I find that most of them were taken early or late on a sunny or partly cloudy day, with a blue sky providing an attractive reflection in the surface of the water. Misty sunrises and sunsets over rivers can also be very attractive. In the fall, look for reflections of sunlit foliage in areas of the river or stream that are in the shade.

Ashtabula River Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/ashtabulasr GPS Coordinates: 41.900499N 80.797525W (Ashtabula Harbor Lift Bridge)

The main branch of the Ashtabula River is 28 miles long and flows through Ashtabula County, Ohio, before emptying into Lake Erie at Ashtabula. The west branch of the river rises in Erie County, Pennsylvania, just east of the state line. The upper portions of the river are pristine and have been designated as a state scenic river. In 1985, the lower 1.5 miles of the Ashtabula were federally designated an area of concern. More than 630,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment were removed over the next twenty-three years,

103

indian trails park, ashtabula river

and the Ashtabula River was declared to be clean in 2008, after one of the largest river cleanup projects in the Midwest. Ashtabula is the Anglicized version of an Iroquois Indian name that means “river of many fish.” The river is well-named, for it is home to eighty-six species of fish, including the steelhead trout, a type of rainbow trout that may grow to 20 pounds and is much sought by fishermen in spring and fall. Ashtabula County has seventeen covered bridges, more than any other Ohio county. Five of these bridges cross the Ashtabula River, including the Smolen–Gulf Bridge, the longest covered bridge in America. The Ashtabula Harbor Lift Bridge is also well worth a visit. These bridges are described in the chapter, “Barns, Bridges, Mills, and Rural Areas,” in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. Indian Trails Park encompasses several hundred acres along the Ashtabula River from East Twenty-fourth Street in Ashtabula south for more than 3 miles to just east of State Route 11. About 0.5 mile south of East Twenty-fourth Street, a concrete railroad bridge crosses the river at the site of a railroad disaster that occurred on December 29, 1876. When the previous bridge collapsed, two locomotives pulling eleven railcars carrying 159 passengers fell into the river. Ninety-two people were killed, making this the worst rail accident in the U.S. until the Great Train Wreck of 1918. 104

ashtabula river

Point Park in downtown Ashtabula has some great views of the mouth of the Ashtabula River and the industrial landscapes nearby. The North Kingsville Sand Barrens, owned by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, is one of the most interesting natural areas in this region, with a mix of sand dune flora and fauna and a swamp forest. This area, which is open to the public, is near Poole Road, about 2.5 miles east of North Kingsville. The GPS coordinates are 41.93093N 80.649682W. The museum also owns the Hadlock Preserve, a 54-acre area near the Ashtabula River that is home to several unusual plants and thirty-two species of dragonflies. A permit is needed to visit this preserve, or you can join a guided hike led by museum staff.

Big and Little Darby Creeks Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/darbysr GPS Coordinates: 39.893143N 83.217752W (Junction of Big Darby and Little Darby creeks)

Milton B. Trautman is the author of The Fishes of Ohio: With Illustrated Keys, the authoritative book on fishes in the Buckeye State. Trautman studied both fishes and birds, with part of his fish research carried out near his

105

spring, big darby creek

hometown of Columbus along Big and Little Darby creeks, where 103 of the 166 species of fish known to live in Ohio have been recorded. One of these fish, a small catfish new to science, was discovered by Trautman along a fast-flowing riffle of the Big Darby in Pickaway County in 1943. Christened the Scioto madtom, this tiny fish has not been found since 1957 and is now thought to be extinct, but it has become the poster child for the preservation of Big and Little Darby creeks, which, together, remain one of America’s most pristine river systems despite its proximity to the Columbus megalopolis a few miles to the east. The Nature Conservancy has played a key role in conserving Big Darby Creek, which it has named as one of America’s “last great places.” Maintaining Big Darby Creek in unspoiled condition is an ongoing challenge, involving the constant collaborative efforts of the Nature Conservancy, Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks, agricultural groups, residential and civic organizations, and dozens of other state and local groups. The major threats are pollution and siltation caused by residential and agricultural run106

big darby creek

off. Water testing is frequently carried out along the river at key locations so that threats to the health of the Big Darby can be quickly recognized and remedial action can be taken. So far, these massive, ongoing efforts seem to be paying off. At least thirty-eight species of freshwater mussels, which are especially sensitive to water pollution, live in Big Darby Creek, and eight are listed as Ohio endangered species. The Ohio chapter of the Nature Conservancy manages the 800-acre Big Darby Headwaters Nature Preserve, near Marysville. There is a trail, but most of it passes through a rather uninspiring woodland. The trail ends at an observation platform on the edge of a wetland—just at the point where it begins to get interesting. There are informative displays along the trail, and a variety of wildflowers, butterflies, dragonflies, and birds may be observed, but the trail offers little from a scenic photography viewpoint.

107

east branch of chagrin river, holden arboretum

From the headwaters of Big Darby Creek near the borders of Logan and Union counties, the Darby Plains Scenic Byway follows the upper section of Big Darby Creek for 20 miles from North Lewisburg to Plain City, then continues along a final section to Dublin. The byway and two spurs will take you to six covered bridges, a historic iron bridge, and three state nature preserves. South of Plain City, the best places to photograph Big Darby Creek are Prairie Oaks and Battelle Darby Creek Metro Parks in Franklin County. Prairie Oaks Metro Park, which lies just north of Interstate 70 near West Jefferson, covers 2,136 acres and includes a 400-acre restored prairie and several miles of trails along Big Darby Creek. A few miles further south, the 7,060-acre Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park features more than 20 miles of riparian forest along Big and Little Darby Creeks. There are fine views of Big Darby Creek along the Cobshell and Riffle trails.

Chagrin River Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/chagrinsr GPS Coordinates: 41.43111N 81.3925W (Chagrin Falls)

The Chagrin River rises near Chardon at a height of 1,335 feet above sea level, the highest point of any of the rivers draining into Lake Erie. The river 108

chagrin falls

flows southwest for 20 miles and tumbles over an impressive waterfall in the town of Chagrin Falls, then turns abruptly north for another 30 miles before entering Lake Erie at Eastlake. The 21-mile East Branch of the Chagrin River begins west of Chardon, flows through the Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, then joins the main river near Willoughby. The 18-mile Aurora Branch begins in northern Portage County, flows north, and joins the main branch of the Chagrin River at Bentleyville. The Chagrin River was designated as a state scenic river in 1979. The Chagrin may be named for Sieur de Saguin, a French trader, or it may derive from “Sha-ga-rin,” an Erie Indian name for “Clear Water.” An excellent way to become acquainted with the lower section of the Chagrin River is to take a leisurely drive north along Chagrin River Road and River Road, which parallel the Chagrin River for 15 miles from Miles Road, west of Chagrin Falls, to Ridge Road (State Route 84), near Willoughby. Just south of Miles Road is South Chagrin Reservation, which includes a rocky section of the Chagrin River that stretches about a mile from the Quarry parking area, near a fine waterfall, to the Squaw Rock area, which features a scenic loop walk along the river past another scenic waterfall to Squaw Rock, a large block of Berea sandstone carved by sculptor Henry Church in 1885.

109

110

Continuing north on Chagrin River Road past affluent homes in a pastoral, wooded valley brings you to the village of Gates Mills, founded in 1826 by Holsey Gates, an early Western Reserve settler and master miller who was born in Connecticut. Further north is North Chagrin Reservation, where meadows and wetlands line the river. Be sure to visit Squire’s Castle, a century-old gatehouse to a country estate that was never completed. Turn right on Skyline Drive just north of U.S. Route 6, where Chagrin River Road becomes River Road, to visit Hach-Otis State Nature Preserve, an 81-acre wooded area with a bird’s-eye view of the Chagrin River from 150-foothigh clay and shale bluffs. River Road offers more vistas of the Chagrin River Valley as you drive north from Skyline Drive.

Conneaut Creek Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/conneautsr GPS Coordinates: 41.972828N 80.549533W (Conneaut Harbor)

The Conneaut Creek, which is nearly 57 miles long, is born in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, flows west 20 miles from the Ohio border to Kingsville, then does an almost 180-degree U-turn, flowing northeast, then north, for another 13 miles before emptying into Lake Erie at Conneaut Harbor. The entire Conneaut Creek watershed drains only 38 square miles in northern Ashtabula County. The name “Conneaut” is based on “Konyiat,” a Seneca Indian word that means “place of many fish” or “where snow lays in spring.” Just south of Conneaut is the Conneaut Works, a fortification, Erie village, and burial ground on a bluff above the Conneaut Creek. In 2005, 20 miles of the Conneaut Creek were designated a state scenic river. The upper 16 miles of this section are pristine, and also designated as a state wild river, one of only three streams in Ohio that have received this highest quality designation. The bed of the creek is composed of Chagrin shale and gravel, resulting in a clear stream that is a favorite destination for steelhead trout anglers in early spring and late fall. The creek varies in width from 15 feet to 40 feet, and can be canoed or kayaked in spring after heavy rains. The Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) owns several nature preserves along the Conneaut Creek, including: the Blakeslee/Barrows Preserve, which has an excellent diversity of beetles, molluscs, and fish; the Baum Tract, which includes a 2.4-mile frontage along the creek; the Hubbard Easement, with two beautiful waterfalls; and the Floyd Preserve, along a tributary of the creek. Visit the CMNH website for more information on these

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

state road covered bridge, conneaut creek

112

areas, which are not open to the public, but may be visited on guided hikes by CMNH naturalists throughout the year. Three covered bridges cross the Conneaut Creek, along Creek Road, Middle Road, and State Road. Each of these locations provides good views of the creek. Near the parking area just south of the state road covered bridge is a scenic waterfall on a tributary of the creek. Conneaut Harbor and the nearby Conneaut Township Park are hot spots for birders, especially the sand spit that extends north from the Conneaut Township Park parking area.

Grand River Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/grandsr GPS Coordinates: 41.758796N 81.276344W (Fairport Harbor Park)

The 102.7-mile Grand River begins in southeast Geauga County, flows east into Trumbull County, north into Ashtabula County, then turns abruptly west through deep gorges in Lake County before entering Lake Erie at Fairport Harbor. The Grand River became Ohio’s second wild and scenic river on January 17, 1974. The “wild” portion is a 23-mile section of the river that runs from the Harpersfield Covered Bridge near Geneva downstream to the Norfolk and Western Railroad trestle near Painesville. The 33-mile “scenic” portion of the Grand River flows from the U.S. Route 322 bridge in Ashtabula County downstream to the Harpersfield Covered Bridge. The Grand River is one of Ohio’s most pristine rivers. Except for the last few urban miles from Painesville north into Lake Erie, the river is remarkably untouched by the hand of man. From its headwaters in Geauga and Trumbull counties, the Grand River meanders north at a slow pace through farmland, wetlands, and swamp forests of hemlock, birch, oak, and red maple. Near West Farmington in Trumbull County, the 7,453-acre Grand River Wildlife Area is one of the wildest places remaining in northeast Ohio. The combination of large beaver ponds, clean water, and abundant fish were important factors in the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s decision to reintroduce river otters in this area during the winter of 1986–87, and, again, in the spring of 1988. The river otters have established themselves so well that a river otter trapping season was begun in 2005. Further north in Ashtabula County, the Grand River passes through some of Ohio’s most interesting wetlands, including Morgan Swamp, owned by the Nature Conservancy, and home to bobcats, snowshoe hares, the occasional black bear, the diminutive Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake, and several a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

scenic rivers

harpersfield covered bridge, grand river

rare dragonflies. For a glimpse of this wetland wilderness, walk or drive slowly along Shaffer Road, southwest of Rock Creek, the southern boundary of Morgan Swamp. Five miles north of Morgan Swamp, as the crow flies, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Grand River Terraces protects 745 acres along a 2-mile section of the Grand River, including Ohio’s finest hemlock swamp forest and an open meadow that buzzes with dragonflies and butterflies from late May through summer and early fall. A permit is needed to visit this area, but regular hikes at the Grand River Terraces are scheduled with museum staff as guides. A little further north, near Austinburg, the Grand River meets the steep, erosion-resistant, sandstone hills south of Lake Erie, turns west, and flows through deep gorges incised in Chagrin shale along the 23-mile “wild” section of the river in northern Ashtabula and Lake counties. The microclimate created by the Grand River and Lake Erie along the ridges near the river create excellent conditions for wine growing; more than half of the wine grape acreage in Ohio is found in this tiny region, together with more than a dozen wineries. Combine the great wineries with the equally fine scenery along this stretch of the Grand River and you have a great location for wineloving photographers.

113

114

grand river from indian point, lake metroparks

Kokosing River Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/kokosingsr GPS Coordinates: 40.386509N 82.266131W (Factory Rapids, near Millwood)

With a length of only 57.2 miles, the Kokosing River in east-central Ohio is one of the shortest of Ohio’s scenic rivers, but it is also one of the most pristine, flowing through wooded corridors and rural landscapes. Rising northeast of Mount Gilead in Morrow County, the Kokosing flows south, then east through Knox County, before joining the Mohican in western Coshocton County to form the Walhonding River. “Kokosing” is an Indian word that may mean “river of little owls.” Although the Kokosing watershed covers only 482 square miles, more than seventy species of fish, forty species of mammals, and eighty species of nesting birds have been found along the river. Forty-one miles of the main Kokosing River and six-and-one-half miles of the North Fork of the Kokosing were designated as a state scenic river in 1997. The largest town on the Kokosing is Mount Vernon. Here the 28-mile Kokosing River Water Trail begins, passing through deep pools, riffles, short rapids, and a scenic sandstone gorge. Mount Vernon is also the starting point for the Kokosing Gap Trail, a paved, 14-mile recreational trail built on a former Pennsylvania Railroad line that roughly parallels the Kokosing River, ending in Danville. a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

kokosing and mohican river junction, knox county

Further downstream, the Kokosing River passes through Gambier, the home of Kenyon College, founded in 1824 and the oldest private college in Ohio. Kenyon is a liberal arts college famous for its striking gothic architecture and equally impressive costs—tuition, room, and board for a student runs about $58,000 a year. Kenyon’s alumni include President Rutherford B. Hayes and actor Paul Newman. Along the Kokosing River near Gambier is Kenyon’s 480-acre Brown Family Environmental Center, which is open to the public and includes a tallgrass prairie and 7 miles of hiking trails. State Route 62 passes over the Kokosing River and intersects with State Route 36 at the village of Millwood. East of Millwood is the most scenic section of the Kokosing River, including Factory Rapids and a narrow gorge with sandstone boulders and cliffs. A few hundred yards from Factory Rapids is Honey Run Falls, one of central Ohio’s most attractive waterfalls, described in the preceding chapter. If you visit Honey Run Falls, be sure to take a few extra minutes to hike north to view the Kokosing River gorge and rapids. From Millwood, drive east on State Route 36 for 7.8 miles to Township Road 423, which heads north for 1.9 miles, before ending at the confluence of

115

little beaver creek, near fredericktown

the Kokosing and Mohican rivers. You can park your vehicle under the trees near the river and walk along the gravel bank here to enjoy the view.

Little Beaver Creek Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/littlebeaversr GPS Coordinates: 40.7278N 80.61161W (Echo Dell Bridge, Beaver Creek State Park)

Little Beaver Creek is a pristine river located mostly in Columbiana County, Ohio, north of East Liverpool. Little Beaver Creek flows through Beaver Creek State Park and has a 20-mile remote section that earned it the first designation of a “wild” Ohio river in 1974. In 1975 a 16-mile section of Little Beaver Creek was also named a national scenic river. Little Beaver Creek joins the Ohio River in Pennsylvania, just east of the Ohio border. Beaver Creek State Park is a good place to begin your explorations of the Little Beaver Creek area. The park is about 11.5 miles north of East Liverpool,

116

beaver creek state park

east of State Route 7. In the center of the park, near the Echo Dell Bridge over Little Beaver Creek, is a pioneer village with a gristmill, Gaston’s Mill, and a restored lock from the Sandy and Beaver Canal, constructed in the mid-1800s to link the Ohio and Erie Canal at Bolivar with the Ohio River. More information on Gaston’s Mill can be found in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. Northwest of the state park, west of State Route 7 near Middle Beaver Road, is Lusk Lock, a well-preserved Sandy and Beaver Canal lock with unusual curved stonework. Near Hambleton Mill, on Sprucevale Road near the Little Beaver Creek Bridge, bank robber Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd was gunned down by local police officers and FBI agents on October 22, 1934.

117

118

Little Beaver Creek flows through some of the wildest land in Ohio, featuring deep, wooded valleys with many rock outcrops. The river is lined with boulders, fast-flowing rapids, and quiet pools. It is a river of great diversity, harboring sixty-three species of fish, forty-nine species of mammals, and one hundred and forty kinds of birds, including one of the southernmost breeding populations of common mergansers in the United States. Forty-six species of reptiles and amphibians have been found here, including Ohio’s largest population of the endangered hellbender, a giant salamander that can grow up to 2 feet long. Two elevated locations provide a birds-eye view of Little Beaver Creek. One is the Sprucevale Lookout, which is on Sprucevale Road (County Road 428), 0.4-mile south up a steep hill from the bridge over Little Beaver Creek. The other lookout is on Old Fredericktown Road (Township Road 1044), 0.6-mile southwest of State Route 7 in Fredericktown. Fredericktown is also well worth a visit from a photographic viewpoint. A few hundred yards north of the village, a set of rapids on Little Beaver Creek called “The Tubs” are picturesque, and there is an old post office and an octagonal building in the town itself. North of Fredericktown, near Pancake-Clarkson Road, is Sheepskin Hollow State Nature Preserve, a rugged hemlock ravine with waterfalls adjacent to the North Fork of Little Beaver Creek. Little Beaver Creek is a great location for canoeing and kayaking. The creek’s most popular sections are from Beaver Creek State Park downstream to Fredericktown, and from Fredericktown south to where the creek joins the Ohio River.

Little Miami River Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/littlemiamisr GPS Coordinates: 39.797623N 83.829614W (The Narrows, Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve)

From its headwaters in Clark County, the Little Miami River flows southwest for 105 miles through Clark, Greene, Warren, Clermont, and Hamilton counties before reaching its confluence with the Ohio River near Cincinnati. The Little Miami River was the first Ohio stream to be designated as a state scenic river, in April 1969, and it was also the first river in Ohio to be designated as a national scenic river, in August 1973. From a scenic viewpoint, the Little Miami River wears three distinct faces. Along its upper reaches, north of Clifton, the river meanders through the rural countryside of Clark and Greene counties. Then, in the village of Clifton, the Little Miami suddenly plunges into the depths of Clifton Gorge, cascading a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

clifton gorge, little miami river

120

below tall cliffs of dolomite for 2 miles of the most dramatic river scenery in the Buckeye State. The Little Miami continues its passage through the rapids and lower cliffs of John Bryan State Park to Yellow Springs, where it gradually widens its course through forested corridors and hillsides up to 300 feet high in parts of Warren County. Further downstream, in Clermont and Hamilton counties, the Little Miami widens its floodplain to a mile or more before flowing into the Ohio River at California, east of Cincinnati. The scenic diversity of the Little Miami River is matched by a remarkable variety of animals and plants, with more than eighty-seven species of fish and thirty-six kinds of mussels, including five endangered species. More than 340 varieties of plants grow in Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve, which puts on a spectacular display of spring wildflowers in April. The Little Miami area is also rich in human history. Indian villages flourished near the river for millennia; the famous Shawnee Chief Tecumseh was born in the Little Miami River valley. About 7 miles southeast of Lebanon, on tall bluffs north of the river, is Fort Ancient, the largest prehistoric hilltop enclosure in the United States, with more than 3 miles of walls in a 100-acre enclosure. Fort Ancient was built over a four-hundred-year period by the Hopewell Indians, who lived in this region from the first century bc to the sixth century ad. Canoeing and kayaking is prohibited in the Clifton Gorge, but you can paddle the Little Miami River from John Bryan State Park all the way to the Ohio River. Another way to explore the river is to hike or bike the Little Miami Scenic Trail, which follows the river for 75 miles. The village of Clifton is a great place to begin your photographic journey down the Little Miami River. Be sure to visit Clifton Mill, one of the most photogenic gristmills in the country, as well as Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve, which offers beautiful vistas of the Little Miami River in any season, but is particularly attractive in spring, when abundant wildflowers are in bloom. Both of these places are described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. Near Yellow Springs, Glen Helen Nature Preserve and Young’s Jersey Dairy, both described in this book, provide many photographic opportunities. Little Miami, Inc. (LMI) was founded in 1967 by Dayton newspaper editor Glenn Thompson and conservationists Arthur Morgan, Fred Skeets, and Charles Sawyer, and is dedicated to the restoration and protection of the Little Miami Wild & Scenic River. Today, LMI has acquired one hundred nature preserves along the Little Miami and its tributaries, preserving over 12 percent of the Little Miami’s riverine forests. An additional 41 percent of the river’s ad-

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

maumee river at weir rapids

joining lands are protected through public ownership. For more information, visit LMI’s website: http://www.littlemiami.com. If you enjoy photographing architecture and other man-made structures, you may want to visit King’s Island, northeast of Cincinnati near Interstate 71. This 364-acre amusement park and waterpark includes a one-third-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower and the Royal Fountains, which are capable of discharging 10,000 gallons of water each minute. A few miles south, along the Little Miami River at Loveland, is Chateau LaRoche, a medieval castle constructed brick by brick by “Sir” Harry Andrews from 1929 to 1981. Chateau LaRoche is described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio.

Maumee River Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/maumeesr GPS Coordinates: 41.414475N 83.860728W (Maumee River Bridge, Grand Rapids)

The Maumee River watershed in northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana covers more than 6,000 square miles and is the largest watershed in the Great Lakes. The 130-mile Maumee River begins near Fort Wayne, Indiana, and flows northeast through Paulding, Defiance, Henry, Wood, and Lucas counties before emptying into Lake Erie’s Maumee Bay at Toledo. “Maumee” is an anglicized version of an Ottawa Indian word for the Miami Indians, “Maamii.”

121

122

During the last few decades of the 1700s, the Maumee River country was the final stronghold of Native Americans in Ohio, culminating in General “Mad” Anthony Wayne’s defeat of Blue Jacket and his Shawnee Indian forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers near Waterville on August 20, 1794. Almost a year later, on August 3, 1795, Blue Jacket reluctantly signed the Treaty of Greenville, which ceded much of present-day Ohio to the United States. Two hundred and twenty years after the Battle of Fallen Timbers, life is much more peaceful along the banks of the Maumee River. Great blue herons patrol for fish in the rocky shallows of the river, while their human counterparts test their angling skills during the annual migration of walleye to the river during the spring. There are miles of hiking trails along the banks of the Maumee, especially in the Toledo Metroparks between Toledo and Grand Rapids. More information on the Metroparks of the Toledo Area and other natural areas near Toledo may be found in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. The upper 43 miles of the Maumee River in Ohio are designated as a state scenic river. The river mostly flows beneath steep clay banks through farmland, and access is difficult except at a few public parks and boat launches. From a photographic viewpoint, the lower section of the Maumee, which is much wider and flows over rocky terrain, offers more interesting scenery as well as many more places to access the river. From Defiance to Perrysburg, a 53-mile section of the Maumee River is designated as “recreational,” and there are enough interesting places, both natural and man-made, to fill a book. Independence Dam State Park, east of Defiance along State Route 424, is a popular location for fishing and canoeing. A 3-mile hiking trail along the river follows the original towpath of the Miami and Erie Canal, and a set of restored canal locks are located close to the park entrance. Providence Metropark near Grand Rapids features another restored section of the Miami and Erie Canal, where you can take a trip on a replica of a working canal boat and see a canal lock that actually works. Nearby is the Isaac Ludwig Mill, a working water-powered sawmill and gristmill. A few miles downstream from Grand Rapids, at Otsego Park and Weir Rapids, the Maumee River flows through scenic areas of rocks and small waterfalls. These places are at their best for photography during periods of low water when the rocks are exposed, early or late on sunny or partly cloudy days when blue skies reflect in the water. Avoid cloudy days and periods following heavy rains, which muddy the waters and cover up the rocks. Farnsworth Metropark offers great views of a rocky section of the Maumee River, as well as the Interurban Bridge, described in A Photographer’s Guide

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

scenic rivers

to Ohio. The rocky shallows of the river are known as an “alvar,” and great blue herons, bald eagles, and a variety of waterfowl may be seen hunting along this stretch of the river. Side Cut Metropark is named for a “side cut” canal segment that once connected the city of Maumee to the Miami and Erie Canal. Three of the original six canal locks have been preserved. The Battle of Fallen Timbers was fought nearby, and a monument to this historic event is located at the Metropark. Fort Meigs, located near the Maumee River at Perrysburg, is described in the chapter on buildings and murals. International Park, between Main and Miami streets in Toledo, is a fine place to photograph the skyline of downtown Toledo across the Maumee River. You’ll be facing west, so early morning light is usually best from this vantage point.

Mohican River Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/mohicansr GPS Coordinates: 40.608235N 82.25391W (Confluence of Clear Fork & Black Fork, Mohican River)

The Clear Fork and Black Fork merge about 2 miles southwest of Loudonville in Ashland County to form the Mohican River, which flows south for 27.5 miles before joining the Kokosing to form the Walhonding River. The main stem of the Mohican and 4.8 miles of the Clear Fork from Pleasant Hill Dam to its confluence with the Black Fork were designated a state scenic river in 2006. More than 60 percent of the scenic sections of the Mohican River are forested. From Pleasant Hill Dam, the Clear Fork flows for more than 4 miles through Clear Fork Gorge, the deepest gorge in Ohio, in Mohican State Park. The park is described in the preceding chapter. One of only three streams in Ohio cool enough to sustain brown trout, the Clear Fork is a popular destination for fly fishing. Hiking trails along both banks of Clear Fork Gorge take you past large hemlock trees, abundant spring wildflowers and summer mushrooms, and many species of songbirds that nest in the gorge. Canoeing and kayaking are also permitted in the gorge, but you’ll need to bring your own boat and arrange transportation back to your vehicle after you paddle through it. Clear Fork Gorge can get crowded with visitors during the summer months, especially at sunny weekends, but, if you visit during the week or in other seasons, you can often find solitude along the beautiful banks of the Clear Fork.

123

covered bridge, mohican state park

The main stem of the Mohican River is the most popular canoeing and kayaking river in the Buckeye State, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Watercraft has named Loudonville the Canoe Capital of Ohio. Most of the canoe liveries are based along State Route 3, a couple of miles southwest of Loudonville; the largest is Mohican Canoe Adventures, located near the junction of the Clear Fork and Black Fork. On a typical summer weekend, if the weather is pleasant, hundreds of canoeists and kayakers will be paddling the gentle waters of the Mohican River. If you prefer a more leisurely river trip, tubing is also popular on the river. South of Loudonville, the Wally Road Scenic Byway parallels the Mohican River for 10.4 miles, ending at State Route 514 between Danville and Nashville. The Wally Road runs on a section of the 45-mile Walhonding Valley Railroad. The railroad was built in 1893 to connect Loudonville with Coshocton, primarily for transporting coal, but later was used as a passenger line, and is said to be the most scenic train ride in Ohio. The railroad ceased operations in 1942, but remnants of some of the old railroad structures may be seen as you drive the Wally Road. 124

olentangy river

Further south, near Brinkhaven, the 4.5-mile Mohican Valley Trail crosses the Mohican River over the Bridge of Dreams, the second-longest covered bridge in Ohio.

Olentangy River Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/olentangysr GPS Coordinates: 40.139561N 83.031763W (High Bluffs, Highbanks Metro Park)

The Olentangy River begins in Crawford County near Galion and flows south through Marion, Delaware, and Franklin counties for 97 miles before joining the Scioto River at Confluence Park near downtown Columbus. Twenty miles of the Olentangy River, from the Delaware Dam to Old Wilson Bridge Road in Worthington, were designated as Ohio’s third scenic river in 1973. Despite being within a 30-minute drive for 1.5 million people in the

125

126

Greater Columbus area, the Olentangy is a high-quality river with an impressive diversity of aquatic life, including fifty-four species of fish. The Olentangy was named in 1833 by a legislative act that was attempting to restore Native American names to certain Ohio rivers. The word “Olentangy” means “river of red face paint.” This name actually belonged to Big Darby Creek further west, where the local Wyandot Indians obtained their red face pigment. A better name for the Olentangy would have been the “whetstone river,” since both Native Americans and early settlers used the black Ohio and Olentangy shale found along the river to sharpen their tools. For most of its 20 miles, the scenic section of the Olentangy River is a forested corridor, its banks lined with American sycamore, willow, red and striped maple, ash, and oak trees. Kingfishers patrol the river and great blue herons stand motionless in the shallows, ready to stab at any fish, frog, crayfish, or other prey that comes within range of their lightning-fast bills. Olentangy River Road (State Route 315) follows the river for most of its length from Delaware to downtown Columbus, but this is a busy road with few places to park. You will do better to explore some of the smaller roads that parallel the river, such as Chapman Road (County Road 118) and Taggatt Road (County Road 144), which run from State Route 23 for about 4 miles south to Home Road (County Road 124). A mile south of State Route 23 on Chapman Road a small stream tumbles over a scenic waterfall just east of the road, part of Seymour Woods State Nature Preserve. Further south, the bridges on Hyatts and Home roads over the Olentangy provide attractive views of the river. Further south, Highbanks Metro Park, accessed from State Route 23, includes a section of the Olentangy River lined with 110-foot shale bluffs. The 2.3-mile Overlook Trail takes you to a viewing platform on top of the bluffs overlooking the river. Please stay away from the edge of the bluffs, which are extremely friable and dangerous to approach. The bluffs and nearby ravines contain many large concretions, spherical limestone rocks that look like giant cannonballs, some up to several feet in diameter, embedded in the shale cliffs. The “scenic” designation of the Olentangy ends near Worthington, but there are several other sites further south along the river that are worth a visit. The Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetlands Research Park, part of Ohio State University’s School of Environment and Natural Resources, is a 52-acre research site near the Olentangy River, with two experimental wetland basins, an oxbow wetland, and a bottomland hardwood forest. The park is open to the public from dawn to dusk, and is accessed from the Heffner Building; 352 West Doddridge Street; Columbus, Ohio 43202. Tel: (614) 292-9774.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

sandusky river, near fremont

Confluence Park, located at 679 West Spring Street, near State Route 315, is near the junction of the Olentangy and Scioto rivers north of downtown Columbus, and provides a fine view of the city’s skyscrapers from the boathouse in the park.

Sandusky River Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/sanduskysr GPS Coordinates: 40.863108N 83.254165W (Indian Mill Museum)

The 133-mile Sandusky River begins in Crawford County near Crestline and flows westward, passing through Bucyrus. In Wyandot County the river turns northward for the remainder of its course, flowing through Upper Sandusky, Tiffin, and Fremont before emptying into Sandusky Bay. In 1970, a 65-mile section of the Sandusky River between Upper Sandusky and Fremont was designated a state scenic river. Except for the area around the mouth of the river, which is mostly marshy, the Sandusky River flows primarily through agricultural land.

127

The Sandusky River has a wide variety of fish species and is the only river in Ohio that harbors all six species of redhorse suckers, including the state endangered river redhorse. The river offers excellent fishing, highlighted by the annual early spring run of walleye and white bass from Sandusky Bay to the Ballville Dam near Fremont. The original Indian Mill, located along the Sandusky River 3 miles north of Upper Sandusky, was built in 1820 by the United States government as a reward to the local Wyandot Indians for their loyalty during the War of 1812. The current mill was built nearby using timber salvaged from the original mill, and was given to the State of Ohio in 1943 by owner Ward Walton. The state has converted the mill to the nation’s first museum of milling. Indian Mill is open from May through October and is an attractive subject for photography, with the best views obtained from a park opposite the mill. A low dam near the mill provides a nice “leading line” in indian mill, sandusky river wide-angle vistas of the mill from this vantage point. Further downstream, at 1655 West Township Road 38, in Seneca Township, is the 115-acre Howard Collier State Nature Preserve, which has excellent spring wildflowers, large beech trees, and a 1.5-mile loop trail along a ridge overlooking the Sandusky River. Just south of the city of Fremont is the Ballville Dam, no longer in use but blocking access to the upper reaches of the Sandusky River for spawning walleye and white bass. Below the dam, when water levels are low, you can wade out to some limestone outcrops, which provide a good view of the rocky stretch of river that extends downstream for several hundred yards. While you are in Fremont, you may wish to visit the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center at Spiegel Grove, where President Hayes’s thirty-one-room mansion is located in an attractive park with some very large trees.

128

greenville falls, darke county

Stillwater River and Greenville Creek Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/stillwatersr GPS Coordinates: 40.118728N 84.357342W (Junction of Greenville Creek and Stillwater River)

The famous Ohio sharpshooter Annie Oakley may have practiced her marksmanship along the banks of Greenville Creek in the 1880s, a few miles south of her birthplace near Greenville in Darke County, east of the Indiana border. Greenville Creek flows 35 miles through Darke and Miami counties before joining the Stillwater River in Covington. All 35 miles of Greenville Creek in Ohio and 38 miles of the Stillwater River above Englewood Dam were designated as state scenic rivers in 1975. An additional 10 miles of the Stillwater River, below Englewood Dam to its confluence with the Great Miami River in Dayton, were designated as recreational. One of the most important events in Ohio’s history took place at Fort Greenville (now Greenville) on August 3, 1795, when General “Mad” Anthony Wayne

129

130

and representatives from a confederation of Indian tribes signed the Treaty of Greenville, ceding much of Ohio and several areas further west to the United States in exchange for $20,000 worth of blankets, utensils, and other goods. General Wayne’s forces had defeated the Indian tribes on August 20, 1794, at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, and the treaty marked the end of the Northwest Indian Wars in the Ohio Lands. Greenville Creek and the upper sections of the Stillwater River today retain much of their presettlement character. Both are clear streams with excellent water quality flowing through forested corridors for much of their length. Fifty-nine species of fish are found here, including the beautiful rainbow darter, and abundant smallmouth bass offer great fishing opportunities. East of Greenville on Greenville Creek south of State Route 36, Bear’s Mill is one of Ohio’s few remaining water-powered gristmills. Just west of Covington, Greenville Creek flows through a scenic limestone gorge and cascades over the 20-foot Greenville Falls. Seventy-nine acres around the gorge are protected as Greenville Falls State Nature Preserve. The cascades face east, so morning light is usually best for photographing the falls. Another, larger, waterfall further south is Ludlow Falls, where Ludlow Creek cascades over a 25-foot vertical waterfall just west of its confluence with the Stillwater River. Two other attractive waterfalls nearby are Overlook and West Milton falls, both just east of State Route 48 in West Milton on tributaries of the Stillwater River. Overlook Falls is described in the preceding chapter. Bear’s Mill and Ludlow and West Milton falls are described in more detail in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. One of my favorite natural areas along the Stillwater River is Stillwater Prairie Reserve, part of Miami County Parks, located north of Covington along State Route 185, 1.5 miles west of State Route 48. In addition to several miles of trails, parts of which are along the river, this 380-acre preserve includes a remnant Ohio prairie that is at its floral best in late July through mid-September. Northwest of Ludlow Falls near the Horseshoe Bend of the Stillwater River, Brukner Nature Center offers 165 acres of hiking trails and interpretive and educational programs. The nature center, named for local inventor and philanthropist Clayton J. Brukner, is the home of the 1804 Iddings Log House, the oldest building in Miami County still standing on its original site. There is a $2.50 admission fee at Brukner Nature Center, located 5 miles west of Troy at 5995 Horseshoe Bend Road. Englewood MetroPark is a 1,900-acre park with hiking trails along the Stillwater River as well as two waterfalls, Martindale and Patty falls. Nearby is

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

scenic rivers

Aullwood Garden MetroPark, a beautiful woodland garden near the Stillwater River with a spectacular display of Virginia bluebells and other spring wildflowers, and a stand of huge sycamore trees. Further south, the river flows through Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark, another public garden with attractive floral displays just north of the Stillwater’s junction with the Great Miami River. Aullwood and Wegerzyn gardens are described in more detail in “Zoos and Public Gardens.” For more information, visit the Five Rivers MetroParks website at: http://www.metroparks.org.

Upper Cuyahoga River Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/uppercuyahogasr GPS Coordinates: 41.425328N 81.162842W (Eldon Russell Park)

The main branch of the Cuyahoga River starts at the confluence of the West and East branches south of Burton in Geauga County and flows 85 miles in a U-shaped course before draining into Lake Erie near downtown Cleveland. Cuyahoga is an anglicized version of an Native American word, “Ka-ih-ohg-ha” which means “crooked.” Twenty-five miles of the upper part of the river were designated as a state scenic river on June 26, 1974. In marked contrast to the lower, industrialized, part of the river south of Cleveland, which famously caught fire on June 22, 1969, the Upper Cuyahoga is a pristine river, bordered by forests, wetlands, meadows and farm fields, which offers excellent opportunities for nature study, fishing, canoeing, and kayaking. South of Burton, numerous wetlands in the drainage area of the Upper Cuyahoga ensure that water flows in the river even in periods of drought. Several of these wetlands are preserved as state nature preserves or Geauga County parks, including Burton Wetlands, described in the preceding chapter. The Upper Cuyahoga ends at State Route 14 north of Ravenna, where the river flows into Lake Rockwell, the major water source for the city of Akron. The Upper Cuyahoga River is a wonderful location for a leisurely paddle in a canoe or kayak. At the northern end of the river, canoes and kayaks may be rented from the Iron Horse Saloon, 13468 Main Market Road (State Route 422); Troy Township, Ohio 44021. Tel: (440) 834-4401; website: http://www .riverwalkusa.com. A great place to begin your trip is Eldon Russell Park, south of Burton on Rapids Road. From there, it’s a delightful paddle downstream for 5 miles to the Iron Horse Saloon. Depending on the season, you can expect to see deer, beaver, muskrat, turtles, water snakes, great blue herons, and prothonotary warblers and many other songbirds, especially during migration in

131

upper cuyahoga river, geauga county

scenic rivers

spring and fall. On the lower section of the Upper Cuyahoga, the best place to rent a canoe or kayak is Camp Hi Canoe Livery; 12274 Abbott Road; Hiram, Ohio 44234. Tel: (330) 569-7621; website: http://www.camphicanoe.com. Friends of the Crooked River (http://www.cuyahogariver.net/) and Keelhaulers Canoe Club, Inc. (http://www.keelhauler.org/) are northeast Ohio organizations working to establish a Water Trail along the Cuyahoga River, as well as organizing support for the removal of dams and other restoration activities designed to improve the natural and recreational values of the entire Cuyahoga River.

References American Rivers. http://www.americanrivers.org. This organization helps to protect wild rivers, restore damaged rivers, and conserve clean water for people and nature. Since 1973, American Rivers has protected and restored more than 150,000 miles of rivers throughout the United States. Mayor, Tom. Call of the Scenic River: An Ohio Journey. 2012. Available from Rivers Unlimited, http://www.riversunlimited.com. An inspiring 95-minute film about Ohio’s scenic rivers. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Watercraft. Contact: Bob Gable, Scenic Rivers Program Manager; 205 Morse Road, Building A-3; Columbus, Ohio 43229-6693. Tel: (614) 265-6814. Website: http://www.watercraft.ohiodnr .gov/. This division administers the State Scenic River Program. A wealth of information about Ohio’s scenic rivers is available from their website. Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Ohio’s Lake Erie Public Access Guidebook: Rivers Edition. Sandusky, OH: ODNR Office of Coastal Management, 2013. This free publication provides comprehensive information on all the major rivers in Ohio that drain into Lake Erie. Palmer, Tim. The Wild and Scenic Rivers of America. Washington DC: Island Press, 1993. Written by one of the nation’s leading river experts, this book is an excellent resource on the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Platt, Carolyn V., auth.; Gary Meszaros, photogr. “Ohio’s Scenic Rivers: Preservation and Perils,” Timeline: A Publication of the Ohio Historical Society, 22:3 (July–September 2005). This is an excellent article on Ohio’s scenic rivers, with superb color photographs by Meszaros. Rivers Unlimited. http://www.riversunlimited.com. This non-profit organization is based in Cincinnati and works to protect and restore Ohio’s rivers and streams, their water quality, and scenic beauty. Sanders, Randall E. A Guide to Ohio Streams. Columbus: ODNR Ohio Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, 2001. This is a great overview of the natural history of Ohio’s rivers and streams. Out of print, but available from Amazon.com or as a free pdf download from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources website.

133

Scenic Byways

The National Scenic Byways Program is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, established under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, and reauthorized and expanded significantly in 1998 and again in 2005. The program is a collaborative effort designed to help recognize, preserve, and enhance selected roads throughout the United States. There are about 150 designated National Scenic Byways and All-American Roads in forty-six states, including five in Ohio: the Amish Country Byway, Historic National Road, Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail, Ohio & Erie Canalway, and Ohio River Scenic Byway. In addition to the five national scenic byways listed above, Ohio also has twenty-two state scenic byways. Each of the byways follows state routes, county roads, township roads, or a combination of these highways. Some byways are linear, such as the Historic National Road and the Ohio River Scenic Byway. Some include loops, such as the Tappan-Moravian Trail Scenic Byway and Welsh Scenic Byway. A few byways, notably the Amish Country Byway, consist of a patchwork grid of roads. In total, Ohio’s scenic byways cover almost 2,300 miles around the Buckeye State, and vary in length from the 8.8-mile North Ridge Scenic Byway in Lorain County to the 452-mile Ohio River Scenic Byway. Each national scenic byway has a unique sign that is displayed prominently along the route. Ohio scenic byways display a sign with a white trillium on a blue and green background, and a few Ohio byways have their own special sign. Creating an Ohio scenic byway requires a great deal of planning and hard work. The first step is to form a local byway committee to assemble the reams of information needed to determine if the area under consideration has the necessary intrinsic qualities needed for designation as an Ohio scenic byway. An Ohio byway must possess at least one of the following intrinsic qualities: archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. National scenic byways must possess at least two of these qualities. Assuming that the area has these attributes, the next task is to prepare a comprehensive Corridor Management Plan (CMP) that is submitted to the Ohio turkeys, amish country byway

135

136

Scenic Byways Committee for review and approval. If approval is granted, the task of implementing the CMP is carried out, including monitoring, fundraising, community involvement, volunteer activities, annual reports, and updates to the CMP. Although I was very familiar with Ohio’s five national scenic byways, many of the other twenty-two scenic byways in our state were unknown to me until I began researching the material for this chapter. Since then, I’ve visited most of the other scenic byways in the Buckeye State, with camera in hand, and realized that, in total, they include many of the best of Ohio’s natural, rural, historical, and architectural subjects for photography. In fact, I’ve become so enamored with Ohio’s scenic byways that I’m exploring a project with Ohio University Press to create a traveler’s guide to them, along the lines of A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. Stay tuned!

Tips fo r P h o t og r ap h i n g O h io ’ s S c e n ic B y wa y s The most important item to have available when you are planning a photography trip along one of Ohio’s scenic byways is a good Ohio map/gazetteer. The best, in my opinion, is the DeLorme Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer, which includes detailed topographic maps of the entire Buckeye State. I have an up-to-date copy in my vehicle at all times and I never set out on an Ohio photography trip without it. Next, check out the website listed for each of the scenic byways you plan to visit, then download a map, and, if available, a driving/traveler’s guide. I also like to spend some time using Google Images to review photos of the scenic byways. Although the quality of most of these images is not great, they provide a sense of what you can expect to find along the byway; I have discovered many new subjects for photography by scanning the first few pages of Google Images of a new Ohio place that I am researching for photographic opportunities. Try to “work the light” when you explore a scenic byway. For example, if the byway runs from west to east, try to make your way along it from east to west in the morning so that the light is behind you or to one side, then travel from west to east in the afternoon Although Ohio scenic byways follow specific roads, they are really corridors. Many of the best places for photography will only be found if you are willing

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

scenic byways

to explore the area within a few miles of the byway. Take your time and enjoy the ride along Ohio’s scenic byways!

Accommodation Line Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/AccommodationLine.aspx GPS Coordinates: 39.610515N 84.001136W (Spring Valley) 39.525892N 84.089026W (Waynesville)

In the spring of 1825, a Springfield innkeeper named William Werden and a Quaker farmer from Waynesville named John Satterthwaite opened a stagecoach line to transport goods and people from the western terminus of the National Road in Springfield to the Ohio River at Cincinnati. They called their stagecoach business the Accommodation Line; it operated from the 1820s to the 1840s. The stylishly dressed stagedrivers were paid $13 a month and were boarded at the best hotels along the route. During the 1840s the railroads began to render the stagecoach lines obsolete. Today, the 10.4-mile Accommodation Line Scenic Byway follows the early nineteenth-century Accommodation stagecoach route along today’s modern highway, State Route 42. Spring Valley, at the northern end of the byway, was founded in 1844 by Virginia Quakers. Its historic district has some of the oldest concrete buildings in Ohio, and more historic buildings can be found further south at Mount Holly. East of State Route 42, accessed from Roxanna New Burlington Road, the 842-acre Spring Valley Wildlife Area includes a 150-acre marsh and lake. A 2.5-mile trail encircles the marsh, with a 655-foot boardwalk ending in an observation tower providing easy access to its interior. More than 225 species of birds have been recorded in the wildlife area, making it popular with birders. The Ohio Renaissance Festival takes place from August to October at Harveysburg, on the banks of Caesar Creek Lake. Plays run continuously on two stages, with 150 artisans recreating the sights, sounds, and smells of the Renaissance. Nearby, Pioneer Village includes stallion, waynesville

138

more than twenty restored pioneer buildings and holds three festivals each year: the Celtic, the Ole Tyme Music, and the Pioneer Harvest festivals. Caesar Creek State Park provides many miles of hiking, and the nearby Caesar Creek Gorge State Nature Preserve has a prolific display of spring wildflowers. The Little Miami State Park covers 50 miles of the 80-mile Little Miami Scenic Trail and provides canoe access to the Little Miami Scenic River. The trail, designed for bicycling, hiking, cross-country skiing, rollerblading, backpacking, and horseback riding, passes Indian mounds, natural areas, historic buildings, and old gristmills. At the southern end of the byway, Waynesville, called by USA Today the “Antique Capital of the Midwest,” has eighty antique shops within five city blocks. The town offers self-guided tours of more than forty historic homes, many of which were Quaker homes and meeting houses. There’s plenty to photograph, including brick sidewalks, window flower boxes, and copper street lamps. Waynesville’s annual Sauerkraut festival attracts over 250,000 visitors each year.

Amish Country Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways /Pages/AmishCountryByway.aspx GPS Coordinates: 40.553836N 81.916662W (Millersburg)

Ohio has the largest population of Amish in the nation, centered in Holmes County and bounded roughly by Wooster to the north, Coshocton to the south, Loudonville to the west, and Sugar Creek to the east. Every mile of state and federal highway in Holmes County, 160 miles in all, is designated as an Ohio scenic byway. Within this area in Holmes, Ashland, Wayne, Tuscarawas, and Coshocton counties live more than fifty thousand Amish and Mennonite people engaged in traditional farming, caramish barn raising, near mount hope a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

amish country, near wilmot

pentry, quilt-making, and catering to the needs of the tens of thousands of travelers who visit Ohio’s Amish Country to stare at the Amish in their black buggies and consume heavily laden plates of delicious, albeit high-calorie, home-style Amish meals. The major towns along State Route 39 in Holmes County—Millersburg, Berlin, Walnut Creek, and Sugar Creek—are usually packed with tourists from midmorning through late afternoon during the summer, especially on the weekends. From a photographic viewpoint, you will do well to avoid these tourist traps and spend your time exploring the quieter areas and dirt roads around Charm, New Bedford, Mount Hope, Becks Mills, and Mount Eaton. When you are in Amish Country please drive slowly and be on the lookout for Amish buggies, which travel at five to ten miles per hour. Take special care approaching the top of a hill on an Amish road. Amish adults do not wish to be photographed, though they do not usually object to visitors taking pictures of their farms, livestock, or children. Please respect their beliefs and never ask Amish adults to “pose” for a photograph. When photographing Amish men and women engaged in plowing, harvesting,

139

140

or other farming tasks, always photograph them from behind, or from a distance so that their faces will not be easily recognizable. Please follow these guidelines when you are photographing in Ohio’s Amish Country. When exploring the area’s back roads, if you are a cheese lover, you’ll enjoy a visit to Heini’s Cheese Chalet in Berlin or Guggisberg Cheese north of Charm. Ohio leads the nation in the production of Swiss cheese, with most of it made in Amish Country. During the summer and fall you will also encounter roadside farm markets. My favorite is Hershberger Farm & Bakery, just south of State Route 39 on State Route 557, where, every fall, there are colorful displays of pumpkins, gourds, and other produce. You can also photograph goats strolling on the roof of the barn. Another picturesque place is the Vogt General Store on State Route 515 about 0.5 mile south of Trail. In Kidron, Lehman’s Hardware Store is the world’s largest supplier of non-electric stoves, tools, lamps, pumps, and other appliances and implements. The Farmer’s Produce Auction in Mount Hope is a great place to see and photograph displays of spring flowers and summer vegetables and other produce, with auctions usually held on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Mount Hope also hosts Horse Progress Days every four years, a celebration of the role of the horse in farming and rural living, with demonstrations of plowing and of the latest innovations in horse-powered equipment.

Big Darby Plains Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/BigDarbyPlainsScenicByway.aspx GPS Coordinates: 40.273501N 83.53941W (East Liberty) 40.109982N 83.180587W (Dublin)

West of Columbus, especially in the headwaters of Big Darby and Little Darby creeks, the presettlement terrain was punctuated with bur oak savannas and tallgrass prairies with grasses growing up to 10 feet high in midsummer. The prairie sod in these “Darby Plains” was deep, tough, and usually too wet or too dry to farm, and the ground defied the best efforts of many of the early settlers who arrived in the early 1800s from New England, Pennsylvania, and Canada. John Deere’s introduction of the steel plow in 1837 revolutionized farming; over the next 150 years almost every acre in the Darby Plains was tilled for corn or soybeans. Today the only remnants of the once vast Darby Plains are a handful of pioneer cemeteries west of Plain City in Madison and Union counties. The life spans etched on the gravestones are harsh reminders of the young age at which many of the settlers died, but, in summer, the

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

scenic byways

pottersburg bridge, big darby plains scenic byway

bleached headstones are surrounded by lush displays of purple coneflower, bergamot, rosinweed, royal catchfly, and other tallgrass prairie wildflowers that escaped the pioneers’ plows. From the headwaters of Big Darby Creek near the borders of Logan and Union counties, the Darby Plains Scenic Byway follows the upper section of Big Darby Creek for 27 miles, from North Lewisburg to Plain City, then follows a final section to Dublin. Twenty miles of spur roads lead to three state nature preserves, several century-old farms and rural cemeteries. Along the way, the byway and two spurs will also take you to six covered bridges and one historic iron bridge. Most of the byway is in Union County, with a few miles in northeast Champaign County and a few miles in the eastern section of Madison County.

wildflowers, smith cemetery

texas longhorn, watusi, and buelingo cattle; dickinson cattle company

A well-illustrated map of the Big Darby Plains Scenic Byway can be downloaded from the following website: http://www.w2.co.union.oh.us/Engineer /State_of-our_roads/byway_map_final4.pdf. The byway offers a pleasant drive, especially in midsummer when the prairie flowers are in bloom. Mosquitoes can be troublesome, so be sure to bring insect repellent when you visit.

Drover’s Trail Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/DroversTrail.aspx GPS Coordinates: 40.058629N 81.157737W (Hendrysburg) 40.007944N 80.745138W (Bellaire)

During the early 1900s most of the National Road in eastern Ohio was paved with bricks, so the Drover’s Trail was established to provide an alternative route for herding livestock that would be softer on the hooves of the animals. The Drover’s Trail Scenic Byway starts at Hendrysburg in Belmont County and goes south for 6 miles on State Route 800 to Barnesville, then travels east for 30 miles, running roughly parallel to the National Road, on State Route 147 to end at Bellaire on the Ohio River. Hendrysburg was the birthplace of actor William Boyd, who portrayed western hero Hopalong Cassidy in sixty-six films from 1935 to 1948. Two miles south, Muskrat Road leads west from State Route 800 through land grazed by one of America’s largest herds of Texas Longhorn, Watusi, and Buelingo cattle owned by the Dickinson Cattle Company.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

epworth park cottages, bethesda

mail pouch barn, barkcamp state park

144

Four miles further south is Barnesville, where the Belmont County Victorian Mansion Museum is located. The Drover’s Trail follows State Route 147 east through Bethesda, where sixty-one 1870s Victorian cottages and a lake at Epworth Park provide an environment reminiscent of Chautauqua in New York State. Belmont County was the home of the legendary barn painter Harley Warrick, who painted more than 20,000 Mail Pouch murals on barns from 1946 to 2000. To view an example of a Mail Pouch barn mural visit Barkcamp State Park, just east of Belmont, and follow the signs to the pioneer village. From Belmont, State Route 147 twists and turns along ridges, up and down steep hills, with beautiful rural vistas for about 22 miles to Bellaire. About 6 miles from Belmont is Dysart Woods, one of the few remaining old growth woodlands remaining in the Buckeye State. More information on Dickinson Cattle Company, Dysart Woods, and other picturesque places in Belmont County is included in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio.

Gateway to Amish Country Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/GatewaytoAmishCountry.aspx GPS Coordinates: 40.538591N 82.179823W (North of Danville) 40.243109N 82.418332W (Utica)

The main spur of the Gateway to Amish Country Scenic Byway begins at the junction of State Route 62 and Utica Road (Township Road 26/86), about 2 miles northwest of Utica, follows State Route 62 north for 18.3 miles to Danville, then continues north for 7.8 miles on State Route 514, ending at the Knox County/Holmes County border, where it joins the Amish Country Byway. A byway spur continues east on State Route 62 from Danville for 4.4 miles to the Knox County/Holmes County border, where another spur of the Amish Country Byway begins. If you are starting at the southern end of the byway near Utica, and you are in the mood for some great ice cream coupled with rural architecture, drive south on State Route 13 from the junction of state routes 62 and 13 in Utica for 1.2 miles to Ye Olde Mill, a reconstructed gristmill with an overshot water wheel, a mill pond, and the headquarters of Velvet Ice Cream. The mill faces south and offers good photo opportunities as you enjoy the excellent ice cream. At Millwood, just south of the Kokosing River Bridge over State Route 62, turn right on Hazel Dell Road to visit Honey Run Falls, one of the few waterfalls in this part of Ohio. Nearby, the Kokosing Scenic River is also very a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

honey run falls, milford

146

bridge of dreams, brinkhaven

attractive. Honey Run Falls and the Kokosing River are covered in more detail in this book. At Brinkhaven, about 3.8 miles east of Danville on the State Route 62 byway spur, turn south for 0.1 miles on Hunter Road to visit the Bridge of Dreams, a 370-foot covered bridge, built from an old railroad bridge, that crosses the Mohican River. The bridge is the second-longest covered bridge in Ohio and one of the longest in the United States.

Heritage Corridors of Bath Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/HeritageCorridorsofBath.aspx GPS Coordinates: 41.18098N 81.650062W (Bath Nature Preserve)

Bath Township lies just west of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, part of which is included in the 42 miles of scenic rural roads that make up the Heritage Corridors of Bath in northern Summit County. The Cuyahoga Valley sites include the Everett Road Covered Bridge and Hale Farm and Village, both described in detail in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. Portions of the following roads are included in Heritage Corridors of Bath: Revere, Medina Line, Cleveland–Massillon, Everett, Ira, Oak Hill, Martin, Bath, Yellow Creek, Granger, Hametown, Shade, Wye, and Shaw. Visit the website listed above to view a map of the byway superimposed on these roads. a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

hale farm barns, cuyahoga valley

Yellow Creek is a picturesque tributary of the Cuyahoga River that flows through the southern part of the corridor. Just west of the junction of Yellow Creek Road and North Revere Road, Yellow Creek cascades over a small waterfall, framed by a red maple that is very colorful in the fall. Further downstream, Yellow Creek flows through O’Neil Woods, one of the Summit County Metroparks. Park by the large white barn and enjoy the trail along Yellow Creek and the wooded hillsides north of Bath Road. Near the upper entrance to O’Neil Woods along Martin Road, an open meadow is a favorite place to observe the courtship flight of male woodcocks in the early spring. Crown Point Ecology Center is south of Ira Road and bordered by Interstate 77 on the west side. This 115-acre facility includes a 10-acre certified organic farm that provides produce to more than two hundred local families each year. There are also woodland trails, wetlands, and workshops throughout the year. In the center of the Heritage Corridor is the 411-acre Bath Nature Preserve, with several miles of hiking trails and a University of Akron Field Station, which conducts a variety of research programs.

147

s-bridge, national road near bridgewater

Historic National Road—Ohio Website: http://www.ohionationalroad.org/ GPS Coordinates: 39.83357N 84.813856W (Ohio–Indiana border) 40.072308N 80.739001W (Ohio–West Virginia border)

From Baltimore, Maryland, the National Road extends west for 700 miles through six states before ending at the Mississippi River at East St. Louis, Illinois. The National Road was the brainchild of Albert Gallatin, secretary of the treasury under President Thomas Jefferson, and was the nation’s first federally funded interstate highway. The road helped to open the heartland of America west of the Appalachians and became a major route for the movement of goods and people. In Ohio, the National Road was built from 1823 to 1833 and stretched for 225 miles across the Buckeye State from Wheeling, West Virginia, to the Indiana border near Richmond. Much of the National Road was incorporated into U.S. Route 40 during the 1920s, and today most travelers use Interstate 70, which roughly parallels U.S. Route 40 and the National Road across 148

scenic byways

peacock road, guernsey county

the Buckeye State. Although the National Road is no longer in regular use today, a surprising number of buildings, bridges, and other structures, some dating back to the early 1800s, remain along the old road, making it a rich subject for historians and photographers. The Ohio National Road Association’s website, listed above, is a good source of information, but, if you plan to explore the National Road, you should also obtain a copy of the Ohio Historical Society’s excellent brochure, A Traveler’s Guide to The Historic National Road in Ohio, by Glenn Harper and Doug Smith. From a photographic viewpoint, I prefer the hilly ground traversed by the National Road in eastern Ohio to the flat landscape west of Columbus; the most scenic bridges and buildings along the road are also in eastern Ohio. Even though it is actually in West Virginia, the view of Ohio from the Roebling Suspension Bridge in Wheeling is dramatic. Just a few miles west, the stone S-bridge over Wheeling Creek at Blaine is the oldest bridge in the Buckeye State, and was designated as Ohio’s official Bicentennial Bridge in 2003. Further west, near Bridgewater in Guernsey County, is the only remaining S-bridge that you can still drive over. Near Morristown, you can drive the Peacock Road, a 0.6-mile segment of the old brick National Road. In total, the guide lists

149

conkle’s hollow, hocking hills

ninety-two places of interest along the National Road east of Columbus, and twenty-six between Columbus and the Indiana border.

Hocking Hills Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/HockingHills.aspx GPS Coordinates: 39.576718N 82.522008W (Rockbridge) 39.393954N 82.539783W (Ash Cave Recreation Area)

The Hocking Hills Scenic Byway twists and turns for 26.4 miles along State Route 374 from Rockbridge, on State Route 33 west of Logan, to Ash Cave, near State Route 56. Along this byway you will visit six locations, all part of Hocking Hills State Park, that showcase the most dramatic rock scenery in the state of Ohio, including deep gorges, tumbling streams, waterfalls, towering sandstone cliffs, majestic trees, and a fine display of wildflowers in spring. From north to south, the six major areas are Cantwell Cliffs, Rock House, Conkle’s Hollow, Old Man’s Cave, Cedar Falls, and Ash Cave. Each of these 150

places is a hidden treasure, invisible from the road as you drive the scenic byway, but only a short walk from State Route 374. Hocking Hills State Park is very popular, especially on sunny weekends in summer, when the parking areas will be full and hundreds of visitors take to the trails. To avoid the crowds, visit during the week, or hike the trails as early as possible at the weekend. Cantwell Cliffs is 6 miles south of Rockbridge along State Route 374. From the parking area, a steep 1-mile trail leads down to the base of the cliffs, past a tall, slender waterfall and a large recessed cave, before looping back up to the parking area. This is the most remote section of the state park, and is often quiet when the other areas are crowded. Continuing south for another 7 miles along State Route 374 brings you to Rock House. Like Cantwell Cliffs, there is a 0.5mile loop trail that leads down to the Rock hocking hills, near cedar falls House, a cave chiseled out of the 150-foot cliff of Blackhand sandstone. You can clamber up into the cave, which is 20 to 30 feet deep and stretches for 200 feet, with several openings. It is quite dark in the cave, making it hard to capture the entire tonal range with a single exposure. This is a good place to use a high dynamic range (HDR) approach, by taking several exposures and combining them later on your computer with an image editor like Photoshop or an HDR program such as Photomatix. From Rock House, it’s another 5.5 miles south on State Route 374 to Conkle’s Hollow, another state nature preserve. The 2-mile Rim Trail, which begins and ends with a steep climb but is otherwise fairly level, offers some of 151 Ohio’s finest views from the top of the 200-foot cliffs that are among the tallest in the Buckeye State. The trail hugs the edge of the cliffs in many places, so don’t hike this trail if you are uncomfortable in exposed situations on the edge of a steep drop. The light here is usually best early and late in the day. There are outstanding vistas looking north and south from the East Rim, as well as striking images of the Virginia pine trees along the edge of the cliffs and of the

ash cave waterfall, hocking hills

trees down in the gorge. You should also make time to hike the easy, level, 0.5-mile trail along the floor of the hollow below the towering cliffs to a waterfall that plunges over the headwall. If you have time, you may wish to visit nearby Big Pine Pillar, located along Big Pine Road and described in the chapter on natural areas and preserves. About 3.2 miles further along State Route 374 brings you to Old Man’s Cave, the center of Hocking Hills State Park. Across the road from the large parking area are several places where you can access the trail system that follows the course of Queer Creek through a narrow gorge, hemmed in by sandstone cliffs. There are several major waterfalls, plus dozens of others tumbling over the cliffs after heavy rains, especially in spring. Old Man’s Cave is a huge proscenium almost 200 feet high with a tunnel that leads back to the parking area. Or you can continue downstream along Queer Creek past the Lower Falls. Try to avoid bright sunshine, which creates patterns of highlights and shadows in the gorge that tend to be too complex for effective photography. Cloudy skies are best here, or a misty morning. 152

scenic byways

Cedar Falls is another 2.5 miles southeast of Old Man’s Cave along State Route 374. From the parking area a short trail leads down through a hemlock forest to Queer Creek, then upstream to the 50-foot Cedar Falls, surrounded by hemlock trees, not cedars. A loop trail leads back to the parking area, or you can continue hiking downstream along Queer Creek. Ash Cave, the sixth major area of Hocking Hills State Park, is another 2.2 miles south on State Route 374 and west on State Route 56. An easy 0.25-mile trail leads to Ash Cave, a massive overhanging sandstone cliff with a 90-foot waterfall that plunges over the edge of the cave. The huge hemlock trees near the cave make a good subject for a panoramic photograph. You can also follow the trail to the top of the cave and hike back to the parking area along the rim of the gorge. If you would like to escape the crowds at Hocking Hills, consider driving another 20 miles east along State Route 56 and south on State Route 278 to Lake Hope State Park and Zaleski State Forest; both have great wildflower displays in spring and historical structures that include Hope Furnace and the Moonville Tunnel. If you enjoy a good barbecue, be sure to sample the delicious meals served at the Lake Hope Dining Lodge. The Hocking Hills is a major resort destination, with ziplining, horseback riding, canoeing, and kayaking available. The nearest motels are in Logan, but there are dozens of cabins that may be rented in the area. Additional information on Conkle’s Hollow, Old Man’s Cave, Cedar Falls, Ash Cave, and the Lake Hope area may be found in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio.

Jefferson County Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/JeffersonCounty.aspx GPS Coordinates: 40.169298N 80.861871W (State Route 250 near Adena) 40.186365N 80.687245W (Rayland)

The 15-mile Jefferson County Scenic Byway includes a greenway, a recreation trail, and an area of historic interest. The byway follows State Route 50 from Rayland on the Ohio River west to U.S. Route 250 and has a spur road on State Route 647 from Mount Pleasant south to the Belmont County line. The attractive village of Mount Pleasant on State Route 150 was a center for the Underground Railroad and other antislavery activities in the nineteenth century. The village contains a National Historic District that includes the Friends (Quakers) Yearly Meeting House, built in 1814; and the Free Labor Store, which refused to sell products made by slave labor. Several of the

153

mount pleasant, jefferson county

cottages along Main Street are painted bright red, and the village is especially picturesque when the sugar maples turn orange in the fall. Although it is not part of the byway, Steubenville, about a 30-minute drive north along the Ohio River from Rayland, is well worth a visit if you enjoy town murals. More than twenty-five large murals decorate buildings around Steubenville, which calls itself the “city of murals.” Steubenville’s most famous son was singer and actor Dean Martin, who was born here as Dino Crocetti on June 7, 1917. His life and times are celebrated in a mural on the wall of a Kroger’s grocery high above the city.

Jefferson Township Scenic Byway Website: http://www.jeffersontownship.org/AffiliatesLinks/ScenicByWays.aspx GPS Coordinates: 40.041021N 82.817609W (Hannah Park)

Jefferson Township is located in Franklin County, Ohio, on the northeast edge of the Columbus metropolitan area. The township has miles of scenic, tree-lined, pastoral roads but is facing the heavy development pressure that threatens many growing urban areas. Beginning in the early 1970s, the township trustees and residents decided to reject suburban sprawl and instead adopt a conservation-based approach designed to preserve the rural atmosphere, his154

scenic byways

toric character, and natural resources of the township. Jefferson Township’s scenic byway was approved and officially dedicated in 2003, and includes about 15 miles of roadways, all within the township’s boundaries. Jefferson Township Scenic Byway is Ohio’s fourteenth designated scenic byway. The byway includes: Mann Road; Darling and Rovilla roads; and portions of Clark, Havens, Waggoner, Reynoldsburg-New Albany, Kitzmiller, Headley, and Shull roads. These roads were selected not only for their rural beauty, with natural areas that include Blacklick and Rocky Fork creeks, but also for the many historic buildings that front on them.

Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/LakeErieCoastalOhio.aspx GPS Coordinates: 41.660729N 83.511815W (Maumee River Bridge, Toledo) 41.944027N 80.51936W (Ohio–Pennsylvania Border)

Ohio’s northern border is the southern shore of Lake Erie, often called Ohio’s North Coast. Beginning at Conneaut, near the Pennsylvania border, the Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Scenic Byway winds its way west for 293 miles to Toledo and the Michigan border. Along the way there are remote beaches, nature preserves, more than twenty lighthouses, rocky islands, marshlands, quaint villages, amusement parks, resorts, marinas, historical sites, industrial ports, and big cities—offering the traveling photographer enough subjects to fill a lifetime of visual exploration. If your main interest is nature photography, you’ll want to sample the Lake Erie Birding Trail, which covers the entire 312-mile Ohio shoreline of Lake Erie. To help you plan your trip, the trail’s website has reams of useful information: http://www.lakeerieohiobirding.info. For even more details, purchase a copy (only $13, plus postage) of the new, 232-page, Lake Erie Birding Trail Guidebook, published by the ODNR Division of Wildlife and Ohio Sea Grant. Much of the Lake Erie shoreline in Ohio has been developed, but there are still a few places where you can obtain vistas of Lake Erie’s natural coastline. East of Cleveland, my favorites include Lake Erie Bluffs, Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve, and Mentor Lagoons, all described in the second chapter. West of Cleveland, try Sheldon Marsh and Old Woman’s Creek State Nature Preserves, the coastline of the Marblehead peninsula, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, and the rocky coastline of Kelleys Island. Ohio has several picturesque lighthouses along its Lake Erie shoreline, especially the Fairport Harbor Breakwater Light, Lorain Harbor, the famous

155

marblehead lighthouse

Marblehead Lighthouse, and the lighthouse on South Bass Island. Bridge aficionados will want to visit the Ashtabula Harbor bascule bridge and the multitude of bridges spanning the Cuyahoga River in the Cleveland Flats. History lovers will enjoy a visit to the James A. Garfield Historic Site in Mentor and the nearby Kirtland Temple. In the Cleveland area, be sure to visit the Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, all located in University Circle east of downtown Cleveland. West of Cleveland, the birthplace of inventor Thomas Alva Edison in Milan is an attractive subject for photography, and in Toledo the Museum of Art and the Toledo Zoo feature distinctive architecture and attractive gardens.

Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/LandofTheCrossTippedChurches .aspx GPS Coordinates: 40.394673N 84.257169W (McCartyville) 40.546108N 84.784437W (Near Wabash)

156

The Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches is an area in western Ohio radiating 22 miles around the Maria Stein Convent, west of Minster, a town settled primarily by German Catholics who were attracted there in the mid-1800s by the presence of the communal Society of the Most Precious Blood. Today, this culturally and visually distinctive area is characterized by dozens of large brick churches with tall spires, each capped by a cross, surrounded by rural, flat farmland. Sixty of these German Catholic buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches Byway travels through Shelby, Auglaize, and Mercer counties, beginning in McCartyville. The 38.4-mile byway follows State Route 119 to Fort Recovery, then heads north along State Route 49, ending at State Route 29 west of Wabash near the Indiana border. Dozens of cross-tipped churches may be viewed as you travel through this rich rural region. Reputedly, there is a crossroads along st. augustine church, minster this route where as many as fourteen crosstipped churches can be seen in the distance. One of the most impressive of the cross-tipped churches is St. Augustine Church in Minster, a very tall church with twin spires built in 1849. The front of the church faces west, so it favors afternoon light. Another imposing church, built in 1906, is St. Charles Seminary and Chapel, located on the east side of State Route 127 in Carthagena. This monumental building has a long driveway and also faces west. At Fort Recovery, take the time to visit the reconstructed blockhouses and stockade that are part of the memorial to Fort Recovery, constructed by General “Mad” Anthony Wayne’s forces in late 1793 and early 1794 at the spot where Arthur St. Clair’s forces had suffered a major defeat in 1791 by a Native American confederacy led by Miami Chief Little Turtle and Shawnee Chief Blue

157

158

st. charles seminary, carthagena

Jacket. Fort Recovery was also used to define the boundary established in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, following Wayne’s victory in the Battle of Fallen Timbers near the Maumee River.

Lincoln Highway Historic Byway Website: http://www.lincolnhighwayoh.com/road-guide GPS Coordinates: 40.61831N 80.577058W (East Liverpool) 40.998168N 84.803474W (Ohio–Indiana border)

The Lincoln Highway, completed in 1913, was the first national tribute to President Abraham Lincoln as well as the first transcontinental road in the United States, covering 3,389 miles between Times Square in New York City and Lincoln Park in San Francisco. In Ohio, “The Main Street across America” runs for more than 240 miles from East Liverpool in Columbiana County to the Indiana border near Van Wert. For the most part, the Lincoln Highway follows the route of U.S. Route 30 across the Buckeye State, passing through Lisbon, Canton, Massillon, Wooster, Mansfield, Bucyrus, Upper Sandusky, Delphos, and Van Wert. Unlike the earlier historic National Road, which also runs across the Buckeye State, the Lincoln Highway does not have any S-bridges, but it does have a wealth of interesting architecture as well as many old sections of road, a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

baywood street, lincoln highway

including some that are brick-covered. To find and follow these old road segments, you’ll need a road guide in addition to a good gazetteer, such as the DeLorme Ohio Gazetteer. The best guide is A History and Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway in Ohio, self-published in 1996 by Michael G. Buettner, a surveyor and engineer from Lima, Ohio. You can purchase a copy for $20 from Mr. Buettner, or download and print a personal copy of the book from the Ohio Lincoln Highway Association website listed above. The book includes a detailed description of the entire Lincoln Highway in Ohio, as well as maps and odometer maps. U.S. Route 30 is a very busy road, heavily used by commercial truck traffic; it is not a place to dawdle, especially in metropolitan areas such as Canton,

159

160

brumbach library, van wert

Massillon, Wooster, and Mansfield. The Lincoln Highway runs from east to west, and on sunny or partly cloudy days I recommend that you “work the light” by traveling, if possible, from east to west in the morning and from west to east in the afternoon, keeping the sun either behind you or to your side. The Lincoln Highway, including U.S. Route 30 and the older segments of the road, is clearly marked with signs throughout its length. The most interesting part of the road is the eastern section, from East Liverpool west to Mansfield. The road segments west of Mansfield are less interesting, based on my conversations with Mike Buettner, except for the area around Van Wert, near the Indiana border, which has some very picturesque architecture. Be sure to visit Hanoverton’s Plymouth Street, located just north of U.S. Route 30 and offering many well-preserved buildings from the 1820s and 1830s. Also in this region are several Mail Pouch barns, probably painted by the legendary barn painter Harley Warrick. The best brick section of Ohio’s Lincoln Highway, by far, is Baywood Street, west of Minerva in Stark County. There are several old motels in Canton and Massillon, and the Lincoln Theater on Main Street in Massillon is a must place to visit. In Van Wert, be sure to visit the Brumbach Library, Balyeat’s Coffee House, and the ornate county courthouse.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

balyeat’s coffee house, van wert

Lower Valley Pike Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/LowerValleyPike.aspx GPS Coordinates: 39.92435N 83.866509W (Springfield) 39.865545N 84.037796W (Medway)

This 11-mile byway along County Road 316 southwest of Springfield follows the Mad River and passes George Rogers Clark Park, which includes 250 acres of meadows, woodland, and a lake with a small waterfall. The park is also the site of the biggest Revolutionary War battle fought west of the Allegheny Mountains. Other byway highlights include the historic Hertzler House and the 167-acre Estel Wenrick Wetlands Preserve, a high-quality wetland with mature woods and diverse wetlands flora. More than 250 species of plants have been found at the preserve, including the endangered eastern prairie daniel hertzler house, lower valley pike

162

fringed orchid. Also of interest for photographers is a great blue heronry with sixty nests. The Daniel Hertzler House was built in 1854 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house is said to be haunted by the ghost of Daniel Hertzler, murdered there in 1867. The two suspects charged with the crime escaped before their trial could be held and were never recaptured.

Maumee Valley Scenic Byway Website: http://www.maumeevalleyheritagecorridor.org GPS Coordinates: 41.289892N 84.360915W (Defiance) 41.620191N 83.541849W (Toledo)

The Maumee River is the largest river that drains into the Great Lakes; it is also an Ohio state scenic and recreational river. Its watershed drains more than four million acres—the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined —from areas of Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. The Maumee River is one of the most biologically diverse rivers in the Great Lakes, but it is also the greatest source of phosphorus pollution and sediment from agricultural runoff flowing into Lake Erie. The Maumee Valley Scenic Byway begins in Defiance and follows State Route 424 east along the north side of the Maumee River to Napoleon, tracing the route that General “Mad” Anthony Wayne used in 1794 en route to his victory over Native American forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. At Napoleon, the byway crosses over to the south side of the Maumee and continues east along state routes 110 and 65 through Grand Rapids, Perrsyburg, and Rossford, ending at Interstate 75. A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio describes several of the most attractive locations along the Maumee River corridor for photography, including the Interurban Bridge, Kitty Todd State Nature Preserve, and five Metroparks of the Toledo Area—Farnsworth, Oak Openings, Providence, Secor, and Side Cut. This book provides detailed information on several more sites, including Fort Meigs, Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve, the Maumee Scenic River, and the Toledo Art Museum and Zoo. Another leg of the byway follows River Road east from Waterville on the north side of the Maumee River.

Miami & Erie Canal Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/MiamiandErieCanal.aspx GPS Coordinates: 40.180906N 84.256943W (Piqua Historical Area) 40.847142N 84.339749W (Delphos) a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

farnsworth metropark, maumee river

This 50-mile byway follows part of the original route of the Miami & Erie Canal, an important nineteenth-century transportation route from Lake Erie to Cincinnati. The canal, which operated in the 1840s and 1850s, was largely replaced by railroads during the 1860s. Visitors can enjoy a canal boat ride at the Johnston Farm & Indian Agency, formerly known as the Piqua Historical Area, or hike through the many trails and state parks near the byway. The Miami & Erie Canal Scenic Byway follows State Route 66 and the canal corridor from the Johnston Farm at Piqua in Miami County north through Minster, New Bremen, St. Marys, and Spencerville, ending at Delphos in Allen County. You can download a detailed map

163

st. marys memorial park

of the Miami & Erie Towpath Trail, which follows the course of the canal, from the following website: http://www.hiking.ohiotrail.com. Located 3 miles north of Piqua at 9845 N. Hardin Road, the Johnston Farm & Indian Agency is a museum at the site of Pickawillany village, established by Eastern Woodland Indians in 1747. The Miami & Erie Canal flows alongside the museum, with boat rides available on the mule-drawn General Harrison canal boat. The large brick house of John Johnston, the local federal Indian agent from 1809 to 1829 and Ohio canal commissioner from 1825 to 1836, is the museum’s centerpiece. The Johnston House is bordered on the east by a wood, and is best photographed in the afternoon. The canal passes through Minster, where the Dannon Company operates the largest yoghurt manufacturing plant in the United john johnston house

164

grand lake st. marys

States. Further north is New Bremen, founded by Bavarian and Hannovarian immigrants who arrived here from Cincinnati in 1833. Be sure to drive through the downtown area to view the distinctive and beautifully maintained buildings. Continuing north, we reach St. Marys Memorial Park, located at Chester and South streets in the uptown business area, the location of the “Belle of St. Marys” canal boat, a 1902 clock tower, and a covered bridge. Nearby to the west is Grand Lake St. Marys, the largest inland lake in the Buckeye State, covering 13,500 acres. The lake, constructed in the early nineteenth century as a reservoir for the Miami & Erie Canal, was, when built, the largest manmade reservoir in the world. The entire lake is part of Grand Lake St. Marys State Park. Access points are located at various places around the perimeter of the lake; some of the best views of it are found along State Route 127 south of Celina. The byway continues north along State Route 66 to Delphos, where it ends at State Route 30 on the Lincoln Highway.

165

Morgan County Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/MorganCounty.aspx GPS Coordinates: 39.512914N 82.049206W (State Route 78 near Bur Oak State Park) 39.75722N 81.744833W (State Route 284 near the Wilds)

166

Morgan County Scenic Byway follows state routes 78, 83, and 284 from Bur Oak State Park near Glouster to the Morgan/Muskingum County border south of Cumberland, providing a fascinating journey through scenic hills, winding hilltop roads, and the remnants of southeast Ohio’s early industrial heritage. In many ways, it’s one of the wildest of Ohio’s scenic byways. Glouster is one of the largest remaining towns of more than fifty small coalmining communities that thrived in Athens, Hocking, Perry, and Morgan counties from the late 1800s to the 1920s. These mining towns, called the “little cities of black diamonds” were reminiscent of the Wild West, complete with drunken brawls, shootouts, and a general absence of law and order. The best remaining example is Shawnee in Perry County, described elsewhere in this book. About halfway along the byway you will cross the Muskingum River and enter McConnelsville, the county seat of Morgan County. In the center of the town stands the imposing Twin City Opera House, built in 1892 during the coal-mining industry’s glory days in this area. The byway continues east along State Route 78 from McConnelsville. Shortly before you reach State Route 83 you will come to the Miner’s Memorial Park, where you can read about strip-mining and view the bucket of Big Muskie, the largest dragline ever built. When Big Muskie was dismantled in late 1999, its enormous bucket, weighing 460,000 pounds and big enough to hold two Greyhound buses, was deemed too expensive to scrap, and it became the star attraction at the park. The bucket makes an interesting challenge for photography. Try to include some of the giant chain links attached to it, and, perhaps, a person to provide a sense of scale. The final section of the byway wends its way north on State Route 284 to the border of Morgan and Muskingum counties, south of the old mining town of Cumberland. Along this route, you will drive through the AEP Recreation Lands, almost 35,000 acres of restored strip-mined land that is now used for hunting, fishing, bird watching, camping, horseback riding, and other outdoor pursuits. This is some of the wildest country in Ohio, and it’s easy to get lost in the tangle of dirt roads and trails that cover this vast area, so be sure to download a map and a free access permit from the AEP Recreation Lands website: http://www.aaep.com/environment/conservation/recland/maps.aspx.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

scenic byways

big muskie scoop, miner’s memorial park

I’ve saved the best for last. Just north of the northern border of Morgan County is the Wilds, one of the largest conservation, research, and captive breeding facilities for rare and endangered animals in the nation. Open to the public from spring through fall, the Wilds is home to white and Indian rhinos, zebras, giraffes, bison, Bactrian camels, and several species of antelope and deer, together with carnivores that include cheetahs, African hunting dogs, and dholes. These animals live in vast enclosures surrounded by electrified fences that remind you a bit of Jurassic Park. From spring through fall, you can take a safari with a guide who will explain the terrain and describe the animals that live there. The land at the Wilds is mostly extensive grasslands peppered with numerous lakes and ponds that were created decades ago when the area was strip-mined. There are many vantage points for photography, both within the Wilds and on the many country roads in the nearby vicinity. One overlook that affords a great view of the Wilds and is easy to get to is the Jeffrey Point Birding Station, a great place to photograph sunrise. The nearby grasslands and ponds are popular wintering sites for several species of hawks and bald and golden eagles, attracting many birders in winter and

167

spring who come to visit this prime birding location. For more information, visit the Wilds’ website: http://www.thewilds.org.

North Ridge Scenic Byway, Lorain County Location: The North Ridge Scenic Byway begins about 1.2 miles west of Sheffield at the junction of state routes 57 and 254 (North Ridge Road/ Detroit Road), and follows State Route 254 east for 8.8 miles to Bradley Road in Avon. Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways /Pages/NorthRidge.aspx GPS Coordinates: 41.418723N 82.119126W (State Route 254 near Lorain) 41.458102N 81.969448W (State Route 254, Avon)

The North Ridge Scenic Byway in Lorain County is the shortest of Ohio’s twenty-seven scenic byways, covering just under 9 miles along State Route 254. The byway follows an ancient beach ridge created almost thirteen thousand years ago at the southern shore of Lake Warren, a predecessor of Lake Erie. Native Americans used the beach ridge, sheffield village hall which rises about 680 feet above sea level, to traverse what is now part of Lorain County in northeast Ohio. Today, State Route 254, also known as North Ridge and Detroit roads, travels through natural, agricultural, residential, and commercial settings with more than a hundred natural features and historic structures— homes, churches, bridges, schoolhouses, stores, and farm buildings—many dating back to the early nineteenth century. State Route 254 is a busy highway, and the historic homes and other sites are interspersed with shopping malls, modern housing developments, office blocks, and other municipal buildings. This is no place to dilly-dally, unless you want to incur the wrath of the drivers in your rearview mirror. A better approach is to plan your visit in advance. An outstanding book, and brochure, on the North Ridge Scenic Byway by local resident Dr. Charles E. Herdendorf, Guide to the North Ridge Scenic Byway, Lorain County, Ohio provides an in-depth, 256-page description of the road. The North Ridge may be Ohio’s

168

scenic byways

milton garfield house

shortest scenic byway, but this thorough book, with chapters on the natural history, geology, architecture, and community history of the North Ridge area ensures that it is one of the best documented. One of my favorite buildings on this byway is the Sheffield Village Hall, located at 4820 Detroit Road, near the western end of the byway. This elegant, Queen-Anne-style, redbrick schoolhouse was built in 1883 and stands next to the Garfield Cemetery. Across the street, a few hundred feet east, is the 1839 house of Milton Garfield, a distant cousin to President James Garfield.

Ohio and Erie Canalway America’s Byway Website: http://www.ohioanderiecanalway.com GPS Coordinates: 41.494098N 81.703266W (Detroit-Superior Bridge, Cleveland) 40.467046N 81.413051W (Schoenbrunn Village, New Philadelphia)

The Ohio and Erie Canal was built in the 1820s and 1830s, connecting Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Coshocton, and Chillicothe to the Ohio River at Portsmouth. This canal provided the first commercial route between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The Ohio and Erie Canal prospered until the 1860s, when it was largely replaced by railroads. The canal was abandoned after the Great Flood of 1913 destroyed many of its important parts. In 1996 the Ohio and Erie Canal, from Cleveland

169

south to Zoar in Tuscarawas County, was designated as a National Heritage Corridor. Today, the Ohio and Erie Canalway America’s Byway follows the route of the canal from downtown Cleveland south for 110 miles to Schoenbrunn Village, near Interstate 77 at New Philadelphia. 170 The best way to get to know the Ohio and Erie Canalway is to visit the website listed above. Click on “activities” for detailed information about exploring the byway. Virtually the entire length of the old canal can be explored on foot, on a bicycle, or even, in some sections, on a horse, using the multipurpose 101-mile Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail. Click on “photography,” “heritage” (historical sites), or “bird watching & wildlife,” based on your interests, and you will be given a list of suggested places to visit and detailed maps that can be downloaded from the website. Or you can purchase a copy of Towpath Companion: A Traveler’s Guide to the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail, edited by Rob and Peg Bobel, published by the Ohio and Erie Canalway Coalition, and available from their website. You could spend decades photographing the places along this heritage corridor; my Ohio photography books have included books on Cleveland Botanical Garden, The Holden Arboretum, Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, and Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Another book, on Ohio’s scenic byways, is in progress. If you enjoy scenic vistas, visit Tinker’s Creek Overlook in Bedford Reservation, Cascade Overlook near Akron, or downtown Cleveland viewed from Tremont or Voinovich Park. If you are a nature lover, the Cleveland Metroparks; Metroparks, Serving Summit County; and Cuyahoga Valley National Park include dozens of great locations. If canal lock, ohio and erie canal you like waterfalls, visit Brandywine Falls or Blue Hen Falls in the Cuyahoga Valley, or Mill Creek Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Great Falls of Tinker’s Creek in the Cleveland Metroparks. Bridge aficionados will want to visit the Cuyahoga River bridges in the Cleveland Flats and Everett Road Covered Bridge, and architecture

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

mustill house, ohio and erie canalway

buffs will find dozens of historical buildings along the Ohio and Erie Canal corridor. Most of the places listed above are described in more detail in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio.

Ohio River Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/OhioRiverScenic.aspx GPS Coordinates: 39.149166N 84.820293W (Ohio–Indiana Border) 40.642598N 80.519017W (Ohio–Pennsylvania Border)

The Ohio River Scenic Byway traverses the entire 452-mile length of the Ohio River in Ohio. Beginning at U.S. Route 50 on the Indiana border, the byway follows U.S. Route 52 and state routes 7, 124, and 39 to East Liverpool at the Pennsylvania border. The Ohio River Scenic Byway continues in Indiana and Illinois and is designated a national scenic byway. The Ohio River has been extensively dammed and deepened to facilitate commercial boat traffic carrying coal, ores, and other bulk commodities. As a result, the once swift and shallow Ohio River of the preindustrial era has been canalized into a series of long lakes separated by many huge locks and other man-made structures. After heavy rains, the river collects a lot of sediment and is not very attractive for scenic photography. Although I have traveled the length of the Ohio River in Ohio many times, I’ve taken very few photographs in which the river itself is the main subject. Most of my images are of the bridges, towns, and cities along the Ohio River, as well as nearby natural areas, such as Wayne National Forest in southeast Ohio and Shawnee State Forest in Scioto and Adams Counties.

171

Beginning near the Pennsylvania border, Steubenville is well worth a visit if you enjoy viewing and photographing murals. Further south, be sure to visit the Roebling Suspension Bridge over the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. The best viewpoint is from the balcony on the top floor of the Knight’s Inn next to the bridge on Main Street. Continuing south along State Route 7 brings you to Marietta, my favorite “river town” along the Ohio. There is a great view of the city from Harmar Heights, many historical sites, attractive tree-lined streets with Victorian architecture, and a Sternwheeler Festival that takes place each year in September. If you are hungry, savor the excellent food at the Levee House next to the Ohio River. Further south, the Meigs County Courthouse in Pomeroy is an interesting subject, and the Welsh Scenic Byway begins at Gallipolis in Gallia County. Near Ironton, visit Vesuvius State Park for hiking and views of the well-preserved Vesuvius Furnace. ohio river, gallia county At Portsmouth, murals cover more than 2,000 feet of the floodwalls along the Ohio River. West of Portsmouth, the Scenic Scioto Heritage Trail explores Shawnee State Forest, often called the “Little Smokies” of Ohio. At Ripley, in Brown County, there is a spectacular view of the town and the Ohio River from the Rankin House, which was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Further west, at Point Pleasant, you can visit the birthplace of President Ulysses S. Grant. Finally, the great city of Cincinnati with its splendid architecture, zoo, bridges, and scenic vistas makes a fitting climax to the Ohio River Scenic Byway.

Old Mill Stream Scenic Byway Website: http://www.hancockparks.com/thingstodo/scenicbyway.aspx GPS Coordinates: 40.832824N 83.543066W (Near Mt. Blanchard) 41.050254N 84.08116W (Near Glandorf)

The Old Mill Stream Scenic Byway extends for 52 miles along the Blanchard River valley in northwest Ohio, and is named for the ballad “The Old Mill Stream,” written in 1910 along the banks of the Blanchard by songwriter and 172

ohio river bridge from maysville, kentucky

thespian Tell Taylor, born in 1876 in the town of Vanlue, near Findlay. By 1936, “The Old Mill Stream” had sold four million copies. The byway follows state routes 224 and 37 through the rural landscapes and small towns of Putnam and Hancock counties. Traveling from west to east, St. John the Baptist Church, at 109 North Main Street in Glandorf, was the largest Catholic church in northwest Ohio when it was built in 1877. The cross-tipped spire rises to a height of 225 feet. In Ottawa, the tree-lined East Third Street has many elegant Queen Anne and Victorian homes, and an early nineteenth-century log house at 4107 Old State Route 224. In Gilboa, don’t miss the outsized bull monument along Old State Route 224 near the grain elevators adjacent to Pearl Street. Nearby is a historic iron bridge over the Blanchard River with a through Pratt truss. Also in Gilboa, an old stone quarry that offers some of the deepest and clearest water in Ohio is a magnet for scuba divers. Findlay is the county seat of Hancock County, and the impressive courthouse, built in 1886–88, features a statue of John Hancock on its top. Three muses over the main entrance represent Justice, Law, and Mercy. The “Little Red Schoolhouse” at 8884 County Road 236 in Findlay, built in 1882, is a fine

173

riverbend recreation area, blanchard river

example of a rural one-room schoolhouse. The Litzenberg Memorial Woods, 6100 State Route 224, cover 225 acres along the Blanchard River and include an excellent trail system. Riverbend Recreation Area, another park with wildlife habitat and hiking trails along the Blanchard River, is located at 16618 Township Road 208. In Blanchard, the impressive Italianate Hamlin House at 511 South Main Street was built in 1882 and features eight marble and soapstone fireplaces and several copper bathtubs. A few miles south of Blanchard, the Old Mill Stream Scenic Byway ends at the Lincoln Highway, State Route 30.

Presidential Pathways Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/PresidentialPathways.aspx GPS Coordinates: 39.117209N 84.819499W (Brower Road, Shawnee Lookout Park) 39.572331N 84.715384W (Main Loop Road, Hueston Woods State Park)

The Presidential Pathways Scenic Byway begins at the Indiana state line on Lawrenceburg Road in Hamilton County; winds through historic Oxford, Ohio; and ends at Hueston Woods State Park in Butler County. The byway

174

dawn at acton lake, hueston woods state park

follows scenic roads commemorating the lives of two presidents. William Henry Harrison, 1841, was a renowned Indian fighter whose family owned slaves in Virginia; his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, 1889–93, was an advocate of civil rights for Native and African Americans. William Henry Harrison dropped out of college in order to support himself after his father died. Benjamin Harrison graduated from Miami University in 1852. An ongoing scholarship named after him supports top scholars attending Miami, regardless of their families’ finances. The linear byway is 55 miles long and is designed to be traveled from south to north. William Henry Harrison’s tomb in North Bend commemorates the ninth President, who served for only thirty-two days before dying in office from pneumonia on April 4, 1841. The tomb area, dominated by a 60-foot limestone obelisk, is best photographed in the afternoon. Nearby is Congress Green Cemetery, the site of many pioneer graves. A short distance north is the remains of a 1,780-foot tunnel that was built to connect North Bend with the Miami–Whitewater Canal in Indiana.

175

176

Miami Whitewater Forest in Crosby Township covers 4,345 acres and is the largest of the Hamilton County Parks. The best areas for photography are west of the lake along the 6 miles of nature trails. Northwest of Okeana, at 1979 Bebb Park Lane, is the Governor Bebb Settlement, a group of pioneer log buildings moved to this site from other places in the area. The picturesque village is now part of the MetroParks of Butler County. More information on Oxford and Miami University is provided in the “Buildings and Murals” chapter of this book. The Presidential Pathways Scenic Byway ends north of Oxford at Hueston Woods State Park, which comprises more than 3,500 acres, including Acton Lake, many miles of hiking trails, and an old-growth beech-maple forest with large trees and a beautiful display of spring wildflowers. An excellent driving guide to the byway may be downloaded from the website listed above.

Scenic Olentangy Heritage Corridor Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/ScenicOlentangyHeritageCorridor .aspx GPS Coordinates: 40.255891N 83.063241W (State Route 315 and State Route 23) 40.112222N 83.035217W (State Route 315 and Interstate 271)

The Scenic Olentangy Heritage Corridor follows State Route 315 from its intersection with State Route 23 south of Delaware to Interstate 270, a distance of 10.5 miles. For most of the byway, the Olentangy Scenic River runs close to the road. State Route 315 is more than two hundred years old, commissioned in 1808 as the first road in Delaware County. Today the road is heavily used by commuters between Delaware and the downtown Columbus area. As a result, it can be very busy, especially during the morning and evening rush hour. Parking places are few and far between along this route, so, if your goal is to take vistas of the Olentangy Scenic River, you may prefer to explore the smaller roads that parallel the river on the east side, such as Chapman and Taggatt roads (township roads 118 and 144), which run from State Route 23 for about 4 miles south to Home Road (Township Road 124). Attractive views of the Olentangy River, looking north and south, may also be found from the bridges on Hyatts Road (Township Road 123), Home Road (Township Road 124), West Orange Road (Township Road 114), and West Powell Road (State Route 750). Each of these bridges is just east of State Route 315.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

olentangy river, near delaware

Further south, Highbanks Metro Park, accessed from State Route 23, is well worth a visit. Hike the 2.3-mile Overlook Trail to a viewing platform on top of 110-foot shale bluffs that rise above the Olentangy River. Please don’t approach the edge of the bluffs, which are extremely fragile. If you look closely, you can see some concretions embedded in the shale cliffs. The park also contains two Adena Indian burial mounds and a prehistoric earthwork. If you admire rural architecture, take a drive along State Route 315 when traffic is quiet. There several large, restored, Pennsylvania bank barns stand along the western side of the road, each having an overhanging section called a forebay. The stone ruins of Bieber Mill, built in 1877 from local limestone, are on the west side of Chapman Road near the Olentangy River.

177

This area also holds the national champion eastern cottonwood tree in Alum Creek State Park, described in “Natural Areas and Preserves”; the Columbus Zoo, described in “Zoos and Public Gardens”; and the adjacent O’Shaughnessy Dam. 178

Scenic Scioto Heritage Trail Website: http://www.scenicsciotoheritagetrail.com GPS Coordinates: 38.730719N 83.003052W (Portsmouth Floodwall Murals)

The 84-mile Scenic Scioto Heritage Trail begins in downtown Portsmouth, near the floodwall murals. The trail follows the Ohio River west into Shawnee State Forest, which, at more than 65,000 acres, is the largest of Ohio’s state forests. Travelers can visit the boyhood home of movie star Roy Rogers, remnants of the Ohio & Erie Canal, some of the best vistas in Ohio, an attractive covered bridge, and a variety of historic buildings. The Scioto Heritage Trail is not linear, but a complex network of state, county, and township roads. You’ll need a good map or gazetteer, such as the DeLorme, plus a copy of the Scenic Scioto Heritage Trail map, which includes forty-four numbered points of interest; the map may be downloaded from the website listed above. Click on each number on the map to get more details about the site. The trail twists and turns but, in general, proceeds in a clockwise direction through Scioto County, beginning and ending in Portsmouth. Raven Rock State Nature Preserve is located about 4 miles west of Portsmouth near State Route 52. A free permit must be obtained from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to visit Raven Rock, which provides a spectacular view of the Ohio River valley and Portsmouth. However, you will have to work hard to enjoy the view; it requires a 500-foot climb from State Route 52 up an extremely steep, unimproved trail. I made this tough climb a few years ago, carrying a heavy camera bag and tripod, and I don’t recommend it unless you are in excellent physical shape. Near Raven Rock is another picturesque rock arch. Shawnee State Forest has some great vistas and, during late April and early May, excellent displays of spring wildflowers and many species of migrating songbirds. More information on Shawnee State Park and Forest is included in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. The Otway Covered Bridge, which spans Scioto Brush Creek near State Route 348 about 0.25-mile south of Otway, is an attractive subject for photography. The bridge was slated for restoration during 2014.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

copperhead fire tower view, shawnee state forest

The “King of the Cowboys,” Roy Rogers, spent his childhood from ages eight to seventeen in a small house at Duck Run, approximately 4 miles west of Lucasville. Born Leonard Sly in Cincinnati in 1911, he moved to California in 1930, forging a successful movie and singing career with his wife, Dale Evans. A plaque stands near the house, which is privately owned and not open for tours. South of Duck Run, near Old Alexandria, the Phillip Moore Jr. Stone House, one of the oldest homes remaining in southern Ohio, is open for tours. The house, built in 1797 from local sandstone by Revolutionary soldier Phillip Moore, is also known as the “Cradle of Methodism” in Ohio.

Tappan-Moravian Trail Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/Tappan-MoravianTrail.aspx GPS Coordinates: 40.307836N 81.188128W (Deersville)

The 55-mile Tappan-Moravian Trail Scenic Byway combines some of eastern Ohio’s most picturesque rural scenery with the history of one of Ohio’s most

179

180

custer memorial, new rumley

famous sons, General George Armstrong Custer. Except for a mile in eastern Tuscarawas County, the entire byway is located in Harrison County. Delaware and Wyandot tribes traveled through this hilly area en route to northwest Ohio, and Moravian missionaries from Pennsylvania followed this trail to missions they established at Schoenbrunn, Gnadenhutten, and Port Washington. The catastrophic Great Flood in 1913 spurred the establishment of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, which dammed up creeks in this part of the state and created eight large lakes to aid in flood control of the Muskingum River and its tributaries. Two of these lakes, Tappan and Clendening, form part of the southern loop of the Tappan-Moravian Trail Scenic Byway. Both lakes are popular destinations for boating, fishing, and hiking. Clendening Lake, the largest undeveloped lake in the Buckeye State, is especially scenic. In midsummer, the eastern end of Tappan Lake has a spectacular display of American lotus flowers. South of Tappan Lake, on the way to Clendening Lake, the ridgetop village of Deersville has a general store that is more than a century old; the entire village is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Ourant School, an 1873 one-roomed schoolhouse, stands on a ridge a couple of miles east of the village. The northern loop of this byway starts on U.S. Route 250 on the eastern end of Tappan Lake. State Route 646 takes you to Scio and a loop that includes a monument erected on the site of the birthplace of George Armstrong a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

Custer, who came into the world in New Rumley on December 5, 1839. Panels relate the story of Custer, who had an undisciplined Ohio childhood and graduated last in his class at West Point, but then became a successful and flamboyant leader in the Civil War before making his “last stand” on June 25, 1876, at the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana.

Wally Road Scenic Byway Website: http://www.thewallyroadscenicbyway.com /Wally_Road.html GPS Coordinates: 40.620696N 82.246574W (Loudonville) 40.522298N 82.20031W (Glenmont)

Wally Road was named for the railroad that once followed the same route along the Mohican River. The Walhonding Railroad, or the Wally as it became known, ran between the towns of Loudonville and Coshoc- mohican river, near wally road ton on a single set of tracks, crossing over the Mohican more than a dozen times. The first train rolled down the tracks in 1892, connecting small towns and providing cargo and passenger services. The last train to travel those rails was in 1945. In 1947 a county highway department crew started clearing the brush from the abandoned rails to create a scenic highway. Once completed, the highway would provide a modern road from Loudonville to Greer. On May 4, 2005, Wally Road was named a state scenic byway.

Welsh Scenic Byway Website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/Welsh.aspx GPS Coordinates: 39.072378N 82.628531W (State Route 35 near Jackson) 38.835863N 82.149285W (Silver Memorial Bridge, Gallipolis)

The Welsh Scenic Byway, designated in 1997, extends for about 64 miles through parts of Gallia and Jackson counties. The byway connects elements of Welsh culture including churches, cemeteries, farms, settlements, and other cultural features of one of the largest Welsh-American settlements in North America.

181

bob evans home, rio grande

The eastern end of the Welsh Scenic Byway is at Gallipolis in Gallia County. This was the site of the landing, in 1818, of several families from Cardiganshire, Wales, traveling down the Ohio River to western Ohio. During the night their boats drifted away. Although the boats were recovered, the exhausted travelers decided to remain in the Gallipolis area, spearheading a much larger influx of Welsh to Gallia and Jackson counties during the 1820s and 1830s. On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge, which spanned the Ohio River connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia, with Gallipolis, Ohio, collapsed, killing forty-six people. A single small flaw in an eyebar, coupled with much larger loads than the bridge was intended to carry, was determined to have caused the collapse. The bridge was replaced with the Silver Memorial Bridge in 1969. One of the most celebrated descendants of the Welsh immigrants was the restaurateur Bob Evans, who was born in 1918 in Wood County, Ohio, but raised in Gallipolis. Bob Evans Farms began in 1948 when Bob Evans began making sausage with his wife Jewel to supply his twelve-stool diner in Galli-

182

scenic byways

polis. Demand far outstripped supply. Today the original Bob Evans Restaurant can seat 134 and Bob Evans Farms, Inc. is a two-billion-dollar restaurant and retail foods business. The restaurant is part of Bob Evans Farm, which hosts numerous events throughout the year. Nearby is Raccoon Creek, along which the famous pioneer Daniel Boone once hunted. The Madog Center for Welsh Studies at Rio Grande University is the focus for a variety of programs and projects designed to help preserve Welsh culture in southeast Ohio.

References America’s Byways. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/byways/. This website provides descriptions, maps, and other information about the 150 National Scenic Byways and All-American Roads. Bobel, Peg and Rob Bobel. A Traveler’s Guide to the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail. Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition, 2006. Harper, Glenn and Doug Smith. A Traveler’s Guide to the Historic National Road in Ohio. Columbus: The Ohio Historical Society, 2005. Herdendorf, Charles. Guide to the North Ridge Scenic Byway, Lorain County, Ohio. Sheffield Village Historical Society and Avon Historical Society, 2010. Lake Erie Birding Trail Guidebook. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, 2014. Ohio’s Scenic Byways program is part of the Ohio Department of Transportation. For more information, contact Shyna Gawell, Scenic Byways Program Manager, Ohio Department of Transportation, 1980 West Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43223-1102. Tel: (614)-728-2065. Website: www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways.

183

Zoos and Public Gardens

Ohio’s public gardens and arboretums have played an important part in my photography career. Many of the photographs I have taken in these horticultural havens have appeared in my Ohio books and calendars, and four of these institutions—Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, The Holden Arboretum, Cleveland Botanical Garden, and the Ohio Governor’s Residence and Heritage Garden—have honored me with commissions to produce photographs for exhibit-format books that celebrate the history and beauty of these gardens. Another of my books, The Art of Garden Photography, includes many photographs taken in Ohio’s public gardens and arboretums over the past twentyfive years. A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio includes information on eighteen of Ohio’s major public gardens and arboretums. Another six Ohio public gardens are described in this chapter. In addition to more than twenty notable public gardens and arboretums, Ohio is also home to five world-class zoos in Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Toledo. Thousands of animals may be seen and photographed at these zoos; several have extensive gardens; and one, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, has spectacular displays of spring bulbs and other seasonal shrubs and flowers. I have also included information on the Wilds, one of America’s largest endangered animal conservation and breeding facilities, as well as one of my favorite animal rehabilitation centers, Back to the Wild.

Z oos a n d G a r d e n P h o t og r ap h y Tips The Art of Garden Photography provides detailed instruction on every aspect of the art and craft of garden photography. The following summarized tips and guidelines will help you maximize your photographic opportunities when you visit Ohio’s public gardens and arboretums. Before you visit a public garden, it pays to do some planning. Review the garden’s website, familiarizing yourself with the garden, when it is open, and what plants are likely to be in bloom during your visit. Most Ohio public

pink flamingos, columbus zoo

185

186

gardens have strict policies regarding photography, including restrictions on the use of tripods and how photographs taken at the gardens may be used. These rules can be found on the garden’s website. Some Ohio public gardens are open year round, while others are open during the peak blooming seasons of spring, summer, and fall, but close during winter for several months. Good lighting is a hallmark of fine garden photography, so be sure to check the weather forecast for a garden’s location on the day you plan to visit. Try to avoid the period from midmorning to midafternoon on bright sunny days, when the lighting is very contrasty and, especially on the weekends, the garden is likely to be crowded with visitors. In open areas of a garden, early morning and late evening light, on a sunny or partly cloudy day, provide lower contrast and longer shadows, both much more attractive for garden photography. However, you may need to obtain special permission to access the garden at these times. For close-up photography of flowers and in wooded areas of a garden, diffuse light from a cloudy sky will help to minimize shadows. Eliminate white skies from your garden photos; they distract the viewer and are a waste of good picture space. Try shooting from a more elevated viewpoint, switch your camera from a vertical to a horizontal orientation, or simply lower the camera angle to banish blank white skies from your garden photographs. The first time you enter a garden, pick up a map from the visitor center and devote some time to exploring the garden and getting to know its major features. As you stroll around, look for eye-catching vistas, striking combinations of plants, or beautiful flowers that may be good subjects for close-up photography. When you are composing garden vistas with a wide-angle lens, be sure to include strong foreground elements and use paths, fences, walls, or other linear garden features to lead the viewer’s eye into the scene. Most public gardens do an excellent job of sweeping paths and removing litter, but you may need to remove a few cigarette butts or candy wrappers prior to taking a photograph. Of course, you can also practice your Photoshop skills by removing these visual distractions electronically as part of your digital workflow. A wide-angle zoom plus a 70–200mm or 70–300mm zoom lens will cover most of the scenic photo opportunities in a garden, but you may wish to add close-up filters, extension tubes, or a macro lens if you plan to take lots of close-up portraits of flowers or other subjects. I have a strong preference for a 150–200mm macro lens for close-up photography. This is also a great lens for photographing butterflies in conservatories, such as those at the Cleveland Botanical Garden, Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron, and Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

zoos and public gardens

A circular polarizing filter is indispensable for garden photography, allowing you to minimize or eliminate reflections from the surface of lakes, ponds, or other wet subjects, as well as increase color saturation in the photograph. I no longer use graduated neutral-density filters in my scenic photography, since the effect of these filters can easily be duplicated, with much more precision, using high dynamic range (HDR) and other image-blending techniques in post-processing. Zoos provide many opportunities for scenic and close-up photography, and several Ohio zoos, including Toledo and Cincinnati, have historical buildings that are very distinctive. The tips I have provided above are equally applicable in gardens and zoos. Of course, gardens focus on plants, and the big attraction at zoos for most people is the animals, so a few tips on zoo animal photography are also appropriate in this chapter. Just like public gardens, zoos can get very crowded with visitors from midmorning to late afternoon, including busloads of schoolchildren during the warm months. Visit zoos early in the morning if you prefer quiet surroundings while you are photographing. If you plan to do a lot of animal portraiture, a cloudy day provides much better lighting than bright sun. Try to avoid mixed lighting, with part of the animal in sun and part in shade; that creates bright highlights and deep shadows that are usually very unattractive from a pictorial viewpoint. Unlike their wild cousins, captive animals in zoos spend a large part of their time resting or asleep, which doesn’t make for dramatic animal portraiture. Most animals are more active when they are fed, so talk to zookeepers and other zoo staff to find out the animals’ feeding schedule so you can be on hand for photographic opportunities. After your zoo visit, you will want to caption your animal photographs. My approach is to photograph the sign or display with the name of the animal before I photograph the animal itself. If there isn’t a sign, write down the name of the animal on a piece of paper, photograph the paper, then photograph the animal. This approach also works well when photographing plants in a garden. My favorite lens for photographing zoo animals is my 50–500mm Sigma zoom lens. This very compact lens is less than half the size and weight of a regular 500mm f/4 lens and is almost as sharp, but the Sigma can easily be handheld for extended periods of time. In addition, the Sigma 50–500mm lens focuses amazingly close and makes an excellent “macro” lens for shooting butterflies, dragonflies, and other critters, as well as the captive zoo animals. My second choice is the even more compact Nikon 70–300mm zoom lens,

187

188

which is also very sharp. Both of these lenses are optically stabilized and can easily be hand-held. It is important that a subject’s eyes be sharp in a portrait photograph, so be sure to focus on the animal’s eyes when you are composing the photograph. If possible, leave a little more space in front of the animal than behind it so that the animal is looking into the picture space. The rule of thirds is a good general guideline for positioning a small animal in the frame, but don’t apply the rule slavishly. Diagonal lines have more visual energy than lines that are parallel to the sides of the picture frame, so placing the animal close to a diagonal in the picture frame will add visual strength to your composition. Zoo animals are housed in cages or larger enclosures, often with wire fencing or plate glass between you and the animals. To minimize the appearance of wire mesh or fencing in the photograph, get as close to the fence as you can and use the widest f/stop possible to render the wire or fencing out of focus. When photographing through glass, position the lens very close to the surface of the glass to eliminate reflections and ensure that the glass will not appear in the photograph.

Akron Zoo Location: 500 Edgewood Avenue, Akron, OH 44307. Tel: (330) 375-2550 Website: https://www.akronzoo.org GPS Coordinates: 41.078187N 81.541432W

The 50-acre Akron Zoo, located just west of downtown Akron, is home to more than 700 animals representing ninety species, and is the most popular attraction in the Akron area, with over a million visitors a year. The Akron Zoo consistently ranks in the top 10 percent of all zoos in America. In 1900 George and Ann Perkins, heirs of Simon Perkins, the cofounder of Akron, donated 79 acres of land to be used for “. . . the sole purpose of devoting the same to the uses of a public park, especially as a place for recreation for children.” A museum of natural history was added in 1950, and, in 1953, the museum was expanded to include the 24-acre Akron Children’s Zoo. In 1979 the name was changed to Akron Zoological Park; the zoo has steadily expanded its exhibits and number of animals since then. Several tax levies to help support the zoo have been passed with large majorities by the residents of Summit County. From the parking area, you’ll enter the zoo through the Barnhardt Family Welcome Center. Just beyond, the Humboldt penguins in the Legends of the Wild exhibit will often pose for portraits, and the nearby Chilean flamingos a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

zoos and public gardens

nature’s theater, akron zoo

are also favorites for photography. Hooded mergansers and other waterbirds may be found in the ponds here. This exhibit is also home to two of my favorite animals, the gorgeous snow leopards and jaguars. Next on your tour is Komodo Kingdom, featuring a Komodo dragon and a pair of Galapagos tortoises, the largest tortoise and one of the longest-lived animals in the world with a lifespan in captivity of more than one hundred years. There is also an aquarium exhibit here called Journey to the Reef, with jellyfish, octopi, lionfish, clownfish, sea horses, eels, and other photogenic sea creatures associated with reef habitats. Further on, you enter Tiger Valley, which includes Sumatran tigers, African lions, sloth bears, and beautiful red pandas. Nearby, the Farmland exhibit features sheep, African pygmy goats, and other domestic animals displayed in an interactive farm-themed exhibit. Adjacent to this is the Prairie exhibit, with black-footed ferrets, blacktailed prairie dogs, and burrowing owls. The Akron Zoo’s newest exhibit, Grizzly Ridge, opened in 2013, and includes grizzly jellyfish, akron zoo

189

190

snow leopards, akron zoo

bears, river otters, coyotes, red wolves, five bald eagles, and a walk-through aviary. You can photograph the two grizzly bears at close range through plate glass windows, and children can slide through an acrylic tube in the 30,000-gallon river otter pool with the otters swimming around them. At the eastern end of the zoo is the Lerner Family Zoo Gardens, with beautiful flowering shrubs, annuals, and perennials in a landscaped setting.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

zoos and public gardens

blue-eyed mary and red trillium, aullwood garden

Aullwood Garden MetroPark, Dayton Location: 955 Aullwood Road, Englewood, OH 45414. Tel: (937) 275-7275 Website: http://www.metroparks.org/Parks/AullwoodGarden GPS Coordinates: 39.869613N 84.278058W

In 1907 John Aull, president of Aull Brothers Box Company in Dayton, bought 150 acres of farm land and a cabin along the Stillwater River as a weekend hideaway. In the early 1920s he married Marie Sturwold, remodeled the cabin, and moved there with his new bride. They spent several decades planting wildflowers and cultivating bulbs along the creek that runs through the property. After John Aull passed away in 1955, Marie Aull donated 75 acres of their farm to the Audubon Society to establish an environmental center, and, in 1977, she gave her home and 30-acre garden to the Dayton Park District with the condition that she be allowed to live in the house and manage the garden, then opened to the public. In 1986, at age ninety, Marie Aull broke her hip after a fall while crossing Wiles Creek in her garden. The accident happened on a Sunday afternoon, and she was found by a gardener at 7:30 the next morning. When asked by a

191

american sycamore, aullwood garden

zoos and public gardens

friend how she spent the night, Mrs. Aull replied that she had enjoyed the moon and the stars. She lived in the cottage until her death in 2002, at the age of 105. Her good friend Robert Seibenthaler, on learning about her death from pneumonia, opined that “If she’d had her wishes, she would have been weeding the garden and just fallen asleep.” Spring wildflowers bloom as early as the middle of March at Aullwood Garden, but the peak of bloom, highlighted by a spectacular display of tens of thousands of Virginia bluebells in the woods along Wiles Creek, occurs in mid- or late April. Common wildflowers like hepatica, spring beauty, wood celandine, and Dutchman’s breeches mingle with daffodils, hyacinths, and a beautiful display of blue-eyed Mary along the loop trail through the woods near Wiles Creek. Lilies bloom in the woods during summer. There are also many large trees in the garden, including beech, oak, and many American sycamores. One of the sycamores is a magnificent tree with twin trunks that is estimated to be more than five hundred years old, alive when Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492. A bur oak shows the waterline of the Great Flood of 1913. Aullwood Garden is close to the Stillwater River, and there are some attractive vistas along the river near the parking area and from the trail that takes you to the garden entrance. There is also a small, planted prairie northwest of the house that is worth a visit in midsummer. Marie Aull’s ashes were scattered next to her husband’s near the magnificent old twin sycamore tree in her garden. “I hope we will always instill in children knowledge and love of nature,” she said, “so that their sense of wonder will never cease.” Somehow Mrs. Aull found the time to work in her garden and also supervise the development of Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm, adjacent to Aullwood Garden. Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm is described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio.

Back to the Wild, Castalia Location: 4504 Bardshar Rd, Castalia, OH 44824. Tel: (419) 684-9539 Website: http://backtothewild.com/ GPS Coordinates: 41.386887N 82.767822W

Back to the Wild, operated by Castalia resident Mona Rutger and her husband, Bill, is not a wildlife “theme” park, or a zoo. It is one of several wildlife rehabilitation centers in Ohio where rescued, injured wild animals are treated so that they may be returned “back to the wild.” Since 1990, Back to the Wild has rescued more than 42,500 wild animals, and returned almost

193

white trilliums, back to the wild

27,000 of them to continue their life in the wild. Mona and her seven full-time and part-time staff have driven 416,000 miles around northwest Ohio to rescue injured wildlife and made 280,000 phone calls during the same period. When she is not rescuing injured animals and nursing them back to health, Mona gives dozens of educational programs for children and adults, helping them to have a better understanding and appreciation for nature and wildlife. More than one million visitors have been to Back to the Wild, and Mona and her staff have conducted over 8,500 programs during the past twenty-five years. In 2006, Animal Planet named Mona Rutger as the recipient of its first annual “Hero of the Year” award, and Cable News Network (CNN) included Mona as one of fifteen Heros in 2013. Back to the Wild also serves as a permanent home for a number of hawks, owls, eagles, foxes, a bobcat, and other animals whose injuries prevent them from ever returning to the wild. These animals are not given names since they

194

zoos and public gardens

are not viewed by Mona as “pets,” but as wild animals, serving as ambassadors at Back to the Wild to help visitors, especially children, learn more about wild animals. Mona Rutger welcomes visitors and provides tours for families and larger groups, including camera clubs, by appointment. No fee is charged, but a donation to help Back to the Wild in its rehabilitation mission will be very much appreciated. Because the injured animals are being rehabilitated for eventual release into the wild, they may not be handled, petted, or talked to in order to ensure that they do not imprint on humans. The permanent animal residents, however, may be viewed up close and personal, and photography is allowed as long as the animals are not stressed or handled. In addition to the animals, there is a spectacular parade of large white trilliums, Ohio’s state wildflower, in the woodland next to the animal enclosures. Usually the display peaks in mid- to late April. I’ve seen hundreds of trillium displays around Ohio over the years, but never a finer show than the thousands of plants that bloom in spring at Back to the Wild.

Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden Location: 3400 Vine St., Cincinnati, OH 45220. Tel: (513) 281-4700 Website: http://www.cincinnatizoo,org/ GPS Coordinates: 39.142343N 84.508878W

The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden opened its doors on September 18, 1875, just fourteen months after the Philadelphia Zoo opened, making Cincinnati the second oldest zoo in the United States. Admission was twentyfive cents for adults and fifteen cents for children; 769 animals were on display. The founders of the zoo were German immigrants, and the first zoo guide, written in 1876, was in German. The first English-language, illustrated zoo guide was not published until 1893. The Moorish Revival Reptile House, originally built as the Monkey House, was constructed in 1880 and is claimed to be the oldest zoo building anywhere in the United States. Almost as old is the 1902 Elephant House, whose dome and minarets were built to evoke the Taj Mahal in India. These early zoo buildings, created in concrete and stone, were designed to mirror the major architectural style of the countries from whence their animals came. The Cincinnati Zoo is famous for Martha, the last living passenger pigeon, who died there in 1914. In 1981, the zoo established the Carl H. Lindner Jr. Family Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW)

195

196

hooded mergansers, cincinnati zoo

to help preserve and propagate endangered animals and plants and assist in the conservation of global biodiversity. The zoo has been successful in breeding many kinds of endangered animals, including bonobos, macaws, cheetahs, Brazilian ocelots, Indian rhinos, and western lowland gorillas, earning the Cincinnati Zoo its unofficial nickname, “The Sexiest Zoo in America.” The many animals and distinctive architecture of the Cincinnati Zoo make it an attractive place for photography. But there’s more—the zoo is also a botanical garden, featuring more than three thousand species of plants, including a spectacular display of over eighty thousand tulips, which usually peaks in mid-April. In 2012 Ohio enjoyed a very early spring and the tulips bloomed in March, so be sure to visit the zoo’s website or call to find out when the spring bulbs will be at their best. a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

zoos and public gardens

lion doing yoga, cincinnati zoo

The Cincinnati Zoo also hosts the PNC Festival of Lights, described on pages 223–24 of this book.

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Location: 3900 Wildlife Way, Cleveland, OH 44109. Tel: (216) 661-6500 Website: http://www.clevelandmetroparks.com GPS Coordinates: 41.445509N 81.707965W

The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is one of the jewels of Cleveland’s famed “emerald necklace” of parks that encircle the city. The 183-acre zoo was founded in 1882 and is the largest zoo in Ohio. More than 1.3 million people visit the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo each year, making it one of the most popular attractions in northeast Ohio. The zoo is 5 miles south of downtown Cleveland, reached via Interstate 71 and Pearl Road (State Route 42)/West Twenty-fifth Street. There is much to see at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, so allow several hours for your visit. The zoo is very hilly, and you will get a good workout if you visit all of the major attractions on foot. If you are feeling less energetic, a tram service is available to take you around the major exhibits.

197

198

australian adventure sign, cleveland zoo

Adjacent to the zoo entrance is the RainForest, a 2-acre, two-level, indoor exhibit that showcases more than ten thousand plants and six hundred animals from the tropics of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The Rainforest opened in 1992 and is one of the largest exhibits of its kind in the United States. A 25-foot cascade greets you inside the entrance, and sounds of thunder draw you to a large, lower-level exhibit where every twelve minutes a tropical rainstorm with real lightning, wind, and rain occurs. It’s warm and humid inside the RainForest, and condensation will form on your camera and lens until they have a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

zoos and public gardens

elephants, cleveland zoo

warmed up inside the building. To speed up this process, you may wish to visit the restrooms and hold your camera and lens under the warm air blast from a hand dryer for a few seconds before starting your tour. Other highlights of the RainForest include a two-floor Francois’ langur exhibit, and a Bornean orangutan display and 8,000-square-foot free-flight aviary on the upper level. Located just inside the zoo’s main entrance, African Elephant Crossing provides many excellent viewing areas for photography, including a nose-totrunk window, an elevated feeding station, and a gated crossing where you can observe the elephants as they walk from one enclosure to the next. Nearby is the African Savanna, where you can photograph lions, zebras, gazelles, vultures, and giraffes. The giraffes are especially photogenic, and, during the summer, you can feed them from an elevated platform on the hillside. Nearby, you can photograph the aerial acrobatics of colobus monkeys on Monkey Island. One of the newer locations is the 8-acre Australian Adventure exhibit, where kangaroos and wallabies roam freely in Wallaby Walkabout and Merino sheep, goats, and other farm animals can be petted in a contact yard at Kookaburra Station. The Reinberger Homestead is patterned after a traditional nineteenth-century Australian sheep station.

199

200

One of my favorite places at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is Waterfowl Lake, where a variety of native waterfowl, Chilean flamingos, and a pair of resident trumpeter swans patrol the large lake, surrounded by trees, shrubs, and landscaped paths. Near the lake is Wade Hall, an elegant 1884 Victorian building that was moved here from its original site in University Circle and is one of the oldest zoo buildings in North America. Also nearby is the zoo’s public greenhouse, showcasing hundreds of exotic plants as well as seasonal flower displays. The Primate, Cat and Aquarium exhibit at the top of the hill overlooking Waterfowl Lake features one of the largest primate collections in the country, as well as cheetahs, snow leopards, and a large aquarium with sharks, piranhas, a giant octopus, and living coral. Take the tram if you don’t want to climb the steep walkway to the top of the hill. In the northwest corner of the zoo, just west of the Fulton Parkway Bridge, is the Northern Trek section, home to cold climate animals, including several kinds of bears, Amur tigers, wolves, Bactrian camels, and sea lions. Northern Trek is a “must see” location to check out during a winter visit to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Each year the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo hosts a photo safari, from April 1 through October 31. Photo “opportunity” signs are posted throughout the zoo and prizes include zoo memberships. During 2014 a new Circle of Life Carousel will open, featuring sixty-four hand-carved wildlife figures created by Carousel Works in Mansfield, Ohio.

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Location: 4850 West Powell Road, Powell, OH 43065 Tel: (614) 645-3400 Website: http://www.columbuszoo.org GPS Coordinates: 40.15613N 83.118292W

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium occupies 580 acres on the east bank of the O’Shaughnessy Reservoir on the Scioto River in Powell, about 20 miles north of downtown Columbus. In 2009, it was named the best zoo in the United States by the USA Travel Guide; in 2012, Besties Readers Choice gave the zoo a number one ranking. Much of this worldwide fame is due to the promotional efforts of director emeritus Jack Hanna. The Columbus Zoo houses more than nine thousand animals, representing over seven hundred species, and attracts more than 2.3 million visitors each year. The animal exhibits are split into major regions of the world. The zoo also operates an eighteen-hole golf course known as the Safari Golf Club, a watera photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

giraffes, columbus zoo

park called Zoombezi Bay, and Jungle Jack’s Landing, which offers rides and other attractions. The Columbus Zoo operates its own conservation program and has contributed over $3 million to more than seventy conservation projects in thirty countries. The zoo also helps to manage the Wilds in southeast Ohio, described later in this chapter, and offers a spectacular holiday lighting display in December called Wildlights, described on page 224 of this book. The largest zoo region is North America, where you can photograph bald eagles, American bison, timber wolves, grizzly bears, bobcats, mountain lions, and the elusive wolverine. Polar Frontier is a recent addition to this area, with Alaskan brown bears, Arctic foxes, moose, reindeer, and a 167,000 gallon tank where you can view polar bears on land and underwater. More than forty species of birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians are on display in the Aquarium, including Caribbean flamingos, giant Aldabra tortoises, American alligators, several kinds of rattlesnakes, stingrays, West Indian manatees, and Humboldt penguins.

201

bengal tiger, columbus zoo

As you travel through Asia Quest, you will encounter many of this continent’s most threatened species from the deserts of Mongolia, the tropical regions of southern Asia, the northern forests of Russia, and the western Himalayan Mountains. These animals include Hank, the largest Asian elephant in North America, who weighs 7 tons, as well as the beautiful Amur tiger, black rhino, Bornean sun bear, and Pallas’ cat. Australia and the Islands provide opportunities to photograph animals from Australia and nearby islands, including the koala, Komodo dragon, orangutan, eastern grey and red kangaroos, and kiwis. Expedition Congo: African Forest takes you on a visit to the tropical rain forests of the Dark Continent, where you can meet three generations of western lowland gorillas and their matriarch, Colo, the first gorilla to be born in captivity in 1956, and, at age fifty-eight, the oldest captive gorilla in the world. The Columbus Zoo also has several pygmy chimpanzees, also called bonobos, the closest living animal relatives to humans. On May 22, 2014 the Columbus Zoo opened its newest exhibit, the $30million, 43-acre “Heart of Africa” region, showcasing more than one hundred animals from the savannas of Africa, including lions, zebras, giraffes, cheetahs, and wildebeests. Here you can feed the giraffes and ride a camel. 202

zoos and public gardens

ohio state university ati gardens

The Columbus Zoo is extremely popular, and attracts thousands of visitors at weekends and during the warm months. If you want to beat the crowds, try to visit the zoo as early as possible on a weekday.

Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI) Gardens, Wooster Location: 1328 Dover Road, Wooster, OH 44691. Tel: (800) 647-8283 Website: http://www.ati.osu.edu/horticulture-complex GPS Coordinates: 40.775582N 81.921774W

Each summer and fall, I teach a fourteen-week program in digital photography and Adobe Lightroom at Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI) in Wooster. Most of the students who take this course are enrolled in floral design or landscape design programs in ATI’s Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, and their first photography assignment is to take pictures of the beautiful gardens that are part of ATI’s horticulture complex. These gardens include six production greenhouses and a tropical plant conservatory, All-America Selections garden, cutting garden, shade garden, perennial garden, and herb garden. ATI’s horticulture students assist in all aspects of the production of major floriculture and nursery crops in the greenhouses complex, including poinsettias used to decorate campus buildings, bedding

203

204

plants used for planting the gardens on campus and at the Ohio State ATI Hawk’s Nest Golf Course, and woody ornamental plants for use on campus. The students also maintain the tropical plant collection, housed in a historic conservatory built in 1926 for the Black estate in Mansfield. My digital photography program runs from late August through Thanksgiving, and the gardens at ATI provide plenty of subjects for photography throughout this period, as well as earlier in the summer. Each year a new theme for the perennial gardens is selected. In 2012 the floral displays were based on paintings by French impressionists. The following year the theme was the four seasons. A combination of beautiful foliage plants and contrasting perennial displays are planted along the brick paths and arbors, as well as around the exterior of the conservatory. Many of the perennial flowers, especially verbena and buddleia, are very attractive to butterflies as nectar sources, and, on a sunny day, as many as twenty species of butterflies may be visiting the garden, including tiger and black swallowtails, buckeyes, American and painted ladies, Milbert’s tortoiseshell, sulphurs, and several kinds of skippers. My favorite lens for butterfly photography is Sigma’s 150mm OS Macro, used on a Nikon D7100 with a Nikon SB29 ring light, usually at ISO 400. The first chapter provides more information on photographing butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies. The 115-acre Secrest Arboretum, described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio, is adjacent to the ATI campus. The arboretum has a beautiful display of crabapples in spring, and the rose garden is usually at its best from late May through June. Secrest Arboretum was devastated by a tornado in September 2010, but is making a great recovery. I encourage you to allow some extra time to visit the arboretum after you have enjoyed the gardens at ATI.

Ohio State University Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Gardens, Columbus Location: Howlett Hall, 2001 Fyffe Court, Columbus, OH 43210. Tel: 614-688-3479 Website: http://www.chadwickarboretum.osu.edu/ GPS Coordinates: 40.006448N 83.026024W (Lane Avenue Gardens)

Ohio State University’s vast campus in Columbus includes the 60-acre Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Gardens, located just east of State Route 315 near Lane Avenue and Woody Hayes Drive. There are three separate garden areas. Arboretum North is north of Lane Avenue and west of Fred Taylor Drive. This area includes a 3.5-acre research lake that is home to a variety of wildlife and is also stocked with fish. Nearby is the nation’s largest collection of willow trees, with six hundred species from the United Kingdom, Russia, Poa photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

chadwick arboretum and learning gardens

land, and North America. There is also a buckeye collection, a Columbus native tree collection, and the enCORE Solar Decathlon House, a solar-powered home that was designed and built by Ohio State University students. The Lane Avenue Gardens are east of State Route 315 on Lane Avenue between Fyffe Road and Olentangy River Road. The highlight of these gardens is a labyrinth, based on the famous eleven-circuit Chartres Cathedral Labyrinth in France, built eight hundred years ago. The labyrinth was installed in July 2000 and is designed for contemplative walking. Nearby are an extensive conifer collection and the Van Wade collection of more than 150 hosta cultivars, honoring Van Wade of Wade and Gatton Nurseries, described later in this chapter. To the southeast, across Olentangy River Road, is the Bloch Cancer Survivors Plaza, featuring a 2-ton granite sphere that can be moved with one finger. The Learning Gardens include more than a dozen separate gardens clustered around Howlett Hall, Kottman Hall, and Plumb Hall, south of Woody

205

206

Hayes Drive between John H. Herrick Drive and Coffey Road. The most striking location is the Dr. Steven M. Still Garden, featuring a multi-season display of perennials, shrubs, and trees. Steven Still is the executive director of the Perennial Plant Association and the emeritus OSU professor of landscape horticulture. During his twenty-five-year tenure at Ohio State he mentored and taught more than four thousand horticulture students. Dr. Still was also the first director of the Chadwick Arboretum, and hired me on two occasions to teach landscape and garden photography workshops at annual meetings of the Perennial Plant Association in Montreal and New York. The Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Gardens are open seven days a week, from dawn to dusk. There is no entrance fee, but you must park in an A, B, C, or visitor space and pay a parking fee at one of the Park-N-Display or Pay-By-Plate machines that are located in the parking areas. These machines accept coins or major credit cards but not dollar bills, and you must enter your license plate number. There are many other attractive parts of the Ohio State University main campus for photography, including Mirror Lake, the Green, Orton Hall, and the Wexner Center for the Arts. These places are described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio.

Schoepfle Garden, Birmingham Location: 11106 Market St, Birmingham, OH 44816. Tel: (440) 965-7237 Website: http://www.metroparks.cc/schoepdle_garden.php GPS Coordinates: 41.32876N 82.350129W

The 70-acre Schoepfle Garden at Birmingham, in northern Lorain County, is named for Otto Schoepfle, a banker and CEO of the Elyria Chronicle Telegram. In 1936, Schoepfle bought his grandparents’ home and surrounding land in Birmingham, along the banks of the Vermilion River, and, over the next thirty years, established a beautiful garden, using ideas and plants acquired during his extensive travels in Europe. In 1969 he donated the house and garden to the Lorain County Metro Parks, but continued to live in the house until his death in 1992. The formal garden is based on a wide central path lined with hedges and topiaries. Side paths feature beech, dogwood, and redbud trees with extensive perennial and annual flowerbeds. The shade garden, one of my favorite areas, has many rhododendron shrubs in a planting of pine trees. A mature 50-acre woodland separates the shade garden from the Vermilion River, where ebony

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

redbud and dogwood, schoepfle garden

jewelwings, and other dragonflies and damselflies, can be seen along the banks in summer. In 2007 a children’s garden with a musical theme was opened, a tribute to Otto Schoepfle’s love of gardening, music, and youth. Children young and old can climb the Rocky “G” Clef, crawl through the Flute-APillar, and ride the restored carousel. Schoepfle Garden is one of more than twenty-five parks, covering more than 9,000 acres, that make up the Lorain County Metropolitan Park District, founded in 1957. Each year the park naturalist staff conduct 1,600 natureoriented programs to help connect Lorain County residents and visitors with the world of nature. The park district is headquartered at the 1,917-acre Carlisle Reservation, which includes a visitor center, raptor center, planted prairies, and extensive wetlands. Another popular Lorain Metropark for photography is Sandy Ridge Reservation, a 310-acre wetland and wildlife preserve that offers excellent birding. For landscape photography, be sure to visit the Vermilion River Reservation’s Mill Hollow, a rocky section of the pristine Vermilion River bordered by shale cliffs that tower more than 100 feet above the water,

207

rhododendrons, schoepfle garden

with large sycamore trees that are a favorite place for visiting bald eagles to perch. Vermilion River Reservation, the first Lorain County Metro Park to be opened, includes the Benjamin Bacon Museum, named for the patriarch of the Bacon family that owned the land in this area.

The Wilds, Muskingum County Location: 14000 International Road, Cumberland, OH 43732. Tel: (740) 638-5030 Website: http://www.thewilds.org GPS Coordinates: 39.827325N 81.737008W

In the southeast corner of Muskingum County, near the old mining town of Cumberland, is some of the wildest country in Ohio. From 1969 to 1991, when coal was king in this area of southeast Ohio, a 13,000-ton dragline excavator known as Big Muskie crawled over these hills, removing more than 600 million cubic yards of topsoil and exposing over 20 million tons of coal. Big Muskie was scrapped in 1991, but its giant bucket, weighing in at 460,000 pounds, is preserved as the prime exhibit at a Miner’s Memorial Park, located near the junction of state routes 78 and 83 in Morgan County, 8 miles east of McConnelsville. The bucket makes an interesting subject for photography, 208

zoos and public gardens

sichuan takin, the wilds

especially with morning lighting. The GPS coordinates of the Miner’s Memorial Park are: 39.699328N 81.731429W. The strip-mined land in this area is open range, grown over with grass and shrubs, and peppered with hundreds of lakes and small ponds left over from the mining operations. Almost 10,000 acres of this land belongs to the Wilds, a cutting-edge, conservation-and-research facility that is home to more than three hundred mammals, representing thirty-one species of rare and endangered animals from Africa, Asia, and North America, roaming freely in natural, openrange grasslands reminiscent of a scene from Jurassic Park. Most of the animals are herbivores, including: giraffes, Grevy’s zebra, scimitar-horned oryx, and southern white rhinos from Africa; Indian rhinos, Prezwalski’s wild horse, and Sichuan takin from Asia; and American bison and trumpeter swans from North America. In 2007 a 27-acre Carnivore Conservation Center opened, featuring African hunting dogs, cheetahs, and Indian hunting dogs called dholes. Several acres of habitat for native butterflies have been established, and other conservation projects at the Wilds include work on burying beetles and hellbenders. The Wilds is open to visitors from May through October. Safari buses take visitors through a tour of the major animal enclosures, which are large enough to allow many photos to be taken without fences so the animals appear to be in the wild. There are also ziplining, horseback tours, fishing tours, and overnight

209

zebra, the wilds

stays available at a remote lodge, as well as more luxurious accommodations at Nomad’s Ridge, which features Mongolian yurts. The Johnson Visitor Center, where most visitors begin their tour, sits high on a ridge with a spectacular view over thousands of acres of the main animal pastures at the Wilds. The open grasslands at the Wilds are attractive to many native birds, and Audubon has rated the Wilds and surrounding areas as an Important Bird Habitat. In winter, many raptors frequent the Wilds, including bald and golden eagles, harriers and rough-legged hawks, an occasional Prairie falcon, and short-eared owls. In summer, bobolinks, meadowhawks, and several species of sparrows nest here in the grasslands. A great place to see many of these birds is the Jeffrey Point Birding Station, described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. In 2001 the Wilds established a partnership with the Columbus Zoo, and today the marketing and much of the operation of the Wilds is handled by zoo personnel. Recently, the redoubtable Jack Hanna, who is credited with much of the growth and success of the Columbus Zoo, has taken on the task of leading the planning and development efforts at the Wilds. Before your visit, check the Wilds website for opening hours, admission charges, and other helpful information. 210

zoos and public gardens

nature’s neighborhood, toledo zoo

Toledo Zoo Location: 2 Hippo Way, Toledo, OH 43614. Tel: (419) 385-4040 Website: https://www.toledozoo.org/ GPS Coordinates: 41.619244N 83.580254W

The Toledo Zoo is located near the Maumee River, about 4 miles southwest of downtown Toledo. The zoo was founded in 1900 and is one of the oldest zoos in the United States. It is also the number one attraction in northwest Ohio, with close to one million visitors each year. The Toledo Zoo is home to more than six thousand animals representing over eight hundred species. Several of the zoo’s historic southside buildings were built in the 1930s during the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and are still in use today. These structures include the Reptile House, which exhibits Moorish and Spanish design elements and was constructed in 1933 almost entirely from brick, stone, and timber salvaged from the local area. One of its most celebrated occupants is Baru, a 17-foot, 1,500-pound saltwater crocodile that is the largest crocodile in North America. The Spanish Colonial Amphitheatre opened in 1936 and has hosted many musical legends, from jazz legends like Louis Armstrong, to classical music conductor Leopold Stockowski, to rock and folk singers Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. Nearby is the Aquarium, built in 1939, currently undergoing renovation, and scheduled to reopen in 2015. Also dating from the WPA era are the

211

212

reptile house, toledo zoo

Aviary, built in 1937 as one of the first buildings to use glass blocks, and the Museum of Science, completed in 1938. Extensive plantings of trees, shrubs, and flowering plants complement the zoo’s historic architecture, including flowering crabapples and weeping cherries in early spring and extensive displays of annual and perennial flowers in summer. The Ziems Conservatory, built in 1904, features a rose garden, a butterfly garden, and a pool with giant water lilies. The newly remodeled Tembo Trail exhibit includes large enclosures for African elephants and a “Hippoquarium” where hippos can be seen swimming underwater. Also in this area are slender-snouted crocodile, meerkats, two of Siegried and Roy’s white lions, Amur tigers, and snow leopards. The African Plains exhibit features free-roaming African animals in a 5-acre outdoor enclosure, which can be viewed from an observation platform or from a Safari Railway that circles the exhibit. The animals include Grant’s zebra, greater Kudu, impala, Masai giraffe, and wildebeest. Arctic Encounter showcases animals from cold climates, including polar bears that can be viewed above and below water, seals, wolves, and a large bald eagle enclosure. The renovated Aviary houses hundreds of birds, some of which are in an open, walk-through area. When photographing birds in caged enclosures, use a wide aperture and hold your camera and lens as close as possible to the netting to eliminate or minimize its appearance in the photograph. a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

wade and gatton nurseries

The Toledo Zoo is a major contributor to both worldwide conservation and local conservation projects, like the re-introduction of the Karner blue and Mitchell’s satyr butterflies to habitats in the Oak Openings and southern Michigan. One of the premier winter events in the Toledo area is the zoo’s holiday lighting display, “Lights Before Christmas,” described on pages 231–32 of this book.

Wade and Gatton Nurseries, Bellville Location: 1288 Gatton Rocks Road, Bellville, OH 44813. Tel: (419) 883-3191 Website: http://www/wadeandgattonnurseries.com/ GPS Coordinates: 40.597352N 82.464378W

Do you like hostas? How about daylilies? If the answer to either of these questions is “Yes” you will enjoy a summer visit to Wade and Gatton Nurseries, located 1.5 miles south of State Route 97 in the valley of the Clear Fork branch of the Mohican River, 3 miles east of Bellville and 2 miles west of Butler, in Ashland County. The Wade and Gatton Nurseries began in the mid-1900s, when family members Pearl Gatton, Nell Wade, and Adelia Gatton established their gardens on a hill overlooking the Clear Fork valley. Van and Shirley Wade, the current

213

214

owners, have been adding features since 1983. The large Victorian house, featuring eighteen rooms and four white porches, on top of the hill that is the centerpiece of the gardens, was built in the 1880s and is surrounded by large maples and conifers. Nearby, giant Canadian hemlocks, white oaks, hundred-year-old sugar maples, seventy-year-old white pines, and 80- to 90-feet-tall European larch trees provide shade to the small stream and waterfall in the gardens. Hostas and daylilies are the most popular perennial plants in American gardens, and Wade and Gatton Nurseries offer more than 2,300 hosta and 1,500 daylily species and cultivars, plus hundreds of other perennials and shade and ornamental trees. Visit their website to view the huge online catalogs, or download the catalogs to your own computer as PDF files. Because the shade garden is heavily wooded, it is best photographed on a cloudy day, or early and late on a sunny day when the gardens are in the shade. Vistas of the daylily collection and house can be taken on a sunny day, but if you want to take close-ups of the daylily flowers you will need diffuse lighting, or a large diffuser, so you can create soft lighting for your daylily portraits. Because there are thousands of hosta and daylily varieties at Wade and Gatton, I recommend taking a photograph of the flower label, then the flower itself, in sequence, so you will have the information needed to include the variety in the photograph’s metadata. Wade and Gatton Nurseries is only a short distance from Malabar Farm State Park, Mohican State Park and Forest, and the Mohican State Scenic River, and makes a great destination if you plan to be photographing in this area in summer.

Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark, Dayton Location: 1301 E. Siebenthaler Avenue, Dayton, OH 45414. Tel: (937) 277-6545 Website: http://www.metroparks.org/Parks/WegerzynGarden GPS Coordinates: 39.804448N 84.203922W

Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark is part of Five Rivers MetroParks, which encompasses more than 15,400 acres of parks, gardens, and natural areas— even a farm market—in the Dayton metropolitan area. Five Rivers is named for the five waterways that converge near Dayton: the Greater Miami River, Mad River, Stillwater River, Wolf Creek, and Twin Creek. The gardens at both Aullwood and Wegerzyn are located near the Stillwater River and are free and open to the public. Open hours at both gardens vary according to the day and season, so be sure to confirm when the gardens will be open by visiting the Five Rivers MetroParks website prior to your visit. a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

zoos and public gardens

wegerzyn gardens, dayton

Wegerzyn Horticultural Center opened in 1973 as the result of a generous gift of $358,000 made in 1963 by Mr. Benjamin Wegerzyn, an avid horticulturalist. “I felt there should be some kind of space in or near the middle of town for the public’s enjoyment,” Wegerzyn said. The concept originated in 1960, when the city of Dayton and local garden clubs identified a need for a facility for flower shows, educational programs, gardening workshops, and conserving natural resources. In 1993, the Wegerzyn Horticultural Center and 22 acres around it became part of Five Rivers MetroParks. Mr. Wegerzyn remained involved with the gardens until his death in 1997. In addition to the formal gardens, Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark includes the 1-mile Marie Aull Nature Trail, which runs through a mature swamp forest along the Stillwater River. Many kinds of wildflowers bloom in spring along the trail, which is also excellent for birdwatching. This trail may be muddy or impassable during wet periods, and bug repellent is advised if you walk the trail in late spring or summer. The formal gardens offer photographic opportunities at all times of the year. In late winter and early spring, almost seventy-five varieties of witch hazel bloom, together with early bulbs and hellebores. In summer and fall, a large variety of perennial and annual plants create an ever-changing canvas of

215

216

wegerzyn gardens, dayton

subjects in the flowerbeds for scenic and close-up photography. A Federal garden features brick paths and parterres in a style that evokes late eighteenthand early nineteenth-century American gardens. There is also an English garden, a Victorian garden, an Arbor garden, an allee of bald cypress trees, and North and South plazas that provide elevated views of the gardens. The Children’s Discovery Garden is superb, with a limestone grotto and waterfall, music maze, wetland, pond, and sensory garden. You will want to check out Skeeter’s Garden, designed and maintained by local children and their families.

References Adams, Ian. The Art of Garden Photography. Portland: Timber Press, 2005. Adams, Ian, photogr.; Steve Love, auth. The Holden Arboretum. Akron: University of Akron Press, 2002. Adams, Ian, and Jennie Jones, photogrs.; Diana Tittle, auth. A Paradise in the City: Cleveland Botanical Garden. Wilmington, OH: Orange Frazer Press, 2005. Adams, Ian, and Barney Taxel, photogrs.; Steve Love, auth. Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens. Akron: University of Akron Press, 2000. Mairose, Mary Alice, ed.; Ian Adams, photogr. Our First Family’s Home: The Ohio Governor’s Residence and Heritage Garden. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2008.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

Holiday Lighting Displays

I’m writing these words in early February 2014 during an unusually cold and seemingly endless winter. I have just shoveled the snow from my driveway for the tenth time this winter, and my two cats are gazing wistfully at the snowdrifts around the bird feeders from the comfort of their padded cat motels near the living room and kitchen windows. Punxsutawney Phil spotted his shadow on Groundhog Day (February 2), promising six more weeks of winter, much to the dismay of many Ohioans, judging by the number of Facebook posts clamoring for an end to this brutal season. Alas, February and March are invariably winter months in northeast Ohio, and I don’t expect spring to show her face around here much before early April. Christmas lighting displays are a holiday tradition that brightens up the Ohio scenery in winter. Finding holiday lights can be as easy as driving around the streets in your neighborhood, although in my area of northeast Ohio many pnc festival of lights, cincinnati zoo

217

218

people are becoming more frugal and energy conscious in these austere economic times, and fewer homes seem to be adorned with elaborate holiday lighting displays in recent years. However, you can visit plenty of dazzling public holiday lighting displays around the Buckeye State during early winter. This chapter includes information on nine of Ohio’s finest.

Tips fo r P h o t og r ap h i n g Holida y L ig h t i n g D ispla y s First, you’ll want to do some planning. Each of the nine Ohio lighting displays described below has its own website, with information on dates, times, admission charges, directions, and other useful data, including a gallery of photographs. Ohio’s major newspapers and travel-oriented websites feature articles, usually in mid-November, about upcoming holiday lighting displays. You can also visit Google Images to view sample photos of these displays. Try to arrive at the location well before sunset, so you can scout the area and find some of the best viewpoints for photography. These vantage points are often near lakes, where you can photograph the reflections of the lights as well as the lights themselves. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! A fresh snowfall will add a festive touch to your holiday lighting photos. In addition to providing a seasonal white blanket on the ground, the snow will reflect some of the color of the nearby holiday lights, reducing the contrast and enlivening the photograph. However, you may wish to avoid photographing holiday lights when it is snowing. Because of the long exposures needed when photographing in the dark, the snowflakes will appear as white or gray streaks in your photo. If this is the effect you want, shoot away, but, if not, wait until it stops snowing before you shoot. Do you want your holiday lights photo shoot to be very brief? Before you leave home, make sure that your camera battery is running low on power, don’t pack any extra, fully-charged batteries, and never put any extra memory cards in your camera bag. You’ll be finished shooting in no time! Cold winter weather coupled with the long shutter speeds often needed to photograph holiday lights can drain camera batteries very quickly, so make sure that your camera battery is fully charged and bring along one or two extra fully-charged spare batteries. Here are a few suggestions for camera settings that will provide you with more creative control over your holiday light photos. First, and perhaps most

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

holiday lighting displays

important, set the file type to “raw” rather than “JPEG” if your digital camera allows it. Raw files provide much more flexibility to control color rendition, contrast, sharpness, and other image qualities. You will need access to a raw file conversion program, but these are included in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, Apple’s Aperture, Google’s Picasa, and virtually all other image editors, and, with practice, processing a raw file on your computer doesn’t take much longer than working with a JPEG file. Raw files are also much more forgiving than JPEGs if you underexpose or overexpose your Christmas lights photos, which is very easy to do unless you are careful. Set your camera’s program mode to aperture-preferred (A) rather than shutter-speed preferred (S), program mode (P), or automatic. The aperture (f/ stop) you select helps to determine the depth of field in your photo. Usually you will want to use the largest f/stop (e.g., f/5.6 or f/8) that renders everything sharp in your photo. Smaller f/stops (e.g., f/11 or f/16) will provide more depth-of-field but require much longer exposures, using slower shutter speeds or higher ISO settings, both of which tend to increase the digital noise in your photos. (We’ll discuss noise in more detail later.) In addition, in the latest high-resolution DSLRs, with 24-megapixel and even 36-megapixel sensors, small f/stops will actually reduce resolution due to an optical effect called diffraction. I use the default, multi-segment (matrix) metering method on my Nikon DSLR cameras when shooting holiday lights, and I review the histogram displays on the camera’s LCD screen to fine-tune the exposure setting. Remember to “expose to the right”—you want the longest exposure that can be given without overexposing (clipping) the highlights (i.e., the Christmas lights) in the photograph. It’s hard to adjust camera settings in the dark, so make sure you adjust these settings before you leave home. Carry a small flashlight in your camera bag so you can change the settings on your digital camera during your photo shoot if necessary. If you want the holiday lights to be pin sharp in your handheld photos, make sure that image stabilization is switched on; shoot at the fastest shutter speed that will provide the depth-of-field you need; and rest the camera against a tree, a fence, a building, or any other stationary object nearby. To get the sharpest results, use a sturdy tripod, plus the “mirror lock-up” setting on your digital SLR if available, with a wireless or electronic cable release. At low ISO (best picture quality) settings, at dusk or in the dark, you may need a shutter speed of several seconds when photographing holiday lights. It is virtually

219

220

impossible, even with image stabilization, to handhold a camera at these long shutter speeds without getting a blurred photograph. I usually prefer to use manual focus rather than autofocus when shooting landscape photographs, including those of holiday lights, with my digital SLR cameras. Many point-and-shoot digital cameras don’t offer manual focusing, but they provide great depth-of-field, even at large f/stop settings, so getting everything sharp isn’t generally a problem. If you decide to use autofocus on your digital SLR camera, make sure that the autofocus sensor is positioned over a lighted area with high contrast, such as a group of lights, rather than a dark, low contrast area, which may not provide enough information for your camera’s autofocus system to work properly. The time of day you shoot has a big effect on the quality of your holiday lights photos. The mistake that most people make is to wait until it is completely dark, and the sky is black, before taking pictures of holiday lights. This is too late, if you want the most pleasing color. The best time to shoot is just after twilight, when the sky still shows some color—deep blue on a clear day. As the light fades to a deeper and deeper blue, the holiday lights will begin to glow against the sky. This period when the ambient light from the sky and the holiday lights are well balanced only lasts for 20 to 30 minutes, so plan your shoot to take as many photos as possible between twilight and the time when the sky becomes completely dark. Even on a cloudy day, this magic time will produce a sky with a blue cast, complementing the lights much better than a pitch black sky. The white balance setting you use on your camera is also very important. If most of the holiday lights are incandescent (i.e., tungsten), then a white balance setting of “tungsten” (2,700–3,300K) may provide the most pleasing color, though this setting, with a pronounced blue cast, is a bit cool for my taste. The “daylight” and “cloudy” settings (5,000–6,500K) are too warm, rendering clear skies a bluish-gray. To my eye, a white balance setting that corresponds to halogen and some fluorescent lamps (3,500–4,500K) usually provides the color that is most pleasing. On the other hand, if the holiday lights are some of the newer, more energy-efficient LED bulbs, you may find that a much higher value will provide the best color rendition. If you shoot in raw mode, as I recommend, you can adjust the color temperature to taste when you process the raw file in your image editor’s raw converter. I use Adobe’s Camera Raw, which is the raw converter used in Photoshop and Lightroom. Even on a cloudy day, when the sky fades from

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

holiday lighting displays

gray to black, you can produce a blue sky in your photo by simply using a cooler, “tungsten” setting in your raw converter when you process the photo back at home. If your point-and-shoot camera doesn’t provide raw files, and you are using Adobe Photoshop as your image editor, you can use the File “Open As” command to open your JPEG files in the Adobe Camera Raw program, thereby giving you access to the color temperature sliders. You can also open JPEG files in Adobe Lightroom and obtain the same color temperature controls. The higher the ISO setting, the more noise you will get in your photos. If you shoot in raw mode, you can use the noise reduction sliders provided in the raw conversion program to reduce the noise in the photograph. In Adobe’s Camera Raw program, used in Photoshop and Lightroom, there are separate sliders for reducing luminance and color noise. The color noise consists of random red, blue, and green pixels which appear in dark areas of the photo. You can usually eliminate most of this color noise using the color noise slider. The luminance noise is a generally grainy appearance in darker areas of the photo that is mostly a function of the brightness level. It can be reduced by using the luminance noise slider, but this noise reduction often results in slightly blurred fine detail in the photo, which can produce an unnatural, smeared appearance. There are also several powerful noise reduction packages, including Noise Ninja, Neat Image and Nik Dfine, which can be used as stand-alone programs or, in many cases, as plug-in programs for Adobe Photoshop and other image editors. You may find that a certain amount of noise in your holiday lights photos is OK and doesn’t bother you. However, if you want to minimize the noise, use a lower ISO setting, such as 200 or 400, on your digital camera. The lower the ISO, the less noise in your photo. Point-&-shoot and cell phone cameras have very small digital sensors, making them especially susceptible to noise at high ISO settings and long exposures. Many of the newer SLR cameras, however, such as the Nikon D4, D800, and D7100, and the Canon 5D Mark II, 60D, and 7D, are remarkably noise-free at ISO settings of 800, 1600, or even much higher. Check out some of the online camera review websites, such as www.dpreview.com, for more detailed information on how your digital camera performs with regard to noise at high ISO settings. Does your camera have a built-in flash? If you set your camera mode to “auto” and leave the flash switched on, when you take a photo of holiday

221

222

lights in the dark the camera flash will probably go off. However, the built-in flashes on point-and-shoot cameras, and even most digital SLRs, haven’t got much power, and the light they produce is balanced for daylight. So any holiday lights near the camera will be overexposed, with the wrong color, while the background will be underexposed and black. If you want to photograph the holiday lights as you see them, it’s important to turn off your camera flash and take the photograph using the ambient light alone. As we’ve discussed earlier, this requires a long exposure, often one second or more at the moderate ISO settings that will provide the best image quality, so you’ll need to use a sturdy tripod or brace your camera against a solid object to eliminate any camera movement during the exposure. What if there is some snow or other attractive subject in the foreground, and you would like to brighten it in your photo? In this case, you may be able to use your camera’s built-in flash, or an accessory flash, to provide some supplementary light to lighten the foreground. This is called fill flash. The basic approach is to set the camera to take the main exposure without the flash, and then trigger the flash to “fill” some of the shadowed areas in the foreground with light. You’ll need to read your camera manual to find out how to set this fill flash mode and to determine the amount of light to be delivered by the flash. Try a fill flash setting of -1 or -2 f/stops and evaluate the results on your camera’s LCD so you can fine-tune the amount of fill flash to taste. If you want to take a photo of a relative or friend with holiday lights in the background, using fill flash is a good way to brighten the person’s face and avoid getting a silhouette. If possible, try to do some testing to determine the optimal amount of fill flash beforehand, rather than trying to figure it out in the dark with impatient friends or relatives who would rather move on than stand around in the cold! Some lighting displays, e.g., those at the Columbus and Cincinnati Zoos, have lights that change color, turn on and off, and are synchronized to music. Because the music is repeated every few minutes, you can figure out when the best lighting combination will occur. Set your camera to the lowest ISO to get a multi-second exposure that will allow the maximum time for the lights to register in your photo. Take lots of images, bracket your exposures, and keep the color combinations you like. Ever tried to photograph butterflies in a glass conservatory? When you first enter the warm, humid conservatory, your camera lens will mist up. You can keep wiping off the condensation with a cloth, but, until the camera warms

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

holiday lighting displays

pnc festival of lights, cincinnati zoo

up to the ambient temperature in the conservatory, you won’t be able to do much shooting. Depending on the relative indoor and outdoor temperatures and humidity levels, this usually takes about 10 minutes—a good time to reflect on the blessings in your life and scout for some good photo locations in the glass house. Condensation isn’t a problem when you go from your warm house into the cold winter air, but it occurs when you return home with cold cameras and lenses. So be sure to wait for 10 to 15 minutes before you unpack your camera gear when you return home after your holiday lights photo shoot.

Cincinnati Zoo (PNC Festival of Lights) Location: 3400 Vine Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45220. Tel: (513)-281-4700 Website: http://cincinnatizoo.org/ GPS Coordinates: 39.142809N 84.508835W

For thirty years the Cincinnati Zoo has been transformed in late fall into a winter wonderland for the annual PNC Festival of Lights. Near the zoo entrance on Vine Street, you’ll be welcomed by a 35-foot Christmas tree, covered with twenty thousand LED lights, in the zoo’s historic Vine Street Village. Just

223

224

beyond the entrance is Swan Lake, the centerpiece for the Festival of Lights, where a 21-foot tree flanked by many smaller trees on islands in the lake twinkle with thousands of lights that dance to choreographed Christmas music that repeats every few minutes. You can board the North Polar Express for a ride around Swan Lake, search for fairies in Fairyland, snack at one of two S’mores-n-More stands, and take snapshots of your family and friends in the Candy Cane Forest or along the Twinkle Trail. In all, more than two million LED lights are strung each year for the festival. When I photographed the PNC Festival of Lights on December 27, 2013 on an evening with a clear blue sky, the best light occurred from roughly 6:40 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. I took most of my photos of the Wild Lights show on Swan Lake from the north side of the lake, from where I could include the dome of the Elephant House in the background. The PNC Festival of Lights isn’t enjoyed only by the people who visit the Cincinnati Zoo. Each year the “Battle of the Bulbs” is fought with the zoo’s large squirrel population, who chow down on two to three hundred strands of LED bulbs, mistaking them for brightly colored acorns. In addition to squirrels, there are plenty of cold climate animals at the Cincinnati Zoo that may be out enjoying the winter weather, including lions, tigers, polar bears, wolves, red pandas, sea lions, and Japanese macaques. In addition to these captive critters, a large number of free-flying waterfowl may be seen on Swan Lake. While I was waiting for sunset during my visit in December 2013, I was able to get great photos of hooded mergansers and pintail ducks enjoying a swim on Swan Lake. The road system around the Cincinnati Zoo is very complex and it’s easy to get lost at night, which is when you’ll be leaving if you are attending the PNC Festival of Lights. On my first visit, I lost my way trying to navigate east from the Zoo to Interstate 75. So unless you are a local and know your way around the northern suburbs of the Queen City at night, use your GPS or ask for directions when you leave the Vine Street parking lot.

Clifton Mill, Greene County Location: 75 Water Street, Clifton, OH 45316. Tel: (937) 767-5501 Website: http://www.cliftonmill.com/ GPS Coordinates: 39.79427N 83.825754W

Thirty miles east of Dayton, the Little Miami River tumbles into a gorge in the village of Clifton in Greene County. Here stands Clifton Mill, one of the largest and most picturesque gristmills in America. Built in the 1820s, the a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

christmas lights, clifton mill

mill towers six stories above the river, and is one of less than a dozen gristmills still in operation today in the Buckeye State. Clifton Mill is painted an attractive deep red, and is best viewed from an authentic covered bridge, also painted red, that spans the gorge southeast of the mill. A 1940s Gas Station Museum, located near the mill, is decorated with many signs from yesteryear. The mill has a restaurant and offers a tour of its interior, allowing visitors to learn how the mill operates. As if this wasn’t enough to attract a photographer, Clifton Mill hosts a spectacular Christmas lighting display, starting the day after Thanksgiving and continuing every evening until New Year’s Day. It takes six men almost three months to install the 3.5 million lights that illuminate the mill, gorge, riverbanks, trees, and covered bridge. The lights are switched on at 6:00 p.m, and go out at 9:30 p.m. Every hour, on the hour, all the lights are switched off. Then, while Christmas music plays, the lights gradually come back on. Parking is free, and admission is $10 for everyone aged seven or older. Children aged six and under get in free. Other seasonal attractions are a

225

226

miniature Clifton village with model trains and a Santa Claus Museum, which houses the private collection of Santa Claus models, some dating back to 1850, assembled by the Satariano family, the owners of the mill. The best view of Clifton Mill and the Little Miami River gorge are from the windows of the covered bridge next to the mill. Space is very limited, so arrive early to gain the best vantage point. During the Christmas season, the mill is very busy Friday through Sunday evenings; Monday through Thursday is much quieter.

Columbus Zoo (Wildlights), Powell Location: 4850 Powell Road, Powell, OH 43065. Tel: (614) 645-3400 Website: http://www.colszoo.org/default.aspx GPS Coordinates: 40.156622N 83.118292W

In late 2013 the Columbus Zoo celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary of Wildlights, a holiday event that draws tens of thousands of visitors on busy evenings and festoons trees and buildings with more than three million LED lights from mid-November through New Year’s Day. You’ll pay for the privilege of attending this extravaganza, with tickets priced at $15, plus an $8 parking fee. The fun begins at 5:00 p.m. and lasts until 9:00 p.m. on weekdays and later at weekends. The holiday attractions include a 28-foot Christmas tree, Santa’s Reindeer Corral, rides on the Bob Evans Polar Express Train, and the Timberdoodle Forest Chorus, sponsored by Disney on Ice, featuring twenty-nine singing animatronic trees. Every 30 minutes, beginning at 5:45 p.m., an 8-minute holiday music and light show takes place on Conservation Lake. This show is very similar to the one performed on Swan Lake at the Cincinnati Zoo. At 6:00 p.m., you can watch Santa SCUBA dive at the Discovery Reef Global Celebration Village, which displays the flags of all 192 United Nations countries and features eight animated international carolers and a selection of holiday music. When I visited the Columbus Zoo on Saturday, December 28, 2013, to photograph Wildlights, the best lighting occurred from about 6:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. It was a warm day and the zoo was crammed with visitors—a record thirty-two thousand+ people attended Wildlights that evening, and there were lines of traffic stretching several miles from the zoo later in the evening. Wildlights is extremely popular, so be sure to arrive well before sunset if you want to find good vantage points and get the best ambient light for photography.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

wildlights, columbus zoo

General Electric (NELA Park), East Cleveland Location: 1975 Noble Road, East Cleveland, OH 44112 Website: http://www.clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/78#.UvOrebTIb-I GPS Coordinates: 41.540267N 81.562356W

NELA is an acronym for the National Electric Lamp Association, a forerunner of the lamp division of the General Electric Company (GE). NELA Park, established in 1910 by Franklin Terry and Burton Tremaine, was the first industrial research park in the United States. The office and laboratory complex includes twenty Georgian Revival buildings in a landscaped, 90-acre park. During 2012, a centenarian time capsule that was originally buried in March 1912 in a cornerstone of Marketing Building #307 was exhumed. The capsule contained a newspaper, some photographs, and several incandescent light bulbs, a new invention in 1912. Much to the delight of the hundreds of current and former GE employees who witnessed the opening of the time capsule, one of the bulbs worked perfectly after being buried for a century. Another time capsule, containing a GE Energy Smart 60-watt LED bulb, was scheduled for burial at NELA Park during April 2013.

227

228

christmas lights, nela park

The year 2014 marks the ninetieth annual NELA Park Holiday Lighting Display. Extending for about one-third mile along the north side of Noble Road in East Cleveland, the display includes a replica of the national White House Christmas tree; five star-themed vignettes; and more than 125 decorated trees, lit with more than five hundred thousand ultra-efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs), all set to holiday music. The display is free—simply stroll along the a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

guernsey county courthouse

perimeter of NELA Park on Noble Road. Traffic here can be heavy during the rush hour, which is when the best ambient lighting occurs, so I recommend parking on one of the side streets along the south side of Noble Road.

Guernsey County Courthouse, Cambridge Location: 801 Wheeling Avenue, Cambridge, OH 43725. Tel: (740) 432-9230 Website: http://www.visitguernseycounty.com/ GPS Coordinates: 40.025355N 81.589978W

The Guernsey County Courthouse in Cambridge, Ohio, was built in 1881, based on a design by architect Joseph W. Yost in the popular Second Empire style. The courthouse stands on U.S. Route 40, the national road in the center of Cambridge. The Guernsey County website claims that the courthouse is the only government building with a Christmas-music-and-light show in the United States. This holiday event, funded by local resident Grant Hafley, was designed by his company, AVC Communications, and required one thousand

229

lights before christmas, toledo zoo

man-hours of work prior to the show’s premier in 2007. There are forty-four thousand LED lights, including fifteen thousand that are used to outline the courthouse’s unique architectural features. The show includes sixty animated displays and a 23-foot Christmas tree with 2,600 lights. There are four different shows, each of which uses 468 electrical circuits, operating in one-quartersecond increments, all synchronized to holiday music. The front of the courthouse faces south, with plenty of parking spaces nearby. The show runs from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, with continuous performances from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. each evening, plus additional shows until 11:00 p.m. on major holidays and other selected dates. Consult the Guernsey County website for dates and times prior to your visit. When photographing holiday lighting displays, I recommend that you use a solid tripod because of the long shutter speeds needed. I visited Cambridge on December 18, 2010, and did most of my photography of the courthouse from 6:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., using a 17–35mm wide-angle lens on my Sony Alpha 850 DSLR. I used an ISO setting of 400, and my bracketed exposures averaged one second at f/8. Because the lights on the building flash on and off

230

christmas lights, toledo zoo

continuously, I took dozens of exposures to capture as many color combinations as possible.

Lights Before Christmas, Toledo Zoo Location: 2 Hippo Way, Toledo, OH 43609. Tel: (419) 385-4040 Website: http://www.toledozoo.org/site/program/393 GPS Coordinates: 41.61918N 83.580254W

The Toledo Zoo’s “Lights before Christmas” celebration began in 1986 with fifty thousand lights and attracted seventy-one thousand visitors. In 2012, 179,267 people came to view almost a million lights, more than half of them energy-saving LED lights. The show runs from mid-November to early January, and is closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. The hours are 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. (zoo closes at 9:00 p.m.) Monday to Thursday, and 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. (zoo closes at 10:00 p.m.) Friday to Sunday. A crew of twelve to fifteen zoo employees begins hanging the lights in late August or early September. If laid end-to-end, the strings of lights, attached by 10 miles of extension cords, would reach for 70 miles. During “Lights before Christmas” the zoo makes 2,700 pounds of fudge and 6,800 gallons of hot chocolate.

231

232

The star of “Lights before Christmas” is an 85-foot Norway spruce that grows near the Broadway entrance, named by Travelocity as one of the nation’s finest holiday trees. The spruce’s circumference is 8 feet, 7 inches, and it weighs in at 7 tons—roughly the same as the combined weight of Louie and Renee, two of the zoo’s African elephants. Thirty-five thousand LED lights— almost 3 miles—cover the big tree, which takes several crew members a week to decorate. In addition to the lights there are more than two hundred illuminated animals, as well as carolers and ice carving on certain evenings. Beginning in 2013, visitors can enjoy ice-skating on a new skating rink. Another popular attraction is the larger-than-life Snow Globe Live. Plan to arrive well before dark, so that you can visit the Amur tigers, snow leopards, sea lions, polar bears, and wolves, as well as scout the lighting displays and pick the prime vantage points to view the lights.

Public Square, Cleveland Location: Public Square is in the center of downtown Cleveland, OH 44113. Website: N/A GPS Coordinates: 41.499514N 81.692945W

Charles Francis Brush lit up Cleveland when he demonstrated his arc lamp in 1879. That same year, the first permanent street lighting in America was installed at Public Square in downtown Cleveland. For more than thirty-five years, General Electric (GE) Lighting has donated the lights used to illuminate Public Square during the Christmas holiday season. During October 2013, seventy volunteers from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 38 strung 372,000 new, long-lasting, LED light bulbs donated by GE Lighting around Public Square, including 56,000 on the Christmas tree, a 60-foot blue spruce from Sagamore Hills, in front of the new Horseshoe Casino. The lights are unveiled on November 30, with the display continuing until January 1. During December, the sun sets around 5:00 p.m., with twilight about 5:30 p.m. This period is a great time to stroll around the square and line up some attractive views of the lighting displays. When I visited on December 7, a cloudy evening, most of my images were taken from 6:00 p.m. to 6:20 p.m. Public Square is surrounded by tall buildings, all also lit up, so you’ll want to include some of the buildings in your compositions, especially the Terminal Tower, with a top illuminated by blue, red, and gold lights. a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

terminal tower, cleveland

public square, cleveland

Scioto Mile, Columbus Location: North Bank Park south to Main Street Bridge, downtown Columbus. Website: http://www.sciotomile.com/ GPS Coordinates: 39.956432N 83.004287W (John Galbreath Bicentennial Park)

The Scioto Mile is an urban oasis in the middle of downtown Columbus, Ohio’s capitol city. From the Arena District in the north to the Whittier Peninsula in the south, 145 acres of lush parkland, boulevards, bikeways, and pedestrian paths link downtown Columbus to its liquid heart, the Scioto River. The Scioto Mile represents a $40+ million investment and partnership between the City of Columbus and the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation (CDDC). Dozens of events are scheduled along the Scioto Mile each year, culminating in the Grand Illumination, a holiday lights spectacular, using two hundred thousand LED lights, held from early December to mid-January each winter. This is a great opportunity to photograph a Christmas lighting display with Scioto River reflections and the downtown Columbus skyline in the background. 234

scioto mile, columbus

john galbreath bicentennial park

236

When I visit the Scioto Mile, I often park along Washington Boulevard near the new Main Street Bridge, a 700-foot, three-span, inclined-arch, suspension bridge over the Scioto River. This elegant structure is the first bridge in North America to use an inclined-arch superstructure. One of my favorite views along the Scioto Mile is looking north from the Main Street Bridge to another new span, the Rich Street Bridge, a handsome, ribbon-arch structure that opened in 2012. This bridge has decorative lighting installed above and below, and makes a fine composition with the downtown Columbus skyline and reflections in the Scioto River. The John Galbreath Bicentennial Park, on the east bank of the Scioto River, is the focal point for many of the events held along the Scioto Mile. You’ll want to photograph the American sycamore trees there, festooned with Christmas lights, as well as the light show that is projected onto the spectacular fountain. During your visit, enjoy a drink or a meal at Milestone 229, a steel-and-glass restaurant that has excellent food and a great view of the Scioto Mile.

Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, Akron Location: 714 North Portage Path, Akron, OH 44303. Tel: (330) 836-5533 Website: http://www.stanhywet.org/ GPS Coordinates: 41.117254N 81.548556W

Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens is a remarkable country estate in Akron, built from 1912 to 1915 by Frank A. Seiberling, co-founder of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The centerpiece of the 70-acre estate is the magnificent sixty-five-room Tudor Revival Manor House, the largest private house ever built in Ohio and the sixth largest historic home open to the public in the United States. Stan Hywet is Old English for “stone quarry,” the most dominant natural feature on the land when it was purchased. During the late 1990s I photographed the gardens at Stan Hywet for a book, Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, with text by Steve Love, published by the University of Akron Press in 2000. Information on photography at Stan Hywet is included in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio in the chapters on public gardens and buildings and murals. During late November and December, Stan Hywet holds its annual Deckthe-Hall event, in which the Manor House, gardens, and grounds are decked out with 750,000 Christmas lights, and more than twenty rooms in the Manor House are decorated to tell the stories of Christmas as the Seiberlings may have celebrated them. In 2013 a new component, called Dazzle, featuring an animated musical light show, was added to Deck the Hall. During a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

holiday lighting displays

corbin conservatory, stan hywet hall & gardens

Dazzle, visitors can view a 25-foot-tall LED Christmas tree sprinkled with huge snowflakes and choreographed lights, plus displays of butterflies, bees, flowers, and globes spread across the Great Garden. Stan Hywet plans to expand Dazzle each year to create the largest animated Christmas lighting display in northeast Ohio. Be sure to visit the Corbin Conservatory to enjoy the poinsettias and take time to see all the Christmas displays throughout the gardens and grounds. You may photograph the grounds at Stan Hywet for personal enjoyment, but commercial and stock photography are prohibited without special arrangements. Tripods and monopods may be used only if you hold a special photography membership with Stan Hywet. (See their website for details.) For those relying on a hand-held camera, you will need to use a high ISO setting of 800–1600 when photographing the lights. Switch on image stabilization if your camera provides it, and try to brace your camera against a building, tree, or other solid object. Check the Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens website for information regarding a photography membership, or to inquire about commercial and/or stock photography arrangements.

237

Buildings, Murals, and Events

Ohio has more than 3,800 properties and districts listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Only New York, with 5,500, and Massachusetts, with 4,100, possess more sites than the Buckeye State. At the end of 2013, Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) had 373 sites, Hamilton County (Cincinnati) had 338 sites, and Franklin County (Columbus) had 314 sites. Henry County and Paulding County, both rural counties in northwest Ohio, had the least sites, with four each. Several of the picturesque Ohio places described in this chapter are not listed in the National Register of Historic Places, including a Swiss cheese factory, a dairy farm, an old coal tipple, and an automobile cemetery. Ohio’s historic sites range from simple log cabins to ornate Italianate and Gothic structures, from a single building to an entire town or district. An essential reference for the student of Ohio’s architecture is Building Ohio, by Jane Ware, published by Orange Frazer Press. Volume One is a guide to Ohio’s major city buildings and Volume Two covers Ohio’s rural architecture. I was honored to contribute some photographs to these fine guides, compiled during eight years of extensive research by Ware. Many cities and towns in Ohio have commissioned artists to create murals that provide a link to the past by depicting the architecture, industry, and other human accomplishments of yesteryear. More than twenty-five large murals decorate the walls of buildings in downtown Steubenville, known as the “city of murals.” Sixty-six murals stretching over 2,000 feet decorate the floodwall along the Ohio River in Portsmouth. Other Ohio cities with noteworthy murals include Bucyrus, Cincinnati, and Massillon. Murals in Steubenville, Portsmouth, and Cincinnati are described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. This book describes muralist Eric Grohe’s splendid wall paintings in Bucyrus and Massillon. When you photograph a mural on a building, remember that it is a copyrighted work of art. I have not encountered any problems using mural photographs editorially in a calendar, a book project, or a blog article, but I always west side market

239

240

credit the artist. Never use a photograph of a copyrighted piece of art in a product advertisement or any other commercial media without first obtaining permission from the mural artist. Ohio is home to dozens of exhibitions, festivals, fairs, and other shows each year, including eighty-eight Ohio county fairs and the Ohio State Fair, described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. There are many opportunities for great outdoor photography at these annual events. This chapter includes information on a colorful pumpkin show, an old-time riverboat festival, and an amazing exhibition of old and new farm equipment. I have not included information on events that are conducted every few years, such as Tall Stacks, held every three or four years in Cincinnati, and Tall Ships, held every three years in Cleveland.

Tips fo r P h o t og r ap h i n g B u ildi n gs , M u r als , a n d E v e n t s In addition to a high-quality Ohio gazetteer, such as the DeLorme, a good pair of binoculars is an excellent investment for Ohio architectural photography. Binoculars are invaluable for spotting and examining buildings and other structures from a distance, as well as for birding and general nature study. In a pinch, you can substitute your camera and a telephoto lens, but they are not as comfortable or convenient for prolonged use. When you visit a building for the first time, take the time to walk around the structure and examine it from all angles, previewing different views with a handheld camera, preferably one equipped with a wide-angle zoom lens such as the 16–85mm (DX) or 24–120mm (FX) Nikkors. Take along a full complement of lenses for photographing buildings; I have used everything from a 12mm wide-angle to a 600mm telephoto lens to photograph buildings and murals. A polarizing filter is also very useful for suppressing unwanted reflections and intensifying colors. Perspective control is an important aspect of photographing buildings, barns, bridges, and other man-made structures. Whenever you tilt your camera away from an axis that is perpendicular to the building you create perspective distortion to some extent, and the edges of the building will converge. The more you tilt the camera up or down, the more convergence will occur. You can use this convergence to deliberately distort the planes of the building to create a desired effect in your photograph, or you can ensure that your

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

buildings, murals, and events

camera is positioned at 90 degrees to the plane of the wall so that the vertical surfaces will remain vertical in the photograph. The choice is yours. Sometimes you must photograph from above or below the structure, making some degree of convergence unavoidable. If you have deep pockets, you can purchase a “tilt-shift” lens, such as the Nikon 24mm, 45mm, and 85mm PC-E, or the Canon 17mm, 24mm, and 90mm TSE lenses. These sophisticated lenses allow you to raise or lower the lens relative to the direction the camera is pointing, thereby correcting perspective convergence, and to tilt the lens, thereby maximizing, or minimizing, depth-of-field. Tilt-shift lenses are useful if you plan to do a great deal of architectural photography, but they are also very expensive ($2,000+). I don’t own one, and prefer to correct image perspective and other lens effects on my office computer using an image editor such as Photoshop or Lightroom. My approach is to use the Crop (Control/Command-A) command in Photoshop, together with the Transform (Control/Command-T) option, to correct the perspective digitally. Since you will lose part of the image on the left and right when applying this technique, make sure you use a wider-angle lens setting or step back a little to ensure that you have extra coverage at the perimeter of the building to permit the edge cropping that is often needed when you adjust the digital image in this manner. Wide-angle lenses are also prone to a variety of undesirable effects, including barrel distortion, pincushion distortion, vignetting, and chromatic aberration. However, if you shoot raw files and use a sophisticated image editor such as Photoshop or Lightroom, you can correct most, if not all, of these effects automatically using the lens profile that is included with the image editor’s raw converter. When photographing buildings I generally avoid white skies, though overcast weather can be great for close-ups of building details and is also appropriate for structures that are surrounded by heavy foliage, which on sunny days can produce a jumble of harsh highlights and shadows. On sunny days, try to avoid photography from midmorning to midafternoon, when glare and stark lighting will prevail. By all means, take record shots and scout the scene for good angles and compositions, but, if possible, plan to return when the light is more conducive to expressive photography. Frontal lighting is flat and creates a “picture postcard” look. Most buildings are best photographed using sidelight, which creates shadows that add texture and interest. When shooting directly into the light, be sure to use a lens hood and shade the lens with your hand to avoid getting flare spots in the picture.

241

242

Photographing an outdoor mural on a building wall poses similar challenges to photographing a painting in a museum, but on a much larger scale. Try to position your camera at 90 degrees to the plane of the mural to minimize perspective problems, and use a lens that is wide enough to include the entire mural. If you are fortunate enough to own a tilt-shift lens, the shift controls can be used to raise or lower the lens to maintain the correct perspective; if not, you can easily correct the perspective and any other lens effects later using a good image editor such as Photoshop or Lightroom. Uniform lighting is critical when photographing murals. An overcast sky provides uniform lighting and minimizes shadows. You can photograph murals that are sunlit, but glare and shadows cast by vehicles, buildings, or other nearby objects can be a problem. I usually use a polarizing filter to minimize specular reflections from the painted surface of the mural. It’s also a good idea to take a photo or two of the mural with a calibrated gray card, such as a Whibal, to provide a color reference that can be used to color-correct your mural photo later using your image editor. Finally, I would like to share a few tips for photographing at Ohio festivals, county fairs, and other outdoor events. These celebrations can provide some great photographic opportunities, but they also pose some special challenges —such as people, often tens of thousands of them. You may be the only person around when you photograph a building or a mural, but Ohio’s major shows draw huge crowds. More than nine hundred thousand people visited the Ohio State Fair over an eleven-day period in 2013, and one hundred thousand visitors fill the streets of Circleville each day during the four-day Circleville Pumpkin Show in mid-October. You need to plan your visit to these events carefully to avoid big crowds. Begin by doing some online research. Each of Ohio’s major outdoor shows has a comprehensive website, with information on opening hours, admission tickets, parking, maps, and a list of the major activities during each day of the show. Some of these activities may require registering in advance. The website will also have a gallery of photographs taken at previous shows. You can also go to Google Images and review page after page of additional photographs. Use these resources to plan your visit to the event, based on the subjects you would like to photograph. On the day of your visit, try to arrive as early as possible to beat the crowds. For example, the pumpkin displays at the Circleville Pumpkin Show are completed by Tuesday evening, and the show officially opens at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. However, you are welcome to

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

buildings, murals, and events

arrive at 8:30 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. when the streets will be quiet and the displays and buildings will not be full of jostling crowds of visitors. The displays will be fresher on Wednesday than on Saturday, but you will also want to pick a day when the ambient lighting will be good for photography. For me, this usually means early on a sunny or partly cloudy day. I recommend leaving your tripod in your vehicle when you photograph these outdoor events. Tripods attract attention and are cumbersome to use with large numbers of people on the streets. Today’s digital cameras provide amazingly good image quality at very high ISO values, and most digital cameras also provide image stabilization that allows you to produce hand-held sharp images at slow shutter speeds. A wide-angle zoom lens (roughly 16–85mm for DX and 24–70mm for FX cameras) and a 70–200mm, or 70–300mm, zoom lens equipped with image stabilization will meet virtually all of your needs when photographing Ohio’s outdoor festivals and shows. Plan your photo shoot based on the prevailing lighting conditions. At the Circleville Pumpkin Show, most of the pumpkin displays are arranged on Court Street, which runs north to south. Many of the most photogenic downtown buildings are on the west side of Court Street, where they are sunlit early in the day and shaded in the afternoon. So, early in the morning, I worked my way along Court Street, shooting vistas of the buildings and displays on the west side, plus some close-ups of displays on the east side that were in the shade but evenly lit. Later in the morning, as the sun lit up the east side of Court Street, I made my way along the street again, working with the light. For this shoot, I wanted a blue sky, which provided an excellent color contrast with the orange pumpkin displays and orange clothing worn by many people at the pumpkin show.

Buckeye Furnace State Memorial, Wellston Location: Buckeye Furnace is 14.5 miles east of Jackson and 10 miles southeast of Wellston. From Wellston, go south on State Route 327 for 3 miles, then east for 4 miles on State Route 124 to Buckeye Furnace Road. Go south on Buckeye Furnace Road 2.3 miles, turn right on Buckeye Park Road, then follow this road 0.7 mile to Buckeye Furnace. The address is: 123 Buckeye Park Road, Wellston, OH 45692. Tel: (740) 384-3537 Website: http://www.buckeyefurnace.com/ GPS Coordinates: 39.055438N 82.458584W

Although no major Civil War battles took place in the Buckeye State, the hills of Hocking, Vinton, Jackson, and Lawrence counties in southern Ohio played an important role in this conflict, for most of the iron used to make

243

buckeye furnace company store, jackson county

buildings, murals, and events

muskets, cannon, and other weapons was mined and smelted in this area, known as the Hanging Rock Iron Region. Travel through these counties today and you will view mile after mile of forested hills and verdant river valleys. During the mid-1800s, this same area was more like a lunar landscape, because virtually all the trees had been logged to make charcoal, used to fuel more than sixty sandstone blast furnaces that were charged with locally mined iron ore and limestone and produced pig iron to supply the munitions factories that armed the Union troops. Buckeye Furnace State Memorial is one of only three reconstructed charcoal iron furnaces in the nation. Adjacent to the furnace complex is the company store, which was a vital part of the furnace community. The furnace workers were not paid in cash, but in notes called “scrip,” which could only be redeemed at the company store, where food and other necessities were sold at highly inflated prices by the furnace owners. Most of the workers labored seven days a week, from sunrise to sunset, and lived with their families in log shacks with dirt floors. You can view the interior of the major furnace buildings during the warmer months; visit the website for details of the open hours. The site is open from dawn to dusk throughout the year, so you can photograph the building exteriors any time you wish. A Fall Festival is held at the Memorial during early October each year. An attractive covered bridge used to span Little Raccoon Creek nearby, but, in 2011, the bridge was replaced by a stronger steel bridge and the old covered bridge was moved to a meadow near the furnace, where it stands on stone supports. The remains of another dozen furnaces can be found in Ohio’s Hanging Rock Iron Region, but Buckeye Furnace and Hope Furnace in Vinton County (described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio) are the only two that are easily accessible and worthwhile from a photographic viewpoint.

Bucyrus Murals, Crawford County Location: Both of the Eric Grohe murals are in downtown Bucyrus. The Bucyrus, Great American Crossroad mural is at 108 S. Sandusky Avenue (State Route 4) facing the Lincoln Highway (U.S. Route 30). The Liberty Remembers mural is a couple of blocks north at 215 N. Sandusky Street (State Route 4). Website: http:www.ericgrohemurals.com GPS Coordinates: 40.808344N 82.975276W (Bucyrus, Great American Crossroad mural) 40.810124N 82.975898W (Liberty Remembers mural)

World-renowned artist Eric Grohe, who lives in Washington State, paints large-scale, realistic murals on the sides of buildings in cities and towns

245

246

bucyrus , great american crossroad

mural

throughout the United States. In Ohio, Mr. Grohe has completed fourteen murals in Bucyrus, Canton, Columbus, Marion, Massillon, and Steubenville. Two impressive examples of these trompe l’oeil murals are in downtown Bucyrus, in Crawford County. Bucyrus, Great American Crossroad is a large mural, 34×130 feet, painted in acrylics, facing north and depicting the same location in downtown Bucyrus as it would have appeared in the early 1900s. More than eighty local citizens posed for the mural, which is flanked by large figures representing agriculture and industry. Millenium Park, an attractive area with plantings and seating, fronts it. A circular pond, directly in front of it makes a fine foreground subject and allows you to include a reflection of part of the mural in your photograph. You will need an ultra-wide-angle lens to encompass the entire mural. As always, try to photograph it in even lighting, preferably early or late on a sunny day, so you can include a strip of blue sky above. Liberty Remembers is a more recent Bucyrus mural by Mr. Grohe. In the 36×44-foot mural, Lady Liberty holds a dying soldier in her arms, surrounded by 284 portraits of Crawford County, Ohio, veterans. On September 11, 2001, Grohe was finishing the mural. To commemorate that tragic event, he added the inscription, “Her torch still shines, her flag still waves.”

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

buildings, murals, and events

liberty remembers

mural

Liberty Remembers is a tall mural that faces south. Since you will be tilting your camera up to some extent, the mural’s vertical edges will converge in the image. This is easily corrected in Photoshop or Lightroom, but be sure to include enough of the surroundings at the sides to allow for this correction in your composition.

247

display of vintage desoto automobiles, carillon historical park

Carillon Historical Park, Dayton Location: Carillon Historical Park is about 2 miles south of downtown Dayton near the Great Miami River. The address is: 1000 Carillon Boulevard, Dayton, OH 45409. Tel: (937) 293-2841. Visit the website below for details of opening hours and admission fees. Website: http://www/daytonhistory.org/ GPS Coordinates: 39.729228N 84.199343W (Visitor Center)

Dayton is Ohio’s sixth-largest city and fourth-largest metropolitan area after Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Dayton is famous as the birthplace of Orville Wright, who, with his brother Wilbur, is credited with the invention of powered flight. Other notable Daytonians include poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, entrepreneur John Patterson, and automotive inventor Charles Kettering. From 2008 to 2010, Site Selection magazine ranked Dayton as the best location in the nation for economic development. From a photographic and historic viewpoint, a great place to visit in Dayton is Carillon Historical Park, a 65-acre park and museum containing historic buildings and exhibits that chronicle the history of technology and the Dayton region from 1796 to the present day. The park is named for the 151-foot Deeds 248

buildings, murals, and events

Carillon, an Art Moderne-style tower dedicated to inventor and industrialist Colonel Edward Andrew Deeds. The carillon has fifty-seven bells and is the largest in Ohio. Settlement exhibits include the Newcom Tavern, the 1796 home of Colonel George Newcom and his family and the oldest building in Dayton. Nearby is the William Morris House, an 1815 stone cottage; and Locust Grove School, an 1896 one-room schoolhouse used for more than thirty years. The Wright Brothers Aviation Center houses the 1905 Wright Flier III, the world’s first practical airplane. Other transportation exhibits include an original lock of the Miami and Erie Canal, a Conestoga wagon, a 1908 StoddardDayton automobile, a 1915 Xenia cyclecar, and a 1949 Marmon-Herrington trolley bus. The Deeds Barn houses a Liberty aircraft engine, an early Frigidaire refrigerator, and a 1912 Cadillac equipped with a Delco automobile electric system. Nearby is a working 1930s print shop. Numerous educational programs and other events are scheduled at Carillon Historical Park throughout the year. When I visited in July 2013, a display of gleaming vintage DeSoto automobiles made a great foreground for a wideangle vista of the Deeds Carillon. A few miles south of the park is Cox Arboretum, one of Dayton’s best public gardens, described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio.

Circleville Pumpkin Show, Pickaway County Location: The Circleville Pumpkin Show takes place in downtown Circleville, 30 miles south of Columbus, in Pickaway County. Website: http://www.pumpkinshow.com GPS Coordinates: 39.60463N 82.945948W

Do you like pumpkin pie? Is orange your favorite color? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, you will enjoy a visit to the Pumpkin Show in Circleville. Billed as one of the largest festivals in the country, the four-day Circleville Pumpkin Show has been held annually since 1903, and attracts more than four hundred thousand visitors. Early or late on a sunny day is my favorite time for photographing in cities and towns, and the orange hue of pumpkins looks great against a blue sky. The main pumpkin display is set up at the junction of Court and Main streets in downtown Circleville. Court Street runs north to south, and most of the displays and other attractions are lined up along the west and east sides of the street, for several blocks north and south of the Main Street intersection. A

249

circleville pumpkin show

large mural, painted by muralist Eric Henn on the west side of a building on Main Street, just east of Court Street, depicts the early days of the show, when horses pulled wagons loaded with pumpkins. The show is set up on Tuesday evening, and opens each day at 10:00 a.m. If photography is your goal, you will want to beat the crowds and take photographs of the displays without being jostled by tens of thousands of visitors. Plan to visit the show early on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday ,or Saturday, arriving between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m., before the town fills up with 100,000 visitors. Pumpkins are the ripe fruit of winter squash in the genus Cucurbita. Many varieties of pumpkins and gourds are featured at the show, with more than 100,000 pounds of pumpkins on display. Even the manhole covers in downtown Circleville are painted orange and feature a pumpkin! One of the show’s highlights is the weighing of the pumpkins. The heaviest pumpkin ever at the event was grown by Bob and Jo Liggett, and tipped the scales at 1,636 pounds. The show also offers rides for the kids and other competitions of all kinds. 250

buildings, murals, and events

Just about any kind of food that can be made with pumpkin is available, including pumpkin pies, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin burgers, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin cake, pumpkin soups, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin cream puffs, pumpkin fudge, pumpkin ice cream, and pumpkin milkshakes. An estimated twenty-three thousand pumpkin pies and one hundred thousand pumpkin donuts are sold during the four-day show. Lindsey’s Bakery in Circleville bakes a pumpkin pie each year that measures 14 feet in diameter. At the end of the show, Lindsey’s giant dessert is donated to local hogs, who pig out with squeals of delight on pumpkin pie for hours. To visit another piece of pumpkin memorabilia in Circleville, drive south on Court Street from the center of town for 0.8 mile to Logan Street. Turn left on Logan Street and go east 0.4 mile to the pumpkin water tower on the north side of Town Street. If you want to include the stem of the pumpkin in your photo, drive further east to bring the top of the tower into view.

Farm Science Review, London Location: Farm Science Review is held at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center, 135 State Route 38 East, London, OH 43140. Tel:(614) 247-0035. The site is adjacent to Interstate 70, 2 miles north of London. Website: http://www.fsr.osu.edu/ GPS Coordinates: 39.938534N 83.443744W

If you are a farming aficionado like me you will enjoy a visit to Farm Science Review, a huge agricultural trade show featuring the latest and greatest in farming technology. Farm Science Review runs in the third week of September at Ohio State University’s Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London, about 30 miles west of Columbus. This three-day event attracted 129,864 visitors in 2013, so plan to arrive early unless you want to photograph crowd scenes. The first Farm Science Review was held in 1962 at the 45-acre Ohio State University Airport in northwest Columbus. Eighteen thousand visitors viewed 116 commercial exhibits. In 1983, the event moved to its new home near London, a 983-acre farm donated to Ohio State University by the late Molly Brown Caren Fisher. Today, on the expanded 1,200-acre exhibit area, more than six hundred exhibitors demonstrate over four thousand agricultural products during the event. If you get turned on by precision equipment and mega-machinery you will have a field day at the review, where companies like John Deere demonstrate the use of the latest gear for tilling, fertilizing, planting, harvesting, irrigating, and draining on 600 acres of fields set aside for demonstrations of new

251

252

farm science review, london

agricultural techniques and technology. There are also exhibits of antique farming tractors, steam engines, and other farming equipment on view. One of the most talked about new technologies in agriculture is unmanned aerial systems, popularly known as drones, predicted to grow to more than an $80 billion industry in the first decade, with most of the growth in agricultural usage. Drones can be used to locate outbreaks of blight and other crop diseases in fields, and in Japan they have been used for unmanned crop dusting in rice farming since 1991. One of the many events featured is a competition, sponsored by the Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association, to determine the longest cornstalk grown on an Ohio farm. In 2013, the winner was John Juhasz of Williams County, with a cornstalk that measured 18 feet 7 inches—an interesting challenge for photographers. Farm Science Review also provides plenty of farm-themed entertainment, including two appearances in 2013 by the Peterson Farm Brothers, the agriculture industry’s equivalent to The Jackson 5. Their popular farming-themed parodies, such as “I’m Farming and I Grow It,” “Farmer Style,” and “A Fresh Breath of Farm Air,” have generated millions of hits on YouTube and help to connect farmers to consumers. a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

buildings, murals, and events

fort meigs, perrysburg

Fort Meigs, Perrysburg Location: 29100 West River Road, Perrysburg, OH 43551. Tel: (419) 874-4121 Website: http://www.fortmeigs.org GPS Coordinates: 41.550166N 83.653919W

Fort Meigs, perched high on a bluff overlooking the Maumee River south of Toledo, is a full-scale reconstruction of the largest wooden fort ever built in North America. The original Fort Meigs was built during the War of 1812 by soldiers commanded by General William Henry Harrison as a staging point for operations in Canada along the Old Northwest frontier. The massive fort, built in February 1813, was almost 10 acres in size, with seven defensive blockhouses, five artillery batteries, storehouses, two powder magazines, and a series of earthen mounds called traverses, designed to protect the soldiers during an artillery bombardment. Fort Meigs was attacked twice, in May and July 1813, by British soldiers and Canadian militia commanded by General Henry Procter, aided by Shawnee Indians led by Chief Tecumseh. Both attacks failed, ushering in a series of

253

254

American victories, culminating in the Battle of Lake Erie, which secured the Great Lakes region for America and established the national and cultural boundaries that still exist today. After the War of 1812 Fort Meigs was torn down, but in the late 1960s the Ohio Historical Society undertook a full-scale reconstruction. Between 2000 and 2003, the walls of the fort were replaced with new timbers, and the blockhouses and other buildings were repaired. In 1974 a 14,000-square-foot Museum and Education Center, with 3,000 square feet of exhibits, was opened. The museum exhibit “Legacy of Freedom: Fort Meigs and the War of 1812” emphasizes the themes of era, conflict, understanding, and remembrance. Several reenactments and other events take place throughout the year, as well as educational programs. Its extensive wooden walls are effective as leading lines in wide-angle vistas of Fort Meigs; the walls and blockhouses are much more interesting than the mowed grass that covers most of the fort’s interior and nearby exterior.

Guggisberg Cheese Factory, Millersburg Location: 5060 State Route 557, Millersburg, OH 44654. Tel:(330) 893-2500 Website: http://www.babyswiss.com/ GPS Coordinates: 40.525527N 81.805233W

Amish Country is synonymous with Swiss cheese, and, year after year, the Guggisberg Cheese Factory in the Doughty Valley near Millersburg is voted best in the nation for its Baby Swiss and other Swiss cheeses. Founder Alfred Guggisberg learned the craft of cheese making in the High Alps of his native Switzerland, immigrated to the United States in 1947, and founded Guggisberg Cheese near the village of Charm in the heart of the world’s largest Amish population in 1950. In the 1960s Alfred developed his new, creamier style of Swiss cheese, which his wife, Margaret, christened “Baby Swiss.” Guggisberg Cheese has been winning awards for its Swiss cheeses ever since. Guggisberg Cheese Factory is housed in a striking building that resembles a Swiss Chalet, with an ornate tower. The building faces east, so it is best photographed in the morning from the east side of State Route 557. You can also take photos of the cheese being made through a glass-viewing panel in the factory. Be sure to browse the cheeses in the company’s store, and, if you would like to sample some Swiss or Austrian recipes, visit the Swiss Chalet Restaurant nearby. Farm markets are becoming increasingly popular in Ohio, and one of the best is Hershberger Farm & Bakery, just 1.8 miles north of Guggisberg Cheese

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

buildings, murals, and events

guggisberg cheese factory

Factory on State Route 557. During the summer months, goats frolic on the roof of the barn, where you can take a wagon ride. There are farm animals for children to enjoy, and a marvelous selection of seasonal fruits, vegetables, and baked goods are available for sale. In the fall, aim your camera at pyramids of pumpkins and compose close-ups of the intricate shapes, colors, and textures of many kinds of gourds. Heading south on State Route 557 from Guggisberg Cheese Factory for 1.8 miles brings you to the village of Charm, which lives up to its name and features The Homestead Restaurant, where you can indulge your appetite for a sumptuous Amish meal with all the trimmings. The hilly terrain around Charm is some of the prettiest country in Ohio; cruise the back roads, preferably with a map or a copy of DeLorme Ohio Gazetteer so you don’t get lost, and enjoy the vistas of Amish farms reminiscent of a Currier and Ives print. An especially scenic route is State Route 600, which winds its way from just south of Charm through the hills to the Amish town of New Bedford. Have fun, and Gott segen eich (God bless you).

255

256

hartman rock garden

Hartman Rock Garden; Springfield, Clark County Location: The Hartman Rock Garden is at 1905 Russell Avenue, Springfield, OH 45506. From downtown Springfield, the garden is 2.4 miles south and three blocks west of Springfield–Xenia Road. From the south, the garden is 2 miles northwest of the State Route 72 exit on Interstate 70. Website: http://www.hartmanrockgarden.org/ GPS Coordinates: 39.90499N 83.832433W

In 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression, Harry George “Ben” Hartman was laid off from his job as a mold-maker at the Springfield Machine Tool Company. Not content with a sedentary lifestyle, Ben decided to build a cement fishing pond in his small garden. By the end of this project, Ben was hooked, and he began to exhibit symptoms of “dementia concretia,” a kind of building madness characterized by a compulsion to create things, often on a grand scale, using rocks, metal, bits of glass, concrete, and other found objects. During the next twelve years of his life, Ben used hundreds of thousands of stones to build more than fifty historical, religious, and patriotic structures in his garden, as well as plantings and dozens of figurines. Ben returned to his old job in 1939, but he contracted silicosis, an occupational lung disease, and died in 1944. After Ben’s death, his wife, Mary, maintained the structures, took care of the plants, and gave garden tours for more than fifty years, until a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

buildings, murals, and events

she passed away in 1997. Ten years later, the neglected garden had deteriorated badly, but, in the nick of time, the Wisconsin-based Kohler Foundation, known for its work in the preservation of folk art, purchased the garden and began a much-needed facelift. Hartman’s Rock Garden reopened in June 2010 and welcomes visitors every day of the year. Just walk in. Admission is free, though you are encouraged to make a small donation to help maintain the garden, especially attractive when the flowerbeds are in bloom during spring and summer. Use your digital camera to compose images of Mount Vernon, Noah’s Ark, the Hoover Dam, the White House, Independence Hall, a Maxwell House cup and saucer (Ben loved his coffee), Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin and tomb, and Springfield Central Fire Station. Ben made thousands of figurines, but for security reasons most of them are only on view during special events held at the garden. Watch your footing when you are walking around in this garden. When I visited I stepped back slightly to adjust my camera viewpoint, my heels met the rock edge to the narrow path, and I fell over backwards, camera in hand. Fortunately, I landed on one of the few patches of earth in the garden that is not covered with rocks and stones, many of which are pointed. My camera was unharmed and I sustained no more than some bruises and a stiff neck for a few days. Phew! From Hartman’s Rock Garden, it’s only a short drive south on U.S. Route 68 to Young’s Dairy, which offers excellent meals, great cheese, and plenty of other photographic opportunities.

Haydenville, Hocking County Location: Haydenville is on County Road 25, about 0.75-mile south of U.S. Route 33 in Hocking County, 6 miles northwest of Nelsonville. Website: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM7MM5 GPS Coordinates: 39.4820130N 82.3282074W

Peter Hayden, a Columbus businessman, established an iron furnace a few miles down the Hocking River from Nelsonville in 1856. Instead of building a charcoal furnace from scratch, he purchased one from Hanging Rock, near Ironton, and had it shipped north by barge, block by block, and rebuilt as the Hocking Furnace. Later, he expanded his business to include the manufacture of bricks, ceramic tiles, and blocks and pipes, and renamed the town Haydenville—after himself. His workers built homes and other town buildings from the bricks and tiles, but the structures were all owned by Hayden,

257

united methodist church, haydenville

buildings, murals, and events

round house, haydenville

making Haydenville a “company town.” The town prospered well into the 1900s, but the brick and tile plants were eventually closed in the 1960s, and the homes and other buildings were bought by a real estate company, then offered for sale to the Haydenville residents. The unique architecture of the town’s buildings has been dubbed “Sewer Pipe Gothic’ by visiting architects and the entire town of more than 120 buildings has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

259

260

At the west end of Main Street is the United Methodist Church, built in 1890 from eight kinds of bricks and blocks. The church faces south, and can be photographed at any time of day. Be sure to walk up the path to the church and check out the brick patterns and ornamental curlicues of pipe fittings inlaid under the eaves. At the east end of Main Street is the only remaining “round house,” faced with ceramic tiles and still occupied when I visited in 2013. Please ask permission if you want to photograph this private residence. Shawnee, an old coal-mining town established in the 1890s, is a 30-minute drive northwest from Haydenville along State Route 595, and is well worth a visit while you are in this area of southeast Ohio.

Lakeside Chautauqua, Ottawa County Location: 236 Walnut Avenue, Lakeside, OH 43440. Tel: (866) 952-5374 Website: http://www.lakesideohio.com GPS Coordinates: 41.545382N 82.751027W (Lakeside Hotel)

Lakeside Chautauqua, located on the Marblehead Peninsula in northwest Ohio, was founded in 1873 by a group of Ohio Methodist preachers and is one of seventeen Chautauqua communities in the United States. The Chautauqua Movement, which began in the 1870s, emphasizes the four “pillars” of religion, education, arts, and recreation, and was described by Theodore Roosevelt as “the most American thing in America.” Larry Bleiberg, co-author of The 100 Best Affordable Vacations, a guide published by the National Geographic Society, claims Chautauquas are “like a theme park for the mind.” Most of the scheduled activities at Lakeside Chautauqua, which include religious worship, musical entertainment, educational lectures, and recreational activities, take place throughout the ten-week summer period, which begins around the third weekend in June and extends to the end of August. During this period, an entry fee is charged for admission to Lakeside Chautauqua. You may visit the community without paying an entry fee at other times of the year. From a photographic viewpoint, begin your visit to Lakeside

porchside chairs, lakeside

buildings, murals, and events

hotel lakeside

Chautauqua by taking a stroll along the Lake Erie shoreline, described as “Ohio’s most beautiful mile.” The rocky edge of the lake provides many scenic vistas, and the fishing dock that extends north into Lake Erie from the pavilion is a great place to enjoy and photograph sunrise or sunset. Architecture aficionados will delight in Lakeside Chautauqua’s more than nine hundred private cottages and fifty buildings that support the Chautauqua program. More than a dozen building styles are represented, including Gothic Revival, Second Empire, Stick, Queen Anne, Shingle, Colonial, Craftsman, Spanish Colonial, and Italianate. Many of the cottages also feature stately old trees and beautiful gardens, which can be viewed when walking the streets of the community. Please bear in mind that these buildings and gardens are private property, so be sure to ask permission before taking photographs and please don’t trespass onto porches or gardens without the owner’s consent. The Marblehead Lighthouse and Lakeside Daisy State Nature Preserve are about 3 miles east of Lakeside, near State Route 163. Kelley’s Island, reached by a ferry from Marblehead, is about 4 miles NNW of Lakeside in Lake Erie. A few miles west of Lakeside, Catawba Island provides ferry access to South Bass Island, which includes Put-in-Bay and the Perry’s Victory and

261

International Peace Memorial. These photogenic places are described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio.

Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland 262

Location: 12316 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106. Tel: (216) 421-2665. The Lake View Cemetery is open to visitors from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., seven days a week. Website: http://www.lakeviewcemetery.com/index.php GPS Coordinates: 41.514056N 81.597823W

The Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland is a fascinating repository of history, architecture, and horticulture. The 285-acre cemetery, founded in 1869, is the final resting place for 107,000 people, with space to accommodate another one hundred years of burials. The cemetery’s architect, Adolph Strauch, also landscaped Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. Much of the early stonework was carved by Italian stonemasons, who settled in the area, close to the cemetery, that is known today as Little Italy. Lake View Cemetery is the final resting place for President James A. Garfield, interred with his wife, Lucretia, in the James A. Garfield Monument, a 180-foot Richardsonian Romanesque tower. Inside stands a larger-than-life marble statue of Garfield. A spiral stairway leads to a rotunda balcony with a fine view of downtown Cleveland in the distance. Other notable Clevelanders buried here include John D. Rockefeller, Samuel Mather, Senator Marcus Hanna, and Mantis and Oris Van Sweringen. Lake View is also the burial place of several Civil War generals and Revolutionary War soldiers. The Jeptha Wade Memorial Chapel is a small neoclassical temple set between two lakes. Its most famous feature is the Art Nouveau interior by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The resurrection window is one of Tiffany’s most famous works. Horticulture is an important aspect of the landscape at Lake View Cemetery, and garden lovers will delight in the stately trees, flowering shrubs, and more than a thousand recorded plantings throughout the grounds. One of my favorite places to visit here in mid-April is Daffodil Hill, a steep wooded slope in the northern section of the cemetery where thousands of daffodils and other bulbs bloom in early spring. The cemetery is also a haven for wildlife, and white-tailed deer can often be seen early and late in the day. Nearby is Little Italy, where you can sample Cleveland’s finest Italian cuisine and numerous art galleries, and University Circle, with its many cultural attractions.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

lake view cemetery

Massillon Murals, Stark County Location: There are three Eric Grohe murals in downtown Massillon. A Century of Heroes mural is at 50 Lincoln Way East; 55 Diamond Court mural is at 32 Erie Street South; Ohio & Erie Canal mural is at 39 Lincoln Way West. Website: http://www.ericgrohemurals.com GPS Coordinates: 40.796962N 81.522399W (A Century of Heroes mural) 40.796119N 81.52271W (55 Diamond Court mural) 40.796156N 81.523603W (Ohio & Erie Canal mural)

263

a century of heroes

mural, massillon

In addition to his two Bucyrus murals, artist Eric Grohe has completed three other murals in downtown Massillon in Stark County. The three murals are just a few hundred feet from each other, an easy stroll. A Century of Heroes is 46×38 feet, painted in acrylics, and celebrates one hundred years, from 1894 to 1994, of football prowess of Massillon’s Washington High School Tigers, who rank as one of America’s best high school football teams. The mural faces east, with a parking lot directly in front of it, so an early morning visit provides both the best lighting and the best chance of a clear view of the mural without vehicles. Grohe’s 55 Diamond Court is a 3,000-square-foot mural that brings charm to a dingy Massillon back alley. Depicting a 1950s apartment building, the mural faces south, again with a parking lot directly in front of it. The third mural, Ohio & Erie Canal, measures 50×141 feet and is painted on the east side of the street. The actual canal passed directly behind this building. 264

buildings, murals, and events

Because two of these murals face east and the other faces south, an early morning visit on a cloudy day should provide optimal lighting for photography.

Miami University, Oxford Location: Miami University dominates the town of Oxford, located in Butler County in southwest Ohio. Oxford is about 45 miles southwest of Dayton and 40 miles north of Cincinnati. Website: http://www.miamioh.edu/ GPS Coordinates: 39.511987N 84.730954W

Miami University, chartered in 1809, is the second oldest university in Ohio. The sprawling campus in Oxford is resplendent with Georgian buildings, hundreds of stately trees, and a landscape that is maintained so meticulously that past Miami President Phillip Shriver used to close his annual freshmen address with an imperative to “study hard and keep off the grass.” The poet Robert Frost declared the campus to be “the prettiest that ever was.” Today Miami University is home to sixteen thousand students and consistently ranks in the top tier of public universities in the nation for quality of education and student life. Tradition is an important aspect of life at Miami. The university seal is embedded in the sidewalk at the campus Hub; students are requested to avoid stepping on the seal, or they will likely fail their next exam. Rubbing the heads of the turtles on the Tri Delt Sundial near Warfield and Macmillan Halls is supposed to bring good fortune. And, couples who kiss at midnight under the Upham Arch are destined to marry, creating what is known as a “Miami Merger.” (There must be some truth to this rumor, since more than 14 percent of living Miami alumni are married to each other, having created more than thirteen thousand mergers.) Download a campus map and a copy of Miami’s self-guided walking tour, grab your camera, and enjoy a stroll around the beautiful grounds, especially in spring, when dogwoods and other flowering trees and shrubs, as well as beds of daffodils and tulips, surround the elegant buildings. My favorite Miami places include Stoddard and Elliott Halls, built in the early 1800s, and the nearby Beta Bell Tower, given to the university in 1939 on the centennial of Beta Theta Pi, founded at Miami in 1839 as the first fraternity west of the Alleghenies. Another favorite building is Kumler Chapel, an imposing Romanesque church built of fieldstone and patterned after a church in Bazouches-au-Houlme in Normandy. Garden lovers will enjoy a visit to the Conrad Formal Gardens and Dogwood Grove at the northeast end of the campus, which includes a 1.7-mile Tree Walk featuring sixty-one labeled species of trees and shrubs.

265

dogwoods, miami university

Oxford, like Miami University, is a picturesque place with a wealth of interesting architecture and its own walking tour. North of State Route 73 along Four Mile Creek is the oldest remaining building in Oxford Township, DeWitt Log Homestead, built by Indian fighter Zachariah Price DeWitt and his family around 1805. North of Oxford, on the western edge of Hueston Woods State Park, is the Doty Homestead, built in the 1830s, which includes a Federal-style brick farmhouse and a Pennsylvania bank barn that has been repainted bright red. Covered-bridge aficionados will want to visit the Black Covered Bridge, just north of Oxford near State Route 732, and the eight covered bridges further north in Preble County, including the Hueston Woods Bridge, an new bridge built in 2012 over Four Mile Creek. This bridge is 108 feet long and features a Burr Arch Truss design. The bridge will support 40-ton trucks and trailers and has been designed to last for one hundred years. It is painted red, with white trim.

266

sternwheel paddleboats, ohio river sternwheel festival

Ohio River Sternwheel Festival, Marietta Location: The Ohio River Sternwheel Festival events take place along the banks of the Ohio River in Marietta, Washington County. Website: http://www.ohioriversternwheelfestival.org/ GPS Coordinates: 39.410634N 81.449854W

Marietta is Ohio’s oldest city, founded in 1788 at the junction of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers by Rufus Putnam and other Revolutionary War veterans. Each year, the weekend after Labor Day in September, Marietta celebrates its riverboat-town heritage with the Ohio River Sternwheel Festival, during which as many as thirty-five authentic sternwheel paddleboats visit the city and tie up along the Ohio River levee near the Rufus Putnam landing. A paddleboat is equipped with one or more large wheels, usually made of steel, fitted with paddles along the circumference. The wheels are powered by an engine, and rotate to propel the paddleboat forward or backward along the river. Boats with paddles on the side are known as sidewheelers, while the narrower sternwheelers have the paddlewheels in the rear of the boat. Although sternwheelers are no longer in use commercially, they are popular as tourist attractions for cruising along major rivers like the Ohio and Mississippi.

267

268

The festival attracts about one hundred thousand visitors each year, with the levee area where the sternwheelers are moored becoming packed with people from midmorning through the evening hours. Early morning is my favorite time to take a stroll along the levee to photograph the sternwheelers. Another excellent vantage point for photography is along the Marietta–Williamstown Bridge, which carries State Route 60 across the Ohio River to Williamstown, West Virginia. This is also the best place to photograph the fireworks display that takes place aboard barges moored in the Ohio River on Saturday evening around 9:30 p.m. While you are in Marietta, you may wish to visit the Ohio River Museum north of downtown Marietta near the Muskingum River, and enjoy the spectacular view of the city from Lookout Point in Harmar Heights, described on pages 33–34 and 189–90 of A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio.

O’Shaughnessy Dam, Shawnee Hills Location: The O’Shaughnessy Dam is on Glick Road in Shawnee Hills at the south end of the O’Shaughnessy Reservoir, about 17 miles north of downtown Columbus, via U.S. Route 33, or 19 miles north, via state routes 315 and 161. The Columbus Zoo is next to the dam, on the east bank of the reservoir. Website: http://www.kb.osu.edu/dspace/handle/1811/34269 GPS Coordinates: 40.154113N 83.125243W

The O’Shaughnessy Dam in Shawnee Hills was built in the 1920s to increase the water supply for the rapidly growing city of Columbus. The O’Shaughnessy Reservoir, formed by the construction of the dam, is 8 miles long and can hold 5.3 billion gallons of water. The dam spillway is 879 feet long, with a crest 64 feet above the low-water mark in the Scioto River below the dam. The dam cost $2.2 million and was named in honor of Jerry O’Shaughnessy, who served as the Columbus Waterworks superintendent for many years. There are viewing areas with parking at both ends of the dam, and a picturesque set of man-made waterfalls near the eastern side of the dam. From the parking lot on the west side, a trail leads down through the woods to a viewing area directly below the dam’s spillway. The O’Shaughnessy Dam faces south, and can receive good light for photography at any time of day. From the viewing area at the western end of the dam spillways, o’shaughnessy dam

buildings, murals, and events

you’ll be facing east or northeast and late afternoon light will be optimal. Conversely, photos taken from Glick Park and Overlook at the east end of the dam will usually favor early morning light. A blue sky makes a nice contrast with the concrete masonry of the dam. The lower viewing area can be a great place to observe and photograph great blue herons and waterfowl in the Scioto River below the dam.

Roscoe Village, Coshocton Location: Roscoe Village is 1 mile west of downtown Coshocton near the junction of State Route 16, U.S. Route 36, and State Route 83. From the Coshocton County Courthouse, go west on Chestnut Street, cross the Muskingum River, and turn right on Whitewoman Street. Website: http://www.roscoevillage.com/ GPS Coordinates: 40.277823N 81.87703W

Historic Roscoe Village is located near the confluence of the Walhonding and Tuscarawas rivers, which join to form the Muskingum River at Coshocton. Roscoe Village was an important stop on the 308-mile Ohio and Erie Canal, completed in 1832, providing a critical link between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Water, the liquid heart of the canal, was also partly responsible for its demise, in more ways than one. As merchants turned from shipping goods on slow-paced canal barges to faster, more economical travel by rail, many of the supplies needed to build an Ohio railroad network were shipped on the canal. Then, in March 1913, the Great Flood, which killed five hundred Ohioans and stands to this day as the greatest natural disaster in the history of Ohio, sounded the death knell for Ohio’s canal system, which was mostly abandoned. Twenty-three brick and frame buildings have been renovated to appear as they would have during the canal’s glory days in the mid-1800s, making Roscoe Village the only complete canal town restoration in the Buckeye State. Whitewoman Street, which runs roughly north to south, is the main thoroughfare; the village’s most picturesque buildings are along that street’s west and east sides, near its junction with Hill Street. The buildings on the west side of the street are best photographed in the morning, while those on the east side favor afternoon lighting. Many of the buildings also feature attractive gardens during spring and summer. Costumed interpreters and craftspeople demonstrate weaving, pottery, blacksmithing, and other 1840s trades, providing opportunities to test your skills in portrait photography. I prefer to use a high ISO setting of 800–1,600 and the ambient light within the buildings, but you may wish to add a little

269

roscoe village

buildings, murals, and events

fill flash, if necessary. The craftspeople are accustomed to being photographed, but please ask their permission as a courtesy. You can establish additional rapport by offering to email the craftspeople one or two of your best portraits for their own use. Just north of Roscoe Village, adjacent to State Route 83, stand a set of restored canal locks, and a 1-mile stretch of canal where you can take a ride on a horse-drawn canal boat, the Monticello III. If time permits, and you feel like another photo adventure, drive west on State Route 514 from Roscoe Village for about 8 miles and visit a picturesque old coal tipple in the Woodbury Wildlife Area, described on pages 279–80.

Schoenbrunn Village, Tuscarawas County Location: Schoenbrunn Village is located at 1984 E. High Street, New Philadelphia, OH 44663. From downtown New Philadelphia, go 2.3 miles southeast on Route 259. Tel: (330) 663-6610 or (740) 922-6776 Website: http://www.ohiosfirstvillage.com/ GPS Coordinates: 40.465556N 81.419756W

Historic Schoenbrunn Village was established in 1772 on the banks of the Tuscarawas River near today’s New Philadelphia by a Moravian missionary, David Zeisberger, and his Delaware Indian followers. Zeisberger, born in Moravia (part of the Czech Republic) in 1721, came to Savannah, Georgia, in 1738. He helped to set up Moravian communities in Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. Schoenbrunn Village was located roughly midway between Fort Pitt, held by American colonials, and Fort Detroit, held by the British. Both the Americans and British distrusted Zeisberger, and, in 1777, he was arrested by the British and imprisoned at Fort Detroit on charges of treason. He was eventually released, living to the ripe old age of eighty-seven in Goshen Township near New Philadelphia, but, during his imprisonment, American militia murdered one hundred Delaware Indians at Gnadenhutten. During its heyday, Schoenbrunn Village had sixty buildings, housing three hundred missionaries and Christian Delaware Indians. The reconstructed village includes eighteen log buildings, arranged in two rows running from west to east, plus several farm fields. The village is heavily wooded, and is best photographed on a cloudy or partly cloudy day. Trumpet in the Land, written by Paul Green, is a drama about the tragic events surrounding the founding of Schoenbrunn Village. It is performed each summer at Schoenbrunn Amphitheater near New Philadelphia.

271

272

log buildings, schoenbrunn village

Zoar Village, another picturesque historical settlement, is about 12 miles north of Schoenbrunn. The eastern edge of the world’s largest Amish community, near Sugarcreek, is a 20-minute drive west along State Route 39. Both sites are described in A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio. Also nearby, in Dover, is the Warther Museum, which displays many of the intricate carvings of Ernest (Mooney) Warther, one of the world’s master carvers.

Shawnee, Perry County Location: Shawnee is just north of State Route 93 in Perry County, 36 miles south of Zanesville and 16 miles north of Nelsonville. Website: http://www.forgottenoh.com/Shawnee/shawnee.html GPS Coordinates: 39.606217N 82.21148W

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, coal was mined extensively in southeastern Ohio, notably in the forested hills of Perry, Athens, and Hocking counties. The names of some of these small mining communities —Carbondale, Mineral, and Oreville—reflected the importance of coal in the local economy. Collectively, the villages became known as the “little cities of black diamonds.” Most of these places have long since disappeared, but Shawnee, in southern Perry County, offers a unique architectural glimpse of these gritty Ohio mining towns of yesteryear. a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

main street, shawnee

Shawnee’s buildings rise from a steep hillside on the north side of State Route 93. As you approach the town, the first thing you will notice is a surreal mural covering two walls of the Shawnee Restaurant. This mural, painted by local schoolchildren, under the guidance of muralists Geoff Schenkel and Kim Bosser, is part of a Rural Action program to create an Appalachian corridor of murals in rural southern Ohio. Take away the power lines along Main Street in Shawnee and you might think you were in Dodge City or another town in the old American West. Many of the distinctive, two-story frame buildings, built by prosperous merchants in the 1870s and 1880s, are abandoned and boarded up. Shawnee’s population, around six hundred people, is only 15 percent of the four thousand who lived here in 1907 during Shawnee’s boom period, and today the town is hanging on by an economic thread.

273

274

mural, shawnee restaurant

In 1884, angry miners at New Straitsville, about 2 miles south of Shawnee on State Route 93, pushed burning coal cars into a mine operated by the New Straitsville Mining Company, causing a fire that shut down the mine and continues to burn today, more than 130 years after it began. There is a coalmining mural on the wall of the former Ward Confectionary building, now a local history museum, located on Main Street. Places like Shawnee and New Straitsville aren’t mentioned in glossy Ohio tourist brochures, but, if you have an interest in learning about Ohio’s industrial history and photographing some of the unique remaining architecture in the “little cities of black diamonds,” they are fascinating places to visit.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Location: 2445 Monroe Street, Toledo, OH 43620. Tel: (419) 255-8000 Website: http://www.toledomuseum.org/ GPS Coordinates: 41.658974N 83.558065W

Toledo is Ohio’s fourth largest city, but its modest size is belied by its superb Museum of Art, which includes more than thirty thousand works of art housed in six splendid buildings on a 36-acre campus. The main building, a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

toledo museum of art

opened in 1912, is Neoclassical, based on the Greek Ionic Style, constructed from white marble with sixteen tall marble columns along the front of the façade. A rear wing was added in 1926, and east and west wings tripled the size of the original museum in 1933. The east wing includes a 1,750-seat Peristyle concert hall, home to the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, in which the ceiling of the hall appears to be open to the sky. The gardens surrounding the museum buildings are beautifully landscaped and feature twenty-two sculptures, worth photographing in their own right and as interesting foregrounds for wide-angle vistas of the museum buildings. The Center for the Visual Arts, adjacent to the museum, was designed by Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry and opened in 1992. I admit to a preference for classical architecture and a dislike for deconstructivism and other modern architectural styles, which often seem to me to be drunk and disorderly, ugly, and an expensive waste of good functional space. Still, Gehry’s buildings are certainly eye catching, and an interesting challenge to photograph—try not to fall over while you are trying to figure out the best angle for photography.

275

276

Opposite the main museum building on the east side of Monroe Street is the 2006 Glass Pavilion, which serves as both an art museum and an art studio. The exterior walls and most of the interior walls of this low, elegant building, designed by architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, are floor-to-ceiling, curved glass panels that blur the barriers between inside and outside spaces. Stephen Litt wrote about the Glass Pavilion in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “The Toledo Museum of Art, its directors, and its trustees have done something magnificent. The world will pay attention.” According to its website, the Toledo Museum of Art has a liberal policy regarding photography, as long as the photographs you take there are for strictly personal, and not commercial, use. You are free to photograph anywhere on the museum grounds, and you can photograph the interiors and some of the exhibits. Tripods are permitted, and you may even post photographs taken at the museum on social networking websites. As always, however, please confirm that these policies are current when you visit the museum. Nearby, Toledo’s old west side has many handsome Victorian buildings, including the splendid Rosary Cathedral, and the Toledo Zoo is only a 10-minute drive south.

Volvo Graveyard; Ravenna, Portage County Location: The Volvo Graveyard is located at Ravenna Volvo LLC, about 3 miles southeast of Ravenna at 5220 Milford Road, Ravenna, OH 44266. Tel: (330) 297-1297 Website: http://www.volvoshopinc.com GPS Coordinates: 41.131781N 81.218019W

Here is a site that is deadly different. It’s a graveyard. But it’s not a human graveyard, with the dead neatly interred in caskets buried underground. Most of the bare bones in this curious collection of corpses belong to the moldering members of the Volvo family. Their rusting remains—abandoned alternators, elderly engines, peeling paint, sagging suspensions, tattered tires, worn-out windshields, and a hoary hodgepodge of battered bodies—lie scattered in full view over several acres in this camera-ready car cemetery behind the workshops of Ravenna Volvo, LLC. When you visit, drive your vehicle down the driveway, past the large house to the barn-like buildings where viable Volvo vehicles are serviced and maintained, and you’ll see the rows of their rusting relatives, some stacked two deep. The further you drive, the muddier it gets, and, if you plan to visit the farflung farrago of forgotten Fords, deceased Dodges, and venerable Volvos, a pair of rubber boots or other waterproof footwear is strongly recommended. Please a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

buildings, murals, and events

volvo graveyard

be sure to call the photographer-friendly owners before you visit, and take note that they prefer not to receive visitors or phone calls over the weekend. As for the photography, use your camera to capture vistas of vintage Volvos and close-ups of clapped-out clutches, faded fenders, hoary hubcaps, and trashed transmissions. Watch your footing as you make your way around this arena of antiquated automobiles. And be sure to visit my favorite vintage vehicle here, a delightfully dilapidated 1950s Dodge truck that rests near the edge of the woodland east of the graveyard field. In summer, wildflowers festoon the fallen, and an army of small critters finds shelter in the rusting relics. The Volvo Graveyard is a popular destination for camera clubs in northeast Ohio.

West Side Market, Cleveland Location: West Side Market is located at 1979 West Twenty-fifth Street, Cleveland, OH 44113. The market is open on Monday and Wednesday, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. There is a large parking lot adjacent to the market. Website: http://www.westsidemarket.org GPS Coordinates: 41.485209N 81.702944W

West Side Market has been a cherished Cleveland institution for more than one hundred years. The distinctive brick and stone building, designed

277

west side market from balcony

by architects Benjamin Hubbel and W. Dominick Benes and dedicated in 1912, celebrated its bicentennial in 2012. More than a million people visit the market annually to shop at the 180 food stands that offer fresh and cured meats, seafood, poultry, baked goods, and dairy products in the main building, and fruits and produce in the arcades that flank the market to the north and east. Many of the more than one hundred vendors have operated their stands for decades. If possible, try to be at West Side Market around sunrise on a sunny day, when the big rectangular building and 137foot tower are bathed in a warm golden glow. Then walk over to the south side of the building and enjoy a delicious breakfast at the West Side Market Café. Be sure to visit the west end of the building and climb the stairs to the balcony, which offers a bird’s-eye view of the 44-foot vaulted ceiling and elliptical arches, faced with tan Guastavino tiles laid in a herringbone pattern. My favorite camera for photography at the market is my iPhone. The iPhone doesn’t draw attention to itself like a

red snappers on ice, west side market

buildings, murals, and events

larger camera, and its tiny lens, roughly equivalent to a 28mm wide-angle on a 35mm DSLR camera, is ideal for shooting views of the food stands and groups of shoppers, as well as close-ups of the intricate arrangements of produce, meat, seafood, pastries, and other food products. Turn off the flash on your smartphone, and keep the phone as steady as possible when you take photographs. The market can get very busy, so try to be there early to avoid being jostled by the crowds. I prefer to wander around, shooting scenes as they present themselves. Other photographers may choose to be more patient, standing at a compositionally attractive location and waiting for one or more people to enter the scene to complete the photograph.

Woodbury Coal Tipple, Coshocton County Location: The Woodbury coal tipple is in the Woodbury Wildlife Area, near Township Highway 302, about 0.5-mile north of State Route 514, 6 miles west of the intersection of State Route 514 and State Route 36 near Roscoe Village in Coshocton. During the summer, encroaching foliage may make the tipple hard to see from the road, but in winter the structure is easily seen, a few hundred feet west of the dirt road on the edge of a hill. GPS Coordinates: 40.258896N 81.960868W

Woodbury Wildlife Area covers 19,246 acres and is Ohio’s largest public hunting and fishing area. Woodbury is also designated as a “Watchable Wildlife Area,” a home to most of Ohio’s game mammals and birds, where unusual species such as short-eared owls and rough-legged hawks hunt in winter and bobolinks and many kinds of songbirds nest during the warmer months. More than forty ponds, the remnants of extensive strip-mining for coal that was done here from 1963 to 1987, have been stocked with bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, and channel catfish. While exploring this huge area during early December 2012, I was surprised to find an abandoned but still intact coal tipple, one of the very few old coal-mining structures remaining in Ohio. Further research indicated that the tipple was probably part of the Broken Aro Mine that operated here from the mid-1800s to about 1910, supplying coal mostly to the Woodbury Soap Company. A tipple is a structure used at a mine to load the coal or ore onto railroad cars or trucks. In the early days of coal mining, small hoppers, also called tubs or tramcars, were used to transport the coal from the mine to the upper section of the tipple, where the hoppers were tipped, either by hand or by using a machine called a rotary dump, into a chute which led the coal through screening equipment to railroad cars waiting on tracks in the lower part of the

279

woodbury coal tipple

tipple. Early in the 1900s, conveyors were installed at many coal mines, rendering the tipples obsolete. Tipples and other rusting remnants of early industries are an acquired taste from a photographic viewpoint. I find them fascinating, and spent several hours during my visit composing views of the weathered wooden siding and rusted metal sheeting on the tipple. Trees and shrubs surround the tipple, so winter is the best time to visit, unless you want to photograph the structure partly screened by foliage. I strongly urge you not to go inside the tipple, because of the possibility of injury (or worse) from collapsing wood or metal structures.

Young’s Jersey Dairy; Yellow Springs, Greene County Location: Young’s Jersey Dairy is located at 6880 Springfield–Xenia Road (U.S. Route 68), Yellow Springs, OH 45387. Tel: (937) 325-0629. From Yellow Springs, drive north for 1 mile on U.S. Route 68. Young’s Jersey Dairy is on the east side of the road. Website: http://youngsdairy.com GPS Coordinates: 39.827588N 83.871735W

280

Visit the website of Young’s Jersey Dairy and you will be greeted by the mooing of a Jersey cow. Check out their complete “cowlander” of events, and read about Udders and Putters, Cowvin’s Kiddie Corral, and Moovers and Shakers. Review the menus at the Golden Jersey Inn and the Dairy Store, and titillate your taste buds with the sixty flavors of ice cream available, including Purple Cow and Cow Patty. This is a fun, familyfriendly farm, with lots to do for the kids and plenty of photo opportunities to boot. The centerpiece of Young’s Jersey Dairy is the 1869 barn, built by relatives of the Young family, who bought the farm in 1946. In 1958 the Youngs added a small roadside room with glass jugs, a refrigerator, and a cash container, and sold their Jersey milk directly to the public, who would drive up, take a gallon jug of milk from the fridge, and leave payment in the cash drawer. In 1968 the Dairy Store was opened, and in goats, young’s jersey dairy 1998 a full service restaurant, The Golden Jersey Inn, began operation. Ice cream and several varieties of cheese are made on the premises. This is a great place to bring kids and teach them about life on a dairy farm. A small herd of friendly goats can be fed and petted at the Dairy Barn, where you can watch the Jersey cows being milked twice a day. During the summer, wagon rides take the kids to Cowvin’s Corny Maze; later you can pick your own pumpkins in a 20-acre field. Udders and Putters, an eighteen-hole, farmthemed, miniature golf course, was opened in 1993 and expanded in 2000. Cowvin’s Kiddie Corral is designed for young children and features a cow theme bounce-house, tractors that can be jersey cow biker

281

282

pedaled around a wooden track, a corn pit (instead of sand pit) to play in, hay bales, a “cow” to milk and more. You’ll have fun photographing the barns, goats, Jersey cows, and family activities. Don’t miss the Jersey cow biker. (Hint: Look up.) Enjoy the delicious homemade ice cream and cheeses. The picturesque village of Yellow Springs is only a mile away, and Glen Helen Nature Preserve, John Bryan State Park, Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve, and the beautiful Clifton Mill are within a few minutes’ drive.

References Roadside America. http://www.RoadsideAmerica.com. This is an online guide to America’s offbeat tourist attractions, including about three hundred places in Ohio. Ware, Jane. Building Ohio: A Traveler’s Guide to Ohio’s Rural Architecture, Wilmington: Orange Frazer Press, 2002. ———. Building Ohio: A Traveler’s Guide to Ohio’s Urban Architecture, Wilmington: Orange Frazer Press, 2002.

a photographer’s guide to ohio, volume 2

Regional Maps Northwest Region MICHIGAN !

¦§ ¨ § ¦ ¨ 80

Pioneer

Fayette

!

FULTON

66

90

!

Montpelier

WILLIAMS Bryan

!

!

24 £ ¤

£ ¤

!

!

Hicksville

HENRY

Defiance

24 £ ¤

Deshler

IND IANA

!

Payne !

Paulding

15

Continental

PAULDING

!

224 £ ¤

£ ¤ 30

Delphos

Lima

!

29

127 £ ¤ !

St. Henry

119

St. Marys Fort Loramie !

66

Tiffin

10

20

Milan !

HURON

£ ¤

!

7 !

23 £ ¤

!

! 2! 4

Crestline 30 £ ¤

!

!

!8 ! ! ! !

Anna !

SHELBY Sidney

Natural Area or Preserve Zoo or Public Garden Holiday Lighting Display Building, Mural, or Event

§ Interstate Highway ¦ ¨ 71

¦ ¨ § 75

40 U.S. Highway £ ¤

State Route

30

Key to Locations on the Map 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Back to the Wild, Sandusky Bucyrus Murals Castalia Quarry MetroPark, Erie County Daughmer Savanna State Nature Preserve Fort Meigs, Perrysburg Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area, Wyandot County

250 New £ ¤

CRAWFORD

Upper Sandusky

8 9 10 11 12 13

Lawrence Woods State Nature Preserve Lakeside Chautauqua, Ottawa County Medusa Marsh, Erie County Toledo Zoo Toledo Zoo (Lights Before Christmas) Toledo Museum of Art

90

20 £ ¤

Willard

Miles



80

4

Bucyrus

!

¦ ¨ ¦§ ¨ §

!

Carey

!

HARDIN

Vermillion

ERIE

Norwalk

224

32 0

Bellevue

SENECA

WYANDOT

Ada

Marblehead

! 10! Sandusky

!

!

!

30 £ ¤

AUGLAIZE

!

9 !!

!

Fremont

SANDUSKY

Fostoria

15

£ ¤

!

Lake Erie

!

3 ! !1

Findlay

¦ 68 ¨ §

!

!

Celina

6 £ ¤

!

!

!

Wapakoneta

!

Port Clinton

!

HANCOCK

!

Kenton

33 ¤ MERCER £

OTTAWA

23 £ ¤

McComb

!

Rockford

Bradner

!

309

280

Woodville

75

ALLEN

¦ ¨ §

20 £ ¤

North Baltimore !

!

66

VAN WERT

!

11

Put-in-Bay 2

!

Ottawa

Columbus ! Grove Bluffton

!

Van Wert

12 ! ! !

WOOD

PUTNAM

!

75

475

Bowling Green !

Napoleon

127

¦LUCAS ¨ ¦13 ! § ¨ §

! Toledo ! Maumee 5

!

66

!

!6

! Wauseon Archbold

6 £ ¤

DEFIANCE

Sylvania

20 £ ¤

London !

Northeast Region

Conneaut

Ashtabula

!

Eastlake

¦ ¨ § 90

Lorain

¦ ¨ §

¦ Elyria ¨ ¦§ ¨ § !

90

80

! 22

13

!

Ashland

Shelby

Mansfield 42 £ ¤ 71

! 60

2

! 16

! 11 HOLMES

Holiday Lighting Display Building, Mural, or Event

¦ Interstate Highway ¨ §

62 £ ¤

224 £ ¤

Canfield

!

39

9!

!

Sugarcreek

COSHOCTON

172

£ ¤

Coshocton ! !

£ ¤

40 U.S. Highway

! 30

20

77

West Lafayette

JEFFERSON

646

HARRISON 22 £ ¤ 10

20

!

!

Cadiz 250 £ ¤

30

Key to Locations on the Map Akron Zoo American Sycamore, Ashland County Burton Wetlands State Nature Preserve Chair Factory Falls, Lake County Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Cucumbertree Magnolia, Stark County Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area General Electric (Nela Park), East Cleveland Guggisberg Cheese Factory, Millersburg Kent Bog State Nature Preserve Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area Lake Erie Bluffs, Lake County Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland Massillon Murals, Stark County Mentor Lagoons, Mentor Marsh, Headlands Dunes

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

!

Steubenville

Miles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Toronto

151

!

Newcomerstown

0

East Liverpool 39

CARROLL

Uhrichsville

!

State Route

!

30 £ ¤

164

!

43

26

!

7

Lisbon

!

Carrollton

76

!

Minerva

!

¦ £ ¨ § 36 ¤ !

11

!

§ ¦ ¨ ¦ ¨ § 680

COLUMBIANA

New Philadelphia

! 21 TUSCARAWAS

!

Salem

Canton

800

36

71

32

241

60

Natural Area or Preserve Zoo or Public Garden

!

Youngstown

Alliance

STARK

250 £ ¤

80

76

62 £ ¤ !

¦ ¨ §

¦ ¨ §

Malvern

Millersburg

! ! ! !

! 14

!

! 17

!7

Warren

!

Newton Falls

!

6 !

Orrville Massillon

!

5

7

!

MAHONING

619

77

!

80

!

!

¦ ¨ §

!

Wooster

3

Loudonville ! ! Bellville

! 28

Barberton

Creston

TRUMBULL

11

¦ ¨ §

23 !

!

!

87

Cortland

27 ! 24 10 ! ! ! 1 ! ! Akron 25

76

!

Wadsworth

!

!

Andover

Orwell

305

Ravenna

Kent

6 £ ¤

Mohican State Park/Forest, Ashland County Ohio State University—ATI Gardens Paine Falls, Lake County Public Square, Cleveland Roscoe Village, Coshocton Schoenbrunn Village, Tuscarawas County Schoepfle Garden, Birmingham Springfield Bog Metro Park, Summit County Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, Akron Triangle Lake Bog State Nature Preserve Umbrella Rock, Tuscarawas County Volvo Graveyard, Ravenna Wade and Gatton Nurseries, Loudonville West Side Market, Cleveland Woodbury Coal Tipple, near Coshocton

7 150

!

WEST VIRGINIA

¦ ¨ §

!

39

¦ ¨ §

SUMMIT

WAYNE

30 £ ¤

!

¦ ¨ § 77

18

MEDINA 83

322 £ ¤

8

!

! Lodi

Chardon

PORTAGE

¦ ¨ §

250 £ ¤

RICHLAND

¦ ¨ §

42 £ ¤

224 £ ¤

!

!

ASHTABULA

! Aurora

71

Medina

! 18

422 £ ¤

!

80

Strongsville

LORAIN

ASHLAND

271

Parma

!

Oberlin

58

¦ ¨ §

11

Jefferson

GEAUGA ! Burton ! Solon 3

CUYAHOGA

20 £ ¤

!

6 £ ¤

7

!

Painesville

LAKE ! 4

¦ ¨ §

PENNSYLVANIA

!

6 £ ¤

!8 ! 13

19 Cleveland ! ! 29 ! 5! ! 480

!

!

90

Ohi o Ri ver

15 !

Lake Erie

531

20 £ ¤

Geneva

12 !

!

Central Region 23 £ ¤

309

1

!

42 £ ¤

71

Mt. Vernon

UNION

33 £ ¤ West Liberty

Delaware 36 £ ¤

Marysville

!

6!

315

¦ ¨ § ¦ £ ¨ § ! 12 40 ¤ Columbus 70

!

London

Natural Area or Preserve Zoo or Public Garden

670

!

!

!

Grove City

¦ ¨ § 71

!

!

FRANKLIN

FAIRFIELD

£ ¤ 33

PICKAWAY Williamsport !

40 £ ¤

Pickerington

23 £ ¤

!

3

22 £ ¤ ! !

Lancaster

13 !

Circleville

207

Holiday Lighting Display Building, Mural, or Event

§ Interstate Highway ¦ ¨ 71

40 U.S. Highway £ ¤ 32

State Route

Key to Locations on the Map 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Big Island Wildlife Area, Marion County Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve Circleville Pumpkin Show Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Columbus Zoo (Wildlights) Eastern Cottonwood, Delaware County Farm Science Review, London Honey Run Falls, Knox County O’Shaughnessy Dam, Shawnee Hills Ohio State University—Chadwick Arboretum Pearl King Prairie Savanna, Madison County Scioto Mile, Columbus Wahkeena Nature Preserve, Fairfield County

0

16

Pataskala Hebron

!

665

Mt. Sterling

Gahanna

!

56

MADISON

!

Newark

161

New Albany

270

7 !

Johnstown

!

Dublin

LICKING

62 £ ¤ !

¦ 10 ! ¨ §

8 !

Centerburg

Sunbury

!

42 £ ¤

!11

!

!

9 !! 4 !5

38

Danville

36 £ ¤ !

514

3

!

DELAWARE 4

!

! ! ! !

KNOX

¦ ¨ §

!

!

!

!

Richwood

LOGAN

Bellefontaine

MORROW Mt. Gilead

Marion

MARION

68 £ ¤

!

Russells Point

!

10

20 Miles

30

¦ ¨ § 70

2

!

Southeast Region Trinway

GUERNSEY

!

MUSKINGUM New Concord

5 !!

!

¦ ¨ § 70

!

23 £ ¤

!

Frankfort 28

50 £ ¤

1! HOCKING

!3

!

772

PIKE

Kingston

Chillicothe

VINTON

ROSS !

327

Waverly

32

7!

Jackson

Portsmouth 125

Oak Hill

SCIOTO

325

35 £ ¤

233

93

!

Gallipolis

GALLIA

r Beverly

Ri ve

!

26

8 !! Marietta 7

!

50 £ ¤ 7

!

Pomeroy

!

! ! ! !

Natural Area or Preserve Zoo or Public Garden Holiday Lighting Display Building, Mural, or Event

§ Interstate Highway ¦ ¨ 71

!

WEST VIRGINIA

40 U.S. Highway £ ¤ 32

0

Ironton

Oh

io R

State Route 10

20

!

ive

r

South Point

7

!

Key to Locations on the Map 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

800

LAWRENCE

52 £ ¤

KENTUCKY

!

124

Middleport

Woodsfield

Belpre

33 £ ¤

2!

!

!

MONROE

WASHINGTON

!

MEIGS

!

78

NOBLE

!

550

ATHENS

50 £ ¤

Caldwell

McConnelsville

Nelsonville

Athens

83

MORGAN

32

JACKSON

23 £ ¤

73

93

!

Wellston

!

BELMONT

!

78

56

McArthur

11 !

Big Pine Creek Pillar, Hocking County Buckeye Furnace, Wellston Copperas Mountain, Ross County Great White Oak, Logan Old Cemetery Guernsey County Courthouse, Cambridge Haydenville, Hocking County Lake Katherine State Nature Preserve Ohio River Sternwheel Festival, Marietta Rockbridge State Nature Preserve Shawnee, Perry County The Wilds, Muskingum County

Miles

70

Shadyside

hi o

35 £ ¤

!

! ! 4 6!

37

13

Logan

180

Barnesville

77

60

!

9

!

O

!

!

¦ ¨ § Belmont !

!

¦ ¨ §

Zanesville

Philo

22 £ ¤ New Lexington

PERRY 10 !

Cambridge

7

St. Clairsville

40 £ ¤

!

93

Somerset

22 £ ¤

30

!

Southwest Region

127 £ ¤

!

!

Union City

Greenville

Piqua

36 £ ¤

!

¦ MIAMI ¨ §

!

¦ ¨ §

IND IANA

14

40 £ ¤

Eaton

! 17 Huber 16 ! Heights 11 !! ! 9 Dayton ! Yellow ! 3 Springs !5

!

Fairfield

!

£ ¤

73

Lebanon

!

!

Loveland

8 7 !!

!

Washington Court House

£ ¤

22 Wilmington

¦ ¨ § 275

Cincinnati

!

!

62 £ ¤

£ ¤ 50

CLERMONT 52 £ ¤

!

Bethel

Zoo or Public Garden Holiday Lighting Display

!

73

Winchester

!

¦ Interstate Highway ¨ § 71

40 U.S. Highway £ ¤

KENTUCKY

!

62 £ ¤

! Ripley

10

20

30

Miles

!

Peebles

6 ! 1 ! !

!

32

ADAMS

West Union

Aberdeen

0

Hillsboro

32

BROWN Georgetown

Building, Mural, or Event

!

HIGHLAND

68 £ ¤

Mt. Orab

125

!

Leesburg

133

Batavia

Greenfield !

28

Milford

!

FAYETTE

35 £ ¤

Blanchester

62 £ ¤

!

!

!

!

State Route

Jeffersonville

CLINTON

350

Morrow

WARREN

Natural Area or Preserve

32

72

¦ ¨ §

42

Blue Ash

!

71

!4

!

42 £ ¤

GREENE

Waynesville

!

70

Jamestown

!

¦ ¨ §

£ ¤

.

!

Mason

HAMILTON

¦ ¨ § 50 £ ¤

!

40 £ ¤

¦ ¨ §

S. Charleston

!

!

75

27

74

Xenia

! 15

4

127 £ ¤

Hamilton

675

Miamisburg Franklin

BUTLER

¦ ¨ §

!

Middletown

10 !

!

! 12

MONTGOMERY

!

4

Springfield

!

35 £ ¤

Camden

13 !! Oxford

! ! ! !

CLARK

Tipp City

!2

!

io R

!

! !

PREBLE

Oh

!

36 £ ¤

Mechanicsburg

Brookville !

!

!

Urbana

Englewood

732

Harrison

St. Paris

! Troy

70

177

CHAMPAIGN

!

75

Covington

49

!

235

!

DARKE

Lewisburg

68 £ ¤

29

Versailles

125

52 £ ¤

Ohio

Rome

!

River

Key to Locations on the Map

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Adams Lake State Park, Adams County Aullwood Garden MetroPark, near Dayton Beaver Creek Wetlands, near Dayton Caesar Creek Gorge State Nature Preserve Carillon Historical Park, Dayton Chaparral Prairie State Nature Preserve Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden Cincinnati Zoo (PNC Festival of Lights) Clifton Mill, Greene County

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Gallagher Fen State Nature Preserve Glen Helen Nature Preserve, Greene County Hartman Rock Garden, Springfield Miami University, Oxford Overlook Park Falls, Miami County Sugarcreek MetroPark, Bellbrook Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark, Dayton Young’s Jersey Dairy, Yellow Springs

Conneaut

MICHIGAN

LET

INDIANA

MV

Grand

MV

Chagrin

LET

Maumee

NORTHWEST

NR

OEC Upper Cuyahoga

HCB

Sandusky

NORTHEAST

OMS

LH

Little Beaver

LH

LH

Mohican

MEC

CENTRAL Olentangy

BDP

TMT

Kokosing

GAC

JT

HNR

HNR

DT

Big & Little Darby

AL

MC

HH

PP Little Miami

OR

OR JC

SOC

Stillwater

LVP

OEC

SOUTHEAST

SOUTHWEST

r

HNR

AC

Ri ve

Greenville

WR

OR

Oh io

LCC

WEST VIRGINIA WE SHT

Ohio R

iver

OR

Scenic Byway Scenic River

Ashtabula

KENTUCKY

0

25 Miles

50

PENNSYLVANIA

Lake Erie LET

State Scenic Rivers Ashtabula River Big & Little Darby creeks Chagrin River Conneaut Creek Grand River Little Beaver Creek Little Miami River Kokosing River Maumee River Mohican River Olentangy River Sandusky River Stillwater River & Greenville Creek Upper Cuyahoga River

State Scenic Byways AL AC BDP OEC DT GAC HCB HNR HH JC JT LET LCC LH LVP MV MEC MC NR OR OMS PP SOC SHT TMT WR WE

Accommodation Line Amish Country Big Darby Plains Ohio & Erie Canalway Drover’s Trail Gateway to Amish Country Heritage Corridors of Bath Historic National Road Hocking Hills Jefferson County Jefferson Township Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches Lincoln Highway Historic Byway Lower Valley Pike Maumee Valley Miami and Erie Canal Morgan County North Ridge Ohio River Old Mill Stream Presidential Pathways Scenic Olentangy Heritage Corridor Scioto Heritage Trail Tappan-Moravian Trail Wally Road Welsh

Index Page numbers in boldface type refer to illustrations. A Century of Heroes mural. See Massillon murals Accommodation Line Scenic Byway, 137–38 Acton Lake, Hueston Woods State Park, 175, 176 Adams, Ansel, 16 Adams County, 30–33, 50–51 Adams Lake State Park, 30–33, 32; prairie dock, 31 Adobe RGB color space, 8 Advanced Photo system (APS) cameras, 4, 8, 26 AEP Recreation Lands, Muskingum County, 166 African Elephant Crossing. See Cleveland Metroparks Zoo African Plains. See Toledo Zoo. Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI) Gardens, Wooster, ix, 18, 20, 203–4 Airplane Rock, Hocking Hills, 40 Airprint, 4 Akron, city of, 87, 131, 169, 170, 185, 186. See also Akron Zoo; Metroparks, Serving Summit County; Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens Akron Zoo, 185, 188–90; jellyfish, 189; snow leopards, 190 Akron Children’s Zoo, 188 Grizzly Ridge, 189–90 Komodo Kingdom, 189 Lerner Family Zoo Gardens, 190 Nature’s Theater, 189 Tiger Valley, 189 All American Roads. See National Scenic Byways Program Allegheny mound ant, 33 Alum Creek State Park, Delaware County, 25, 178 alvar, 123 American emerald, 42 American Indian, 40, 43, 61, 104, 109, 110, 114, 120, 121–22, 126, 128, 130, 138, 163–64, 175, 177, 253–54, 266, 271. See also Battle of Fallen Timbers; Blue Jacket; Hopewell Indians; Little Turtle; Miami Indians; Mingo Indians; Native American; Ottawa Indians; Shawnee Indians;

Tecumseh; Treaty of Greenville; Wyandot Indians American lotus, 31, 180 American Sycamore, Ashland County, 25, 33–35, 34, 56 Amish Country Byway, 134, 135, 138, 138–40, 139, 144 Amish-Mennonite farmers, 70, 138, 138–40, 254–55, 272 Android phones, 2 Antioch College, Yellow Springs, 59, 61 aperture, 5, 8, 10, 11, 212, 219. See also f/stop aperture-preferred program mode, 8, 13, 27, 71, 219 Apple Aperture, 219 Apple iOS 6/7, 2, 3 Aquarella, 4 Arca-swiss plate, 6 Arctic Encounter. See Toledo Zoo Ash Cave, Hocking Hills State Park, 150–51, 153; waterfall, 152 Ashtabula County covered bridges, 104 Ashtabula Harbor Lift Bridge, 103, 104 Ashtabula River, 103–105, 105. See also Indian Trails Park Asia Quest. See Columbus Zoo Aull, John and Marie, 191, 193 Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm, Dayton, 191, 193 Aullwood Garden MetroPark, Dayton, 131, 191, 193, 214; American sycamore, 192; blue-eyed Mary and red trillium, 191 Australia and the Islands. See Columbus Zoo Australian Adventure. See Cleveland Metroparks Zoo autofocus vs. manual focus, 9, 220 backlighting, 15 Back to the Wild, Sandusky, 185, 193–95; white trillium, 194 Bactrian camel, 167, 200 Balanced Rock. See Big Pine Pillar Ballville Dam, near Fremont, 128 Balyeat’s Coffee House. See Van Wert Barkcamp State Park, Belmont County, 143, 144

deck the hall, stan hywet hall & gardens

291

292

index

Bath Nature Preserve, Heritage Corridors of Bath, 146–47 Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park, Franklin County, 108 Battle of Fallen Timbers, 122, 123, 130, 158, 162 Baywood Street, Lincoln Highway, 159, 160 Bear’s Mill, Darke County, 130 Beaver Creek State Park, Columbiana County, 116–18, 117 Beaver Creek Wetlands, Greene County, 35–36; Seibenthaler Fen, 35 Bedford shale, 48, 51 Bellaire, Belmont County, 142, 144 Belmont County Victorian Mansion Museum, Barnesville, 144 Berea sandstone, 48, 51, 109 Bieber Mill, Olentangy River, 177 Big & Little Darby creeks, 100, 105–108, 106, 107, 116, 140–41 Big Darby Headwaters Nature Preserve, Marysville, 107 Big Darby Plains Scenic Byway, 140–142. See also Pottersburg Bridge; Smith Cemetery State Nature Preserve Bigelow Cemetery State Nature Preserve, Union County, 85 Big Island Wildlife Area, Marion County, 36, 37, 37–38, 56, 71, 76 Big Lyons and Little Lyons Falls, Clear Fork Gorge, 81 Big Muskie, Morgan County, 166, 167, 208 Big Pine Pillar, Hocking State Forest, 24, 38, 39, 40, 152 big trees, 24, 25, 53, 56, 57, 97; scale, 53, 56, 57. See also American sycamore; cucumbertree magnolia; Great White Oak; eastern cottonwood Birch, Hugh Fraser, 59 Black Covered Bridge (Pugh’s Mill), near Oxford, 266 Black Fork, Mohican River, 123–24 Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve, Licking County, 40–41. See also Quarry Rim Trail Blackhand sandstone, 40, 86, 151 Blackhand Trail, Blackhand Gorge, 40–41, 41 Blacklock, Craig, 16 Blaine Hill Bridge, Belmont County, 149 Blanchard River, 172, 173, 174, 174 Bluegrass Region, 50 Blue Jacket, 122, 157–58 Blurb, 20, 97 Bob Evans Farm, Gallia County, 182, 182–83 Boyd, William, 142 Bridge of Dreams, Brinkhaven, 146, 146 Brown Family Environmental Center, Gambier, 115 Brukner Nature Center, 130 Brumbach Library. See Van Wert

Buckeye Furnace, Wellston, 243, 245; company store, 244, 245 Bucyrus murals, 239, 245–247, 264 Bucyrus, Great American Crossroad, 246 Liberty Remembers, 247 Buelingo cattle. See Dickinson Cattle Company buildings and murals, tips on photographing, 239–43 Bur Oak State Park, 166 Burton Wetlands Nature Preserve, Geauga County, 41–43, 131 butterflies, 24, 25–27, 30, 33, 36, 38, 43, 48, 51, 59, 68, 71, 75, 80, 85, 87, 89, 107, 113, 187, 204, 209, 213, 222, 237; Baltimore checkerspot, 28; Edwards’ hairstreak, 33, 51; juniper hairstreak, 28, 51 Buzzards Roost Nature Preserve, Ross County. See Earl H. Barnhart Buzzards Roost Nature Preserve cable release, 7, 10, 219 Caesar Creek Gorge State Nature Preserve, Warren County, 43–46, 45; mayapples and phlox, 44 Caesar Creek Lake, Warren County, 43, 45, 46, 137 Caesar Creek Pioneer Village, Warren County, 46, 137–38 Caesar Creek State Park, Warren County, 43, 45–46, 138 Calico Bush Trail, Lake Katherine State Nature Preserve, 74 Canal Lock Trail, Blackhand Gorge, 41 Canon: cameras, 4–5, 26, 221; lenses, 241; Powershot, 4, 102 Canon printers. See printers Canon Realis projectors. See digital photography: projectors Cantwell Cliffs, Hocking Hills State Park, 150–51 Carillon Historical Park, Dayton, 248–49; vintage DeSoto automobiles, 248 Castalia Quarry MetroPark, Erie County, 24, 46, 47, 46–48 Cedar Falls, Hocking Hills State Park, 150, 151, 153 cell phone photography. See mobile photography center-weighted metering. See exposure: metering modes Central Ohio Railroad, 40 Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Gardens, Columbus. See Ohio State University Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Gardens Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga County, 108–109, 109 Chagrin River, 108, 108–110

index Chagrin shale, 110, 113 Chair Factory Falls, Lake County, 48–49, 49 Chaparral Prairie State Nature Preserve, Adams County, 33, 50–51; ironweed, rattlesnake master, and prairie dock, 50 Chapman, John, 81 Charles Dambach State Nature Preserve, Geauga County, 42, 43 Charm, Holmes County, 139, 140, 254, 255 Chateau LaRoche, Loveland, 121 Chautauqua movement, 144, 260. See also Lakeside Chautauqua Chestnut Oak Trail, Blackhand Gorge, 41 Children’s Discovery Garden. See Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark Chili Standing Rocks, Tuscarawas County, 95 Chillicothe, Ross County, 52, 169 Christmas lighting, 213, 217–37 Church, Henry, 109 Cincinnati, city of, 23, 118, 120, 121, 137, 163, 165, 172, 179, 185, 186, 239, 240, 248, 262, 265 Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, 195–97, 222, 223–24, 226; hooded merganzers, 196; lion, 197 PNC Festival of Lights, 197, 217, 223, 223–24 Circleville Pumpkin Show, xv, 242–43, 249– 51, 250 ClearCam, 3 Clear Fork Gorge State Nature Preserve, Ashland County, 80–82, 81, 123 Clear Fork, Mohican River, 80–81, 123–24, 213 Cleveland Botanical Garden, 156, 170, 185, 186 Cleveland, city of, 23, 146, 151, 155, 156, 169– 70, 240. See also General Electric (NELA) Park; Public Square; Terminal Tower; West Side Market Cleveland Metroparks, 170 Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, 185, 197–200; elephants, 199; giraffes, vi African Elephant Crossing, 199 Australian Adventure, 198, 199 Northern Trek, 200 RainForest, 198–99 Waterfowl Lake, 200 Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 43, 78, 105, 110, 112, 113, 156 Clifton, Carr, 16 Clifton Gorge, 118, 119, 120 Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve, Greene County, 59, 118–20, 282 Clifton Mill, Greene County, 120, 224–26, 225, 282 close-up photography, xii, 2, 5, 6, 10–11, 26, 27, 77, 85, 89, 186, 187, 214, 216, 241, 243, 255, 277, 279; use of filters in, 186

coal mines, 100, 114, 166, 171, 208, 239, 260, 271, 272, 274, 279–80 Cobshell Trail, Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park, 108 color calibration, 7, 17, 20, 242 color management, 20 color prints, 20 Colorvision Spyder, 17 Columbus, city of, 23, 56, 75, 84, 95, 106, 125–26, 127, 140, 149, 150, 154, 176, 186, 239, 246, 248, 249, 251, 257, 268. See also Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks; Columbus Zoo and Aquarium; John Galbreath Bicentennial Park; Ohio State University; Ohio State University Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Gardens; Scioto Mile Columbus limestone. See limestone Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks, 106 Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, 185, 200– 203, 222, 226, 227; Bengal tiger, 202; giraffes, 201; pink flamingoes, 184. See also The Wilds Asia Quest, 202 Australia and the Islands, 202 Expedition Congo: African Forest, 202 Heart of Africa, 202 North America, 201 Polar Frontier, 201 Wildlights, 226, 227 composition, xi, 1, 6, 16–17, 73, 83, 91, 103, 188, 232, 236, 241, 247, 279 computer. See personal computer concretions, 51, 126, 177 Confluence Park, Columbus, 125, 127 Conkle’s Hollow State Nature Preserve, Hocking Hills, 150, 150, 151, 153 Conneaut Creek, 100, 110, 112. See also State Road Covered Bridge Conrad Formal Gardens. See Miami University contre-jour. See backlighting Copperas Mountain, Ross County, 51–52, 52 Corbin Conservatory. See Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens Corel Paintshop Pro, 18 covered bridges, 61, 80, 81, 104, 108, 112, 124, 125, 141, 141, 146, 165, 178, 215, 216, 245, 266. See also Bridge of Dreams; Everett Road Covered Bridge; Harpersfield Covered Bridge; Smolen-Gulf Bridge; State Road Covered Bridge Covey, Rod, 53 Cox Arboretum, Montgomery County, 249 “Cradle of Methodism.” See Phillip Moore Jr. Stone House Crane Hollow Nature Preserve, Hocking Hills, 40

293

294

Crawford County Parks, 56 Crown Point Ecology Center, Heritage Corridors of Bath, 147 cucumbertree magnolia, North Canton, 53, 54 Custer (George Armstrong) memorial, New Rumley, 180, 180–81 Cuyahoga River, 41, 131, 133, 147, 156. See also Upper Cuyahoga River Cuyahoga River Bridges, Cleveland, 156, 170 Cuyahoga Valley National Park, 146, 170. See also Hale Farm and Village Cuyahoga Wetlands, Geauga County, 41–42 Daffodil Hill. See Lake View Cemetery damselflies, 25–27, 36, 38, 42, 48, 59, 71, 80, 97, 98, 204, 207 Daniel Hertzler House, 161, 161, 162 Darby Plains, 85, 108, 140–42. See also Pottersburg Bridge; Smith Cemetery Daughmer Savanna State Nature Preserve, Crawford County, 55, 55–56, 84 Dayton, city of, 35, 59, 89, 120, 129, 214, 265. See also Aullwood Garden MetroPark; Carillon Historical Park; Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark Deck the Hall. See Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens Deeds Carillon, Dayton, 248–49 Deep Cut, Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve, 3 Deersville, Harrison County, 179, 180 DeLorme Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer, 136, 159, 178, 240, 255 Denny, Guy L., 30 depth-of-field, xi, 1, 2, 4, 5, 8–11, 13, 17, 26, 27, 219–20, 241 DeWitt Log Homestead, near Oxford, 266 dickcissel, 89 Dickinson Cattle Company, Belmont County, 142; Texas longhorn, Watusi, and Buelingo cattle, 142 Dick Moseley, 30 diffraction, 10, 219 digital photography: cameras, xi, 1, 2, 4–6, 11, 13, 16, 26, 101–103, 219–20, 221–22, 230, 243, 257, 279; noise, 4, 8, 18, 219, 221; projectors, 19; settings, 7–9; sharing, xi, 1, 2, 18–22; storing, 1, 3, 18, 21–22, ; workflow, 8, 17–18, 186, 241; zoom lenses, 3, 5, 6, 10–11, 17, 26, 58, 91, 102, 186, 187–88, 240, 243. See also exposure; filters; tripods Dioum, Baba, viii Division of Natural Areas and Preserves (DNAP), 30, 56, 97 dolomite limestone. See limestone Doty Homestead, Hueston Woods State Park, 266

index

dragonflies, 24, 25–27, 30, 36, 38, 42, 48, 59, 68, 71, 76, 80, 85, 87, 89, 93, 96, 97–98, 105, 107, 113, 187, 204, 207; calico pennant, 29; blue dasher, 29; frosted whiteface, 93; Hagen’s bluet, 93 Drobo storage units, 21–22 Drover’s Trail Scenic Byway, 142–44. See also Dickinson Cattle Company; Epworth Park; Mail Pouch barns dry bags, 101–102 DSLR cameras, 4, 219, 230, 279 Dykinga, Jack, 16 Dysart Woods, Belmont County, 144 Earl H. Barnhart Buzzards Roost Nature Preserve, 52 eastern cottonwood, Delaware County, 25, 33–34, 56, 57, 58, 278 East Rim Trail. See Rim Trail, Conkle’s Hollow State Nature Preserve Echo Dell Bridge, Beaver Creek State Park, 116, 117 Edison, Thomas Alva, 156 Eldon Russell Park, Upper Cuyahoga River, 131 electronic viewfinder, 5, 26 email attachments, xi, 4, 18, 271 Englewood Dam, 129 Englewood MetroPark, 130 Epson inkjet printers. See printers Epworth Park, Bethesda, 143, 144 Ernst, Tim, 16 Estel Wenrick Wetlands Preserve, Clark County, 161–62 Euphemia limestone. See limestone Evans, Bob. See Bob Evans Farm Everett Road Covered Bridge, Summit County, 146, 171 Expedition Congo: African Forest. See Columbus Zoo exposure, xi, 1, 8–9, 15, 16, 58, 103, 151, 218, 219, 221, 222, 230–31; compensation control, 13; control, xi, 11–13, 27; metering modes, 9, 11, 15; to the right, 13; tubes, 186. See also fill flash; histogram Facebook, xi-xii, 4, 19, 24, 217 Factory Rapids, Kokosing River, 114, 115 Fairport Harbor Breakwater Light, 80, 155 Farmer’s Produce Auction, Mount Hope, 140 Farm Science Review, London, 251–52, 252 Farnsworth Metropark, Lucas County, 122– 23, 162, 163 Fern Lake, Geauga County, 43 festivals, xii, 137–38, 172, 240, 242, 243, 245. See also Circleville Pumpkin Show; Ohio River Sternwheel Festival; PNC Festival of Lights

index 55 Diamond Court mural. See Massillon murals fill flash, 222, 271 filters, xi, 3, 4, 7, 15, 58, 103, 186–87, 240, 242 Five Rivers MetroParks, Dayton, 131, 214, 215 flash, 3, 4, 27, 221–22, 230, 269, 279 Flat Fork, Caesar Creek State Park, 46 Flickr, 19 Floyd, Charles “Pretty Boy,” 117 Fort Ancient, Warren County, 120 Fort Greenville, 129. See also Treaty of Greenville Fort Meigs, Perrysburg, 123, 162, 253, 253–54 Fort Recovery, Mercer County, 157–58 fossils, 43, 45, 47, 51 frontal lighting, 15, 95 f/stop, xiii, 5, 6, 8–9, 10–11, 13, 27, 71, 188, 219–20 Fuji cameras, 5, 101 Full-frame (FX) cameras, 4–5, 8, 58 Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area, Wayne County, 67–70, 69; tundra swans, 23 Gallagher Fen State Nature Preserve, 58–59; purple coneflowers, 59 Gallipolis, Gallia County, 172, 181, 182–83 gardens, xi, xii, xiii, 95, 156, 185, 261, 262, 269, 275; tips on photographing, xi, 1, 9, 185–87. See also Akron Zoo: Lerner Family Zoo Gardens; Aullwood Garden MetroPark; Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden; Cleveland Botanical Garden; Cox Arboretum; Hartman Rock Garden; Miami University: Conrad Formal Gardens and Dogwood Grove; Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute Gardens; Ohio State University Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Gardens; Schoepfle Garden; Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens; Toledo Zoo: Ziems Conservatory; Wade and Gatton Nurseries; Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark Garfield Cemetery, 169 Garfield Monument. See James A. Garfield Monument Garfield, President James A., 169, 262. See also James A. Garfield Historic Site Gas Station Museum, Clifton Mill, 225 Gaston’s Mill, Beaver Creek State Park, 117 Gateway to Amish Country Scenic Byway, 144, 146. See also Bridge of Dreams; Honey Run Falls General Electric, 232 General Electric (NELA) Park, East Cleveland, 227–29, 228 General Harrison canal boat, Piqua Historical Area, 164 gentian, greater fringed, 65, 73

George Rogers Clark Park, Clark County, 161 Gerlach, John and Barbara, 1, 22 Gitzo tripods. See tripods Glacier Trail, Burton Wetlands Preserve, 42 Glass Pavilion. See Toledo Museum of Art Glen Helen Nature Preserve, Greene County, 59, 61, 120, 282. See also Pompey’s Pillar Google, 19; Images, 136, 242; Maps, xiii; Picasa, 219 gorge trail, Conkle’s Hollow State Nature Preserve. See Rim Trail Gould, Stephen Jay, vii–viii Governor Bebb Settlement, Butler County, 176 GPS location, xiii Grand Illumination, Scioto Mile, 234 Grand Lake St. Marys, 165, 165 Grand Lake St. Marys State Park, 165 Grand River, 48, 99, 112–13, 114. See also Harpersfield Covered Bridge Grand River Terraces, Ashtabula County, 113 Grand River Wildlife Area, Trumbull County, 112 Grant (President Ulysses S.), birthplace, 172 Grass Lake, Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve, 65 Great Flood of 1913, 169, 180, 193, 269 Great White Oak, Old Logan Cemetery, Hocking County, 25, 61–62, 62 Greenville Creek, 100, 129–131. See also Greenville Falls Greenville Falls, Darke County, 129, 130 gristmills, xi, 61, 82, 100, 101, 117, 120, 122, 130, 138, 144, 224–25. See also Clifton Mill Grizzly Ridge. See Akron Zoo Grohe, Eric, 239, 245–46, 263–64. See also Bucyrus murals; Massillon murals Guernsey County Courthouse, Cambridge, 140, 229, 229–31 Guggisberg Cheese Factory, Millersburg, 254–55, 255 Hach-Otis State Nature Preserve, near Willoughby, 110 Hadlock Preserve, Ashtabula County, 105 Hale Farm and Village, Summit County, 146, 147 Hambleton Mill, Beaver Creek State Park, 117 Hamlin House, Blanchard, 174 Hancock County Courthouse, Findlay, 173 Hanging Rock Iron Region, 245, 257 Hanna, Jack, 200, 210 Hanna, Marcus, 262 Hanoverton, Columbiana County, 160 Harpersfield Covered Bridge, Grand River, 112, 113

295

296

index

Harrison, President Benjamin, 175 Harrison, President William Henry, 175, 253 Hartman, Harry George “Ben,” 256–57 Hartman Rock Garden, Springfield, 256, 256–57 Hayden, Peter, 257 Haydenville, Hocking County, 257, 259–60; round house, 259, 260; United Methodist Church, 258, 260 Hayes, Rutherford B., 115 HDR. See high dynamic range Headlands Beach State Park, Lake County, iv–v, 78, 80 Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve, Lake County, 78, 79, 80, 155 Heart of Africa. See Columbus Zoo Heini’s Cheese Chalet, Berlin, 140 Hendrysburg, Belmont County, 142 Herdendorf, Dr. Charles E., 168 Heritage Corridors of Bath, 146–47. See also Hale Farm and Village Hershberger Farm and Bakery, near Charm, 140, 254–55 Hertzler House, Lower Valley Pike Scenic Byway. See Daniel Hertzler House Hewlett Packard printers. See printers Highbanks Metro Park, 125, 126, 177 high dynamic range (HDR), 3, 16, 18, 151, 187 histogram, in-camera, 11–13, 12, 14, 219 Historic National Road, 135, 137, 142, 148–50, 158. See also Peacock Road; S-bridges Hocking Hills Scenic Byway, 150–53. See also Ash Cave; Cedar Falls; Conkle’s Hollow State Nature Preserve Hocking Hills State Park, 59, 150–51, 152–53. See also Ash Cave; Cedar Falls; Conkle’s Hollow State Nature Preserve Holden Arboretum, Lake County, 72, 109, 170, 185. See also Chagrin River holiday lighting displays, xii, 217–18; tips for photographing, xii, 218–23. See also Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens: PNC Festival of Lights; Columbus Zoo: Wildlights; General Electric (NELA) Park; Guernsey County Courthouse; John Galbreath Bicentennial Park; Public Square; Scioto Mile; Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens; Toledo Zoo: Lights before Christmas Honey Run Falls, Knox County, 63–64, 64, 115, 144, 145 Hopalong Cassidy. See William Boyd Hopewell Indians, 120 Horse Progress Days, Mount Hope, 140 Horseshoe Falls, Caesar Creek State Park, 46 Howard Collier State Nature Preserve, Seneca County, 128

Hueston Woods Bridge, Preble County, 266 Hueston Woods State Park, Preble County, 174, 176, 266. See also Acton Lake hyperfocal distance, 10 iCloud, 3 image editor, xi, 3–4, 7, 8, 13, 15, 18–19, 151, 219, 220–21, 241–42 image stabilization, 7, 9–10, 219–20, 237, 243 Independence Dam State Park, Defiance County, 122 Indian Mill, Sandusky River, 127, 128, 128 Indian Trails Park, Ashtabula, 104, 104 Inman Trail, Glen Helen Nature Preserve, 61 Interurban Bridge, Lucas County, 122–23, 162 iPad, 3–4 iPhone, 2–4, 24, 102, 278–79 iron furnaces, 245, 257 Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve, Lucas County, 64–66, 65, 162 Isaac Ludwig Mill, Grand Rapids, 122 ISO settings, 4, 7–8, 26, 71, 103, 204, 219, 221–22, 230, 237, 243, 269 iTunes, 3 James A. Garfield Historic Site, Mentor, 72, 156 James A. Garfield Monument, 262 Jefferson County Scenic Byway, 153–54. See also Mount Pleasant Jefferson Township Scenic Byway, 154–55 Jeffrey Point Birding Station, the Wilds, 167, 210 Jeptha Wade Chapel, Lake View Cemetery, 262 Jeromesville, Ashland County, 25, 33, 34, 56 John Bryan State Park, Greene County, 120, 282 John Galbreath Bicentennial Park, Scioto Mile, 235, 236 Johnny Appleseed. See John Chapman Johnston Farm & Indian Agency, Piqua, 163, 164; John Johnston House, 164 Jordan Creek, Lake County, 48, 49 JPEG files, 8, 19, 27, 219, 221 Kent Bog State Nature Preserve, Portage County, 43, 66–67; tamarack trees, 66 Kenyon College, Gambier, 115 Kettle Trail, Burton Wetlands Preserve, 43 Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area, Wayne County, 67–68, 68, 70 Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area, Wyandot County, 70–71; American tree sparrow, 70; tickseed sunflowers, 71 King’s Island, 121 Kirk Enterprises, 6

index Kirtland Temple, 72, 156 Kitty Todd State Nature Preserve, Lucas County, 66, 162 Knox County Parks, 65 Kokosing River, 114–16, 115, 123, 144 Komodo Kingdom. See Akron Zoo Kumler Chapel. See Miami University Lake Erie, 23, 72, 80, 99, 103, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 121, 31, 133, 162, 163, 168, 261, 269. See also Lake Erie Birding Trail; Lake Erie Bluffs; Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail; Headlands Beach State Park Lake Erie Birding Trail, 155 Lake Erie Bluffs, Lake County, x, 72, 72–73 Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail, 135, 155–56. See also Lake Erie Bluffs; Marblehead Lighthouse Lake Hope State Park, Vinton County, 153 Lake Katherine State Nature Preserve, Jackson County, 73–74, 74; sycamores, 74 Lake Kelso, Geauga County, 42, 42–43 Lake Metroparks, 48, 72, 73, 83 Lake Rockwell, Portage County, 131 Lakeside Chautauqua, near Marblehead, 260, 260–62, 261 Lakeside Daisy State Nature Preserve, Ottawa County, 261 Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, 262, 263 Lake Warren, 168 Land of the Cross-tipped Churches Scenic Byway, 156–58. See also St. Augustine Church; St. Charles Seminary and Chapel Lawrence Woods State Nature Preserve, Hardin County, 75–76. See also Rhino Tree LCD monitor, 17, 20 LED flash, 3 Lehman’s Hardware Store, Kidron, 140 Lerner Family Zoo Gardens. See Akron Zoo Licking River, 40 lighthouses, 80, 155–56, 261. See also Marblehead Lighthouse lighting, xi, 1, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15–16, 27, 33, 52, 63–64, 73, 84–85, 91, 95, 123, 130, 136, 151, 152, 157, 160, 186, 187, 214, 220, 222, 226, 229, 241, 242, 243, 246, 264, 265, 268–69 Lightroom, xi, 3, 4, 13, 18, 19, 20, 203, 218, 220, 221, 241, 242, 247 Lights before Christmas. See Toledo Zoo limestone, 46–48, 58, 61, 89, 95, 126, 128, 130, 175, 177, 216, 245; Columbus, 47; Dolomite, 47; Euphemia, 61; Ordovician, 43, 45; Silurian, 50 Lincoln Highway Historic Byway, 158–60, 165, 174, 245. See also Baywood Street; Lincoln Theater; Van Wert

Lincoln Theater, Massillon, i, 160 Little Beaver Creek, 35, 100, 116, 116–18. See also Beaver Creek State Park “little cities of black diamonds,” 166, 272, 274 Little Miami, Inc. (LMI), 120–21 Little Miami River, 43, 44, 61, 100, 118, 119, 120–121, 138, 224, 226 Little Miami Scenic Trail, 120, 138 Little Miami State Park, 138 Little Turtle, 157 Litzenberg Memorial Woods, Old Mill Stream Scenic Byway, 174 Lorain County Metro Parks, 206 Lorain County Metropolitan Park District, 207 Lorain Harbor lighthouse, 155 Loudonville, Ashland County, 80, 123, 124, 138, 181 Loveland castle. See Chateau LaRoche Lower Valley Pike Scenic Byway, 161–62. See also Daniel Hertzler House Lucille Nash Preserve, Geauga County, 43 Ludlow Falls, Miami County, 130 Lusk Lock, Columbiana County, 117 Lyons Falls Trail, Clear Fork Gorge, 80–81 Macbeth Colorchecker card, 7 macro: flash, 27; lens, 5, 11, 26, 186, 187, 204 Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Ottawa County, 77, 155 Mail Pouch barns, 143, 144, 160 Malabar Farm State Park, 82, 214 Marblehead Lighthouse, Ottawa County, 156, 156 Maria Stein Convent, 157 Marie Hickey Trail, Blackhand Gorge, 41 Marietta, Washington County, 172, 267–68 Martindale Falls, Englewood MetroPark, 130 Martin, Dean, 154 Massillon, 158, 160, 239. See also Lincoln Theater; Massillon murals Massillon murals, 239, 246, 263–65 A Century of Heroes, 263, 264, 264 55 Diamond Court, 263, 264 Ohio & Erie Canal, 263, 264 Matrix metering. See exposure: metering modes Maumee River, 100, 121–23, 155, 158, 162, 163, 211, 253. See also Farnsworth Metropark; Weir Rapids Maumee Valley Scenic Byway, 162. See also Farnsworth Metropark Medusa Marsh, Erie County, 76–77, 77 Meigs County Courthouse, Pomeroy, 172 Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve, Lake County, 78, 79, 80, 155 Mentor, Lake County, 72, 78, 156

297

298

index

Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve, Lake County, 78, 80 Meszaros, Gary, 25, 92, 97, 98, 133 metadata, 18, 214 metering modes. See exposure: metering modes Metroparks of the Toledo Area, 122, 162 Metroparks, Serving Summit County, 87, 147, 170 Miami and Erie Canal, 122, 123, 163, 164, 165, 249 Miami and Erie Canal Scenic Byway, 162–65. See also Grand Lake St. Marys; Johnston Farm & Indian Agency; St. Marys Miami Indians, 121. See also Little Turtle Miami University, Oxford, 175, 176, 265–66; dogwoods, 266 Beta Bell Tower, 265 Conrad Formal Gardens and Dogwood Grove, 265, 266 Kumler Chapel, 265 Miami Whitewater Forest, Hamilton County, 176 Milbert’s tortoise-shell, 204 Mill Hollow, Vermilion River Reservation, 207–208 Milton Garfield House, North Ridge Scenic Byway, 169, 169 Miner’s Memorial Park, Morgan County, 166, 208–209. See also Big Muskie Mingo Indians, 61 Minster, Miami & Erie Canal Scenic Byway, 157, 163, 164. See also St. Augustine Church mirrorless digital cameras, xi, 5–6 mirror lock-up, 10, 219 mobile photography, xi, 2–4, 20, 26, 102, 278–79 Mohican Memorial State Forest, Ashland County, 80, 82 Mohican River, 100, 115, 116, 123–25, 146, 181, 181, 213, 214 Mohican State Park, Ashland County, 80–81, 124, 214. See also Clear Fork Gorge State Nature Preserve Mohican Valley Trail, 125 Moku Hanga, 4 Molly Caren Agricultural Center, London, 251 Morgan County Scenic Byway, 166–68, 208. See also Big Muskie Morgan Swamp, Ashtabula County, 112–13 Mount Pleasant, Jefferson County, 153–54, 154 multisegment metering. See exposure: metering modes murals, xi, xii, 123, 144, 154, 172, 176, 178, 236, 239, 240, 242, 250, 273, 274, 274. See also

Bucyrus murals; Eric Grohe; Mail Pouch barns; Massillon murals; Steubenville murals Muskingum River, 166, 180, 267, 268, 269 Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, 180 National Center for Nature Photography, Lucas County, 66 National Geographic, xiv; Society, 260 National Heritage Corridor, 170 National Historic District, 153 National Register of Historic Places, xii, 157, 162, 180, 239, 259 National Road. See Historic National Road National Scenic Byways Program, xii, 135. See also Amish Country Byway; Historic National Road; Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail; Ohio and Erie Canalway America’s Byway; Ohio River Scenic Byway National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, 100. See also scenic rivers Native American, 51, 92, 95, 122, 126, 131, 157–58, 162, 168. See also American Indian; Battle of Fallen Timbers; Blue Jacket; Hopewell Indians; Little Turtle; Miami Indians; Mingo Indians; Ottawa Indians; Shawnee Indians; Tecumseh; Treaty of Greenville; Wyandot Indians natural areas and preserves, xi, xii, 1, 23–25, 30–31; tips on photographing, 25–27, 30, 101–103. See also Adams Lake State Park; Beaver Creek Wetlands; Big Island Wildlife Area; Big Pine Pillar; big trees; Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve; Burton Wetlands Nature Preserve; Caesar Creek Gorge State Nature Preserve; Castalia Quarry MetroPark; Chaparral Prairie State Nature Preserve; Copperas Mountain; Daughmer Savannah State Nature Preserve; Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area; Gallagher Fen State Nature Preserve; Glen Helen Nature Preserve; Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve; Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve; Kent Bog State Nature Preserve; Kilbuck Marsh Wildlife Area; Kildeer Plains Wildlife Area; Lake Erie Bluffs; Lake Katherine State Nature Preserve; Lawrence Woods State Nature Preserve; Medusa Marsh; Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve; Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve; Mohican Memorial State Forest; Mohican State Park; Pearl King Prairie Savanna; Rockbridge State Nature Preserve; Springfield Bog Metropark; Sugarcreek MetroPark; Triangle Lake

index Bog State Nature Preserve; Umbrella Rock; Wahkeena Nature Preserve Nature Conservancy, 35, 43, 73, 106, 107, 112 Nature’s Neighborhood. See Toledo Zoo Neat Image, 221 Neill, William, 16 Neilson’s Marsh. See Medusa Marsh NELA Park, East Cleveland. See General Electric NELA Park neutral-density filters, 103, 187 New Bremen, Mercer County, 163, 165 Newman, Paul, 115 Nextgen Gallery plug-in, 20 Nik Dfine, 18, 221 Nikkor lenses, 6, 91, 240 Nikon: cameras, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 26, 71, 101, 102, 204, 219, 221; lenses, 38, 101, 187, 241; SB29s ringflash, 27; SB29 ring light, 204 Nik Viveza, 18 Noise Ninja, 221 Nokia phone. See mobile photography North America. See Columbus Zoo North Chagrin Reservation, Cleveland Metroparks Northern Trek. See Cleveland Metroparks Zoo North Kingsville Sand Barrens, Ashtabula County, 105 North Ridge Scenic Byway, 135, 168–69. See also Milton Garfield House; Sheffield Village Hall Oakley, Annie, 129 Oak Openings Preserve, Metroparks of the Toledo Area, 65, 162, 216 Ohio and Erie Canal, 40, 117, 135, 169–70, 170, 178, 249, 269 Ohio & Erie Canal mural. See Massillon murals Ohio and Erie Canalway America’s Byway, 169–71; Mustill House, 171. See also Ohio and Erie Canal Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), 30, 68, 97, 98, 100, 124, 133, 155, 178 Ohio Division of Forestry, 25, 63 Ohio Division of Wildlife, 35, 36, 70, 112 Ohio Lepidopterists, 27, 97. See also butterflies Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association (ONAPA), 30, 97 Ohio Odonata Society, 27, 97. See also damselflies; dragonflies Ohio Renaissance Festival, 137 Ohio River, 23, 30, 31, 50, 99–100, 116, 117, 118, 120, 137, 142, 153, 154, 169, 171, 172, 172, 173, 178, 182, 239, 267, 268, 269. See also Ohio River Scenic Byway

Ohio River Museum, Marietta, 268 Ohio River Scenic Byway, 135, 171–172 Ohio River Sternwheel Festival, Marietta, 172, 267–68; sternwheel paddleboats, 267 Ohio State Fair, Columbus, 240, 242 Ohio state parks, 24, 163. See also Adams Lake State Park; Alum Creek State Park; Barkcamp State Park; Beaver Creek State Park; Bur Oak State Park; Caesar Creek State Park; Grand Lake St. Marys State Park; Headlands Beach State Park; Hocking Hills State Park; Hueston Woods State Park; Independence Dam State Park; John Bryan State Park; Lake Hope State Park; Little Miami State Park; Malabar Farm State Park; Mohican State Park; Punderson State Park; Shawnee State Park and Forest; Vesuvius State Park Ohio scenic byways, xii, xiii, 135–37. See also Accommodation Line Scenic Byway; Big Darby Plains Scenic Byway; Drover’s Trail Scenic Byway; Gateway to Amish Country Scenic Byway; Heritage Corridors of Bath; Hocking Hills Scenic Byway; Jefferson County Scenic Byway; Jefferson Township Scenic Byway; Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches; Lincoln Highway Historic Byway; Lower Valley Pike Scenic Byway; Maumee Valley Scenic Byway; Miami and Erie Canal Scenic Byway; Morgan County Scenic Byway; North Ridge Scenic Byway; Old Mill Stream Scenic Byway; Presidential Pathways Scenic Byway; Scenic Olentangy Heritage Corridor; Scenic Scioto Heritage Trail; Tappan-Moravian Trail Scenic Byway; Wally Road Scenic Byway; Welsh Scenic Byway Ohio State University, 18, 20, 126, 206, 251 Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI) Gardens, Wooster, 203, 203–204 Ohio State University Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Gardens, Columbus, 204– 206, 205 Old Man’s Cave, Hocking Hills State Park, 150, 152, 153 Old Mill Stream Scenic Byway, 172–74. See also Blanchard River Olentangy River, 100, 125, 125–27, 176, 177, 177 Olympus cameras, 5, 102 O’Neil Woods, Heritage Corridors of Bath, 147 optical viewfinder, 4, 5 Ordovician limestone. See limestone Osage orange trees, 25, 91, 91–92

299

300

O’Shaughnessy Dam, Shawnee Hills, 178, 268–69; reservoir, 200, 268; spillways, 268 Otsego Park, Maumee River, 122 Ottawa, 173 Ottawa Indians, 121 Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, 77, 155 Otway Covered Bridge, Scioto Brush Creek, 178 Overlook Park Falls, Miami County, 82, 83, 130 Overlook Trail, Highbanks Metro Park, 126, 177 Paine Falls, Lake County, 49, 83–84, 84 Paint Creek, Ross County, 51, 52, 100 Panasonic Lumix cameras, 26 panoramic photographs, 3, 93, 153 Pantone Color Munki, 17 Patterson, Freeman, 16 Patty Falls, Englewood MetroPark, 130 Peacock Road, Historic National Road, 149, 149 Pearl King Prairie Savanna, Madison County, 84–85, 85 personal computer (PC or Mac), xi, 3, 8, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 151, 214, 219, 241 perspective control, 240–41 Phillip Moore Jr. Stone House, Old Alexandria, 179 Photokit Sharpener, 18 Photomatix, 16, 18, 58, 151 Photoshop, xi, 3, 4, 7, 13, 16, 17–18, 151, 186, 219, 220–21, 241, 242, 247; Elements, 18; plug-ins, 16, 18, 58, 151, 221 Picasa. See Google: Picasa Piqua Historical Area, Miami County, 162–63 Pleasant Hill Dam, Ashland County, 80, 123 plug-ins. See image editor; Photoshop Plymouth Street, Hanoverton, 160 PNC Festival of Lights. See Cincinnati Zoo point-and-shoot cameras, xi, xiii, 2, 4, 7, 9, 10–11, 13, 26, 102, 220, 221, 222 Point Park, Ashtabula, 105 Point Pleasant, Clermont County, 172 Polar Frontier. See Columbus Zoo and Aquarium polarizing filter, 7, 15, 58, 103, 187, 240, 242 Pompey’s Pillar, Glen Helen Nature Preserve, 60, 61 Porter, Eliot, 16 Portsmouth, 30, 169, 178, 239 Portsmouth floodwall murals, 172, 178, 239 Post Oak Trail, Adams Lake State Park, 31 Pottersburg Bridge, Big Darby Plains Scenic Byway, 141, 141 Powerpoint, 19

index

Prairie Dock Trail, Adams Lake State Park, 31, 31, 33 Prairie Oaks Metro Park, 108 prairies, xii, 24, 25, 31, 33, 36, 37–38, 50–51, 55–56, 58, 59, 64–66, 70, 71, 84–85, 87, 89, 108, 115, 130, 140–41, 142, 161–62, 189, 193, 207 Pratt truss, 173 Presidential Pathways Scenic Byway, 174–76. See also Acton Lake printers, 4, 20 program mode, 8–9, 27, 219 ProShow Gold, 19 Providence Metropark, Lucas County, 122, 162 Public Square, Cleveland, 232, 234. See also Terminal Tower Punderson State Park, Geauga County, 43 Pureshot, 3 Put-in-Bay, South Bass Island, 47, 261 Quarry Rim Trail, Blackhand Gorge, 40–41, 41 Quarry Rim Trail, Castalia Quarry MetroPark, 47–48 Queer Creek, Hocking Hills, 152–53 RAID. See Redundant Array of Independent Discs RainForest. See Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Raven Rock State Nature Preserve, Scioto County, 24, 178 raw files, 4, 8, 16, 18, 26, 219, 220–21, 241 Really Right Stuff, 6 Redundant Array of Independent Discs, 21 reflex mirror, 5, 6 Reptile House. See Toledo Zoo Rezendes, Paul, 16 Rhino Tree, Lawrence Woods State Nature Preserve, 75, 76 Rhododendron Cove State Nature Preserve, Fairfield County, 96 rhododendrons, 96, 206, 208 Riley, Brian, 33–34 Rim Trail, Conkle’s Hollow State Nature Preserve, 151–52 ring flash, 27 Riverbend Recreation Area, Blanchard River, 174 Rockbridge State Nature Preserve, Hocking County, 86, 86–87 Rock House, Hocking Hills State Park, 150, 151 Roebling Suspension Bridge, Historic National Road, 149, 172 Roetzel, Jim, 25 Roscoe Village, Coshocton, 269, 270, 271 round house. See Haydenville

index Roy Rogers birthplace, Scioto County, 178, 179 Rutger, Mona and Bill, 193–95 Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Fremont, 128 Samsung Galaxy phone, 2, 3 Sandusky Bay, 76, 77, 127 Sandusky Plains, 55 Sandusky River, 100, 127, 127–28. See also Indian Mill Sandy and Beaver Canal, 117 Sandy Ridge Reservation, Lorain Metroparks, 207 Santa Claus Museum, Clifton Mill. See Clifton Mill S-bridges, Historic National Road, 148, 149, 158 scenic byways, xii, xiii. See also National Scenic Byways Program; Ohio scenic byways Scenic Olentangy Heritage Corridor, 176–78. See also Olentangy River scenic rivers, xiii, 100. See also Ashtabula River; Big & Little Darby creeks; Chagrin River; Conneaut Creek; Grand River; Greenville Creek; Little Beaver Creek; Little Miami River; Kokosing River; Maumee River; Mohican River; Olentangy River; Sandusky River; Stillwater River; Upper Cuyahoga River Scenic Scioto Heritage Trail, 172, 178–79. See also Shawnee State Forest Schoenbrunn Village, New Philadelphia, 169, 170, 180, 271–72; log buildings, 272 Schoepfle Garden, Birmingham, 206–208; redbud and dogwood, 207; rhododendrons, 208 Scioto madtom, 106 Scioto Mile, Columbus, 234–36, 235. See also John Galbreath Bicentennial Park Scioto River, 38, 125, 172, 200, 234, 236, 268, 269 Secor Metropark, Lucas County, 66, 162 Secrest Arboretum, Wooster, 204 Seiberling, Frank A., 236 self-published books, xi, xii, 18, 20, 159 sensitivity. See ISO settings Serpent Mound, Adams County, 33 Seymour Woods State Nature Preserve, Delaware County, 126 Sexton, John, 16 sharing photographs. See digital photography: sharing Sharon conglomerate, 74 sharpness, 1, 9–11, 219 Shawnee Indians, 43, 120, 122, 157–58, 253

Shawnee, Perry County, 260, 272–74, 273, 274 Shawnee State Park and Forest, 171, 172, 178, 179 Sheepskin Hollow State Nature Preserve, Columbiana County, 118 Sheffield Village Hall, North Ridge Scenic Byway, 168, 169 Shipman Pond, Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve, 78 Shreve Spring Migration Sensation, 70 shutter speed, xiii, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 103, 218, 219–20, 230, 243 Side Cut Metropark, Lucas County, 123, 162 sidelighting, 15, 241 Sigma: EM-140 DG Macro Flash, 27; lenses, 6, 26, 38, 71, 187, 204 silurian dolomite limestone. See limestone Silver Bridge, Gallipolis, 182 slideshow programs, 19. See also digital photography: sharing smartphones. See mobile photography Smith Cemetery State Nature Preserve, Union County, 85, 141 Smolen-Gulf Bridge, Ashtabula County, 104 Snapseed, 4 Snow Lake, Geauga County, 43 Sony: cameras, 4, 5, 26, 58, 230; Alpha, 58, 230; Cyber-shot, 4, 26; NEX, 5 South Chagrin Reservation, Cleveland Metroparks, 109 spot metering. See exposure: metering modes Springfield, 58, 59, 137, 161, 256–57, 280 Springfield Bog (Prairie) Metro Park, summer wildflowers, 88; Summit County, 87, 89 Spring Valley, 137 Spring Valley Wildlife Area, Warren County, 137 Sprucevale Lookout, Little Beaver Creek, 118 Squaw Rock, South Chagrin Reservation, 109 Squire’s Castle, North Chagrin Reservation, 110 sRGB color space, 8, 19 Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, Akron, 170, 185, 186, 236–37, 290 Corbin Conservatory, 237, 237 Deck the Hall, 236–37 State Road Covered Bridge, Conneaut Creek, 111, 112 St. Augustine Church, Minster, 157, 157 St. Charles Seminary and Chapel, 157, 158 sternwheelers, 267, 267–68 Steubenville murals, 154, 172, 239, 246 Stillwater Prairie Reserve, Miami County, 130

301

302

Stillwater River, 83, 100, 129–131, 191, 193, 214, 215 St. John the Baptist Church, Glandorf, 173 St. Marys Memorial Park, 164, 165 St. Marys, Miami & Erie Canal Scenic Byway, 163. See also Grand Lake St. Marys storing digital photos. See digital photography strip-mining, 166, 167, 209, 279 Sugarcreek MetroPark, Bellbrook, 25, 89, 91–92, 91. See also Three Sisters Summit Metroparks. See Metroparks, Serving Summit County Tappan Lake, Harrison County, 180 Tappan-Moravian Trail Scenic Byway, 135, 179–81. See also George Armstrong Custer Tecumseh, 120, 253 telephoto lens, 5, 11, 89, 91, 240 Tembo Trail. See Toledo Zoo Terminal Tower, Cleveland, 232, 233 Texas longhorn cattle. See Dickinson Cattle Company The Tubs, Little Beaver Creek, 118 The Wilds, Muskingum County, 166, 167– 68, 185, 201, 208–210; Sichuan takin, 209; zebra, 210 Thomas Edison Birthplace, Milan. See Edison, Thomas Alva Three Sisters, Sugarcreek MetroPark, 89, 90, 91 TIFF files, 18 Till, Tom, 16 tilt-shift lenses, 241, 242 Toledo, city of, 64, 76, 121, 122, 123, 155, 156, 162, 253, 277. See also Metroparks of the Toledo Area; Toledo Museum of Art; Toledo Zoo Toledo Museum of Art, xvi, 156, 162, 274–76, 275; Glass Pavilion, 276 Toledo Zoo, 156, 162, 185, 187, 211–13, 231–32, 276, 277 African Plains, 212 Arctic Encounter, 212 Lights before Christmas, 230, 231, 231–32 Nature’s Neighborhood, 211 Reptile House, 211, 212 Spanish Colonial Amphitheater, 211 Tembo Trail, 212 Ziems Conservatory, 212 Treaty of Greenville, 122, 130, 158 tree tunnel, Sugarcreek MetroPark, 25, 89, 91, 91–92 Triangle Lake Bog State Nature Preserve, Portage County, ii, 43, 67, 92, 92–93 trillium, 135, 191, 194, 195

index

tripods, xi, 6, 7, 9–10, 17, 26, 34, 58, 93, 102, 103, 178, 186, 219, 222, 230, 237, 243, 276; ball-and-socket heads, 6 trompe l’oeil, 246 Trumpet in the Land, 271. See also Schoenbrunn Village Tuscarawas River, 269, 271 Twitter, 4 Ulrich, Larry, 16 Ulysses S. Grant Birthplace, Point Pleasant, 172 Umbrella Rock, Tuscarawas County, 24, 93, 94, 95 Underground Railroad, 153, 172 United Methodist Church. See Haydenville Upper Cuyahoga River, 100, 131–33, 132 USB 3.0, 21, 22 Van Wert, Lincoln Highway, 158, 160; Balyeat’s Coffee House, 160, 161; Brumbach Library, 160, 160 Vermilion River, 206, 207–208 Vesuvius State Park, Lawrence County, 172 viewfinder diopter control, 7 Vogt General Store, Trail, 140 Volvo Graveyard, Ravenna, 276–77, 277 Wade and Gatton Nurseries, Bellville, 205, 213, 213–214 Wagner Quarry Company, 47 Wahkeena Nature Preserve, Fairfield County, 95–96, 96 Wake Robin Trail, Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve, 78 Walhonding River, 114, 123, 269 Walhonding Valley Railroad, 124, 181 Wally Road Scenic Byway, 124, 181, 181 Ware, Jane, 239 Warrick, Harley, 144, 160 Warther Museum, 272 waterfalls, xi, xii, xiii, 4, 46, 48–49, 49, 59, 61, 63–64, 64, 81, 82, 83–84, 84, 86–87, 100, 108. 109, 109, 110, 112, 115, 118, 122, 126, 130, 144, 145, 147, 150, 151, 151, 152, 152, 153, 161, 170, 214, 216, 268; tips on photographing, 7, 9, 63–64, 83, 84, 87, 101, 122, 152, 153, 269–70. See also Chair Factory Falls; Honey Run Falls; Overlook Park Falls; Paine Falls Waterfowl Lake. See Cleveland Metroparks Zoo waterproof cameras, 102 Watusi cattle. See Dickinson Cattle Company Wayne, General “Mad” Anthony, 122, 129, 130, 157–58, 162

index Wayne National Forest, 24, 171 Waynesville, 43, 89, 137, 137, 138 Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark, Dayton, 131, 214–216, 215, 216 Children’s Discovery Garden, 216 Marie Aull Nature Trail, 215 Skeeter’s Garden, 216 Weir Rapids, Maumee River, 121, 122 Welsh Scenic Byway, 135, 172, 181–83. See also Bob Evans Farm Weston, Edward, 16 West Side Market, Cleveland, 238, 277–79, 278; red snappers, 278 West Union, Adams County, 30, 33, 50 wetlands, xii, 24, 25, 26, 35–36, 37, 38, 41–43, 67–70, 72, 87, 110, 112, 126, 131, 147, 161– 62, 207 WhiBal gray card, 7, 242 white skies, avoiding, 17, 103, 186, 241 wide-angle lens, 2, 5, 10, 26, 34, 48, 53, 58, 66, 84, 91, 95, 102, 128, 186, 230, 240, 241, 243, 246, 249, 254, 275, 279 WiFi, 4 Wildlights. See Columbus Zoo Winds Café, Yellow Springs, 61 Winous Point Marsh Conservancy, 76 Wolfe, Art, 16 Woodbury Coal Tipple, near Coshocton, 271, 279–80, 280

Woodbury Wildlife Area, Coshocton County, 271, 279 Wordpress, 20 Works Progress Administration (WPA), 211 Wright, Orville and Wilbur, 248–49 Wyandot Indians, 126, 128, 180 xeric prairie, 31, 58 Yellow Creek, Heritage Corridors of Bath, 147 yellow spring, Glen Helen Nature Preserve, 61 Yellow Springs, 59, 61, 120, 280, 282 Yellow Springs Creek, 61 Ye Olde Mill, Utica, 144 Young’s Bogs, Springfield Bog Metropark, 87 Young’s Jersey Dairy, Yellow Springs, 61, 120, 280–82; goats, 281; Jersey cow biker, 281 Zaleski State Forest, Vinton County, 153 Ziems Conservatory. See Toledo Zoo Zoar Village, Tuscarawas County, 170, 272 Zone System, 9 zoos, xii, 172, 185–88, 193. See also Akron Zoo; Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden; Cleveland Metroparks Zoo; Columbus Zoo and Aquarium; Toledo Zoo

303