Calm Photos

Wesley Chapel, Hocking County, Ohio.

Canon 1D Mark II, Canon 28-70mm f2.8 L lens, Bogen 3021 tripod and Kirk ballhead. Multiple exposures merged for editing as 32-bit image file.

“That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.”

- Henry David Thoreau

Earlier this week I traveled out to a place I consider to be the true home of my creative spirit - Hocking Hills, Ohio. I was asked to photograph a few portraits at the Inn at Cedar Falls as well as do some follow-up shooting of a massage therapist at work within the Inn’s new spa. There was also a couple of other reasons for my early week, two-day trip. One pertains to my upcoming move and the other was to see if all the hot, dry days of what seemed to be the never ending summer of 2007 had completely ruined any hope for a colorful autumn in Hocking Hills. It was the first summer that I know of whereby the streams and waterfalls in the gorges were nearly completely dry from about early May all the way through September. I was sure that the lack of rain would cause most of the Maple, Oak, Dogwood and Beech trees to simply go from green to brown.

I was pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong.

So wrong that in fact what I discovered was one of the best autumn displays of color I’ve seen put on within the hills and hollows of Hocking County. Not only that, but the steady rainfall of this past week brought the streams and waterfalls back to glorious life, once again.

. . . And one final yank on the political chain before the weekend . . . You may hate the man, you may completely disagree with him, but what Rush Limbaugh did this week was one of the most classy, beautiful moves I’ve ever seen. That’s the way it’s done folks. Outstanding.

Semper Fi, Rush !

Below is a photograph of the exterior of my photo studio, located on Far Hills Ave. in Centerville. It’s a nice location. Much better than the smaller office space I occupied in Kettering when I first got started. Notice the nice, new sign with outside light fixtures, which were not exactly inexpensive.

Ground floor entrances on both sides, plenty of parking, easy access, lots of space for studio shoots. When I moved here I was told by the property management company I lease through that there would be “lots of traffic” due to “high visibility.”

Yup, I get lots of traffic all right. A day does not go by (and by no means am I exaggerating) when I don’t receive at least one visit from a sales rep of some sort. The most common variety are those selling advertising, followed by phone systems and then insurance. One particular phone company has had at least a half dozen different reps come in and call on me over the last year. How a company can turn people over like that and still make money is beyond me, but hey, I guess that’s the nature of that industry. And let’s not forget those steady “request for donations.” About a year ago I placed “no soliciting” signs near both my doors. All that did was encourage them, so this morning (after getting bombarded yesterday) I placed my own “What part of no soliciting do you not understand ?” signs right at eye level next to each door.

I’m in my final year of a three year lease. After two years I can honestly conclude that for every 50 unsolicited sales calls I receive, I may get one prospective customer, and even then they’re almost always shopping for price versus quality. It’s great in Dayton.

Time for me to move on. I thought about making the big move last year, but I was talked into staying through a heavy application of guilt. Something happened last week with a major installation of fine art nature photography at a new, local hospital that finally pushed me over the edge and encouraged me again to pursue the much needed change.

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