Merry Christmas

Many years ago, on a very, very cold Winter's day, I photographed two of the waterfalls at Hocking Hills State Park in Logan, Ohio, Old Man's Cave and Cedar Falls. As I perused my archives this morning, I happened across this image of Cedar Falls and wanted to share it again. To my amazement when I traveled back in time on my blog, I found I had only shared this image one time way back in 2009. The image is a low resolution scan from slide film, but I love the colors of the limestone rock behind the waterfall and the trees hanging over.

Perhaps one day I will get back to Hocking Hills and take new photographs with my digital camera. Until then, this beauty will have to suffice. I want to leave a note for everyone stopping by my blog this holiday season. May your holidays be filled with friends and family and much peace and joy. Have a Very Merry Christmas. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

A Frigid 'New Year'

The start of a New Year has brought with it frigid, sub zero temperatures. A 'bomb cyclone' as the meteorologists term it is making its way up the Eastern seaboard tonight with 60 mile an hour winds and snow and ice and sleet. This frigid weather immediately took me back to a visit I made almost a decade ago in January to Hocking Hills State Park in Logan, Ohio. I watched and waited for the perfect opportunity when frigid cold and snow would leave an ethereal landscape of white. Then I set out to photograph the frozen waterfalls in Hocking Hills.

My favorite image was of the Upper Falls of Old Man's Cave. A twisting path lead down to the waterfall with a thin layer of snow that had blanketed the region the night before. The path was slippery as the snow had covered the remains of an ice storm earlier that week. Temperatures were in the mid 20's so I drove to Walmart in Logan and bought thicker gloves to wear. My North Face jacket, wool scarf,  thick gloves, boots and jeans were just enough to achieve my goal against the cold. It was simply stunning to see huge frozen icicles hanging from what I later learned was Blackhand Sandstone cliffs. I fell straight down on my bum once making my way to the base of the falls. Here's an excerpt about Old Man's Cave.

Old Man's Cave derives its name from the hermit, Richard Rowe, who lived in the large recess cave of the gorge. His family moved to the Ohio River Valley around 1796 from the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee to establish a trading post. He and his two dogs traveled through Ohio along the Scioto River in search of game. On one side trip up Salt Creek, he found the Hocking Region. Rowe lived out his life in the area and is buried beneath the ledge of the main recess cave.

This next image is the very frozen over Middle Falls of Old Man's Cave with barely a sliver of water falling over. I struggled to get a decent vantage point to snap this image. I finally gave up and snapped this image and moved on. Sadly though, I couldn't reach the Lower Falls. The stairway down was a solid sheet of ice. You couldn't get down and you would never get back up. There is also an Upper and Lower Gorge between the different falls which I didn't photograph. The entire length of the trail to these falls and gorges is approximately a mile.

Thanks for coming along with me on this trip back in time. I would love to be there right now taking new images in various perspectives having learned so much more about photographing waterfalls since that day. Stay warm and bundle up if you go out of doors. Thoughts of warm mittens, hot cocoa and warm bowls of soup come to mind as I put up this post. ENJOY!

Winter, Hocking Hills

Beautiful Old Man's Cave, Upper Falls, in Hocking Hills, Ohio.

I captured this image and several others in mid January 2005 at Hocking Hills State Park near Logan, Ohio. It was bitterly cold and the temp was around 25 degrees. The wind was up a tad and made it seemed even colder. That winter reminds me a little of this winter only this winter might have that one beat by miles. This week we began with a six inch snowfall when I awoke Monday morning and looked out the window. Now this evening around 4 p.m. snow and freezing ran moved into our state. It's now turned to freezing rain and will continue until early tomorrow morning. I am daydreaming about the Caribbean or St. Martin or somewhere where there is a beach with blue skies and sunshine and the average temp is 75 degrees. ENJOY!

Foxgloves in the Garden

Allow me to share an image I've posted previously at the very least a year ago. I love this image and have a small print of it on my wall in my home office. This is the garden at the Inn at Cedar Falls which is situated right outside Cedar Falls in Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. I took this image about five years ago one July when I spent a few days there on a brief trip. I shot this image using Fuji Velvia slide film with my old Pentax camera. I miss the rich colors of Velvia film.

I'm sharing this image as I'm contemplating a brief trip back to Hocking Hills next week. If you are ever in south central Ohio, stop by Hocking Hills. All four of the waterfalls which are situated throughout the park are easily accessed by nice paths and not a bit strenuous. The Upper Falls at Old Man's Cave is one of the images in my sidebar to the right. And least I forget, thank you to the Weather Gods for slightly cooler weather. While it's still hot, 105 it's not. ENJOY!

Frozen Upper Falls, Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills!

Have you ever taken an image, wanted to post it for its mere context, but the image was sub par. And for this particular image, by that I mean, the whites had washed out a great deal of the detail in the image overall. That was this image. This is what I did to improve upon that. Originally a landscape image, I cropped it to a portrait. Then I dropped it into the free trial version of Lightroom 4 beta, available online at Adobe right now through March, and worked judiciously on the whites of the waterfall. And after getting those whites almost where I'd like for them to be, the real work began. Getting detail in the stone along the bridge and detail again in the rocks at the base of the waterfall. If I could bring out some of the detail and not throw off the white balance, perhaps the image could be salvaged. Having accomplished all of that with a fair amount of success . . .

This is one of the Upper Falls at Old Man's Cave in Hocking Hills State Park in south central Ohio. I took this image six years ago in January. The upper most waterfall was flowing quite freely with only a slight base of ice pack. That image is on my sidebar as a feature image to view at your leisure.

And just for the sake of clarity, there is an 'actual' Lower Falls at Old Man's Cave that I could not reach on this day as the steps were frozen solid. Unless I wanted to slide down the steps and use climbing equipment to climb back up, I wasn't going to get a view of that waterfall on this day.

You may think all of this work is a little much. Well you have to understand, I traveled 200 miles to this area of Ohio, in the dead of winter, with twenty two degrees being the high that day. There was at least two inches of snow on the ground and most of the trails in the park were completely frozen over especially around Old Man's Cave. I slipped. I slid. I fell. I got back up. Only to fall again. However, it was one of the most memorable experiences in my entire life.

Oh, and least I forget. Remember that 'old' Pentax film camera of mine I so sadly had to retire. This image is from that camera. So kuddos to my Pentax, my ever faithful companion, for oh so many years. I would recommend clicking on the image so that you can view it in a slightly smaller version on your screen. When you do that, you will get a better representation of what I was shooting for in the way of 'the work' I put into it. I like looking at the detail in the smaller view. Now I'm not saying I'm 100% happy with this image, but I did feel it was worthy of a post. Hope your weekend is fairing well. ENJOY!

Photographer's Note: I felt I should add this note after I put up the original post. Seeing these beautiful waterfalls in winter was absolutely more fun than I could describe or put into words. My friend and fellow blogger, Barb, hikes, skis and snowshoes in the dead of winter in the high altitude of the Rocky Mountains with trees, mountains and wildlife as her companion. I try to imagine how fantastic that must be. So to drive to such a beautiful part of our country during the dead of winter with temps so low and see such beauty in these frozen water features. Well, all I can say is, I recommend it.