Dayton, Ohio's Riverscape Fountain

Riverscape Fountain from Deed's Point (the confluence of the Miami and Mad Rivers in Dayton, Ohio

Alison

Blackwater River Falls

The Blackwater River Falls is located in West Virginia, not far from Seneca Mountain, and just about 30 minutes south of Oakland, MD.

Huffman Prairie Reserve

Huffman Prairie is a natural prairie and a preserve, but what makes it even more special is that it was the very first "airfield" where the Wilbur and Orvill Wright advanced their skills as the very first aviators and developed the first practical airplane. Later, it became the very first aviation school and was used until 1916.

A trail is cut through the tall grass prairie and I was able to take some time early in the morning to photograph some wild flowers, grasses, vegetation, and even some wildlife. Here are just a few photos from my first and second expeditions.

Casey Jones

I had to stop by the Casey Jones Museum in Jackson, Tennessee because what could be more "Americana" than Casey Jones?

Here's a photo of a replica of the engine he was driving when he rode the train to his death, sacrificing his own life to save the lives of all of his passengers. His locomotive was traveling at 75 miles per hour when he spotted the red light on the caboose of a freight train stopped on the tracks ahead. He had to ride the breaks all the way so he could get the train slowed down to a survivable speed for the passengers. The collision was unavoidable and his engine rammed the other train at 35 mph, overturning and taking the life of its driver. Although still a young man at the time, Casey was well known for bringing his trains in at the advertised time to each stop. That took a talent and a skill far better than the average engineer.

Casey was a family man, married with three children, and a convert to Roman Catholicism.

Casey's real name was Jonathan Luther Jones. He got the name "Casey" when he first moved to Jackson and upon announcing that he was from Cayce, Kentucky, he was given the name and it stuck.

Here's a review of the song, "Casey Jones" as performed by the Grateful Dead. Kevin Scanlon hit the nail on the head. All I have to say is it is ironic that a band that made Americana Jam a genre would do such a diservice to a true-to-life americana folk hero.

Classic Grateful Dead Song Reviewer: Kevin Scanlon 10/23/2007 A great comic song on the hazards of drug use that refreshed the memory of Casey Jones in the public consciousness, albeit in an unflattering light. He was not a drug user but this song has continued to give people that impression. The original ballad about him that made him famous was first published by Seibert and Newton in 1909 ("Casey Jones, The Brave Engineer") and it too was a comedy song that was sung on the vaudeville circuit and lives on in 40+ versions. Poor Casey has YET to have a hit song about him that honors his selfless sacrifice in a sober manner! It's been 107 years and counting, people.

Dancing in the Streets

Five Rivers Metroparks - Thursday night Concert at Riverscape - Dayton, Ohio

More photos can be viewed and prints can be ordered at www.photosamericana.photoreflect.com. Quality of these photos files are NOT suitable for printing - AND they are copyrighted.

Pontiac Car Show

Pontiacs, 1000's of them, are on display at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. You can catch more at http://gtoaapocinationals.com/.

Perhaps my personal favorite in American-made automobiles. The Pontiac division of GM is now closed.

You can order prints of these and others at http://photosamericana.photoreflect.com

Musical Intermission

Jerry Garcia Band
"Tangled up in Blue"

Columbia Market House

Here's a few photos from the Columbia Market House.

This is in western Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Markets are open on Thursdays and Fridays.

Lincoln Highway - Western Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

When traveling west from Lancaster on the Lincoln Highway, I first stopped at the Lincoln Highway Diner. The new stainless steel cladding like diners back in the 1950's - perhaps earlier. I had breakfast there. Not that you asked but I had three eggs, home fries, corned beef hash, toast, glass of orange juice, and ice water. I asked for some hot sauce but I decided not to wait but to go ahead and eat while the food was warm. The food was good - relative to, say, the Brunch Club in Dayton, where the same order would be excellent - as well as the service.

I appreciate their "Americana Spirit" and they certainly deserve patronage of their community and Lancaster County tourists.

While in the Diner, I saw a photo hung high on a wall of a bridge. I thought perhaps the significant of the bridge was that it may be local. It is, I found it just minutes after I left the diner. This is where the original Lincoln Highway, Old US Route 30 passed over the Susquehanna River in Columbia. It is a very nice bridge in excellent condition.

Although I have photos without a person in it, I decided that I would add the human element.

After spending quite some time there on the east end of the bridge I did the inevitable - I crossed over to the other side.

The community on the other side was unidentified. In fact, my GPS navigation system identified at as a township, even though it looked at least like a village to me. Not until I did some research did I find out that the town is Wrightsville, in York County, Pennsylvania. The Bridge is the Columbia - Wrightsville Bridge.

The GPS made it easy for me to find the right streets to take me down to the banks of the river and I found a place where there was a remnant of a canal (not shown) and a grandfather from Nashville, Pennsylvania having a good time fishing with his grandson.

The river looked a little high to me and they confirmed it. They also gave me a little history on the canal.
I appreciate the time and the conversation with them. Grandfathers fishing with their grandsons is time very well spent. Perhaps I will get to do the same when my grandchildren get older.

Photos from the Trace

Photos from the Mill

Go see Bear's Mill, Greenville, Ohio

What was I thinking?

I got this stuff out because I was going to make something, but I can't remember for the life of me what it was going to be. What was I thinking?

Actually, I returned to Bear's Mill because I did not care how some of the photos came out. I did not have my tripod yesterday - so I took it with me today. I played with the settings on my camera and then took some long exposures in subdued lighting.

This is one that I took today.

Door to Garden

Photography can be tricky. This image was taken with a 18mm wide angle lens. It was extremely distorted and had absolutely no perfectly straight lines and no parallel lines. If you want to know how to get it right, let me know. I'll tell you what I had to do.

Bear's Mill - Greenville, Ohio

Traveling east over Greenville, Ohio, I stopped by Bear's Mill, asked the proprietor, Terry Clark, if he minded if I took some photos on his property. He seemed to be delighted. It just so happens that he was just starting a tour with a group and so I tagged along. I was invited to join in for free but I made a donation anyway.

The tour was informative and entertaining. We made our way from the 1st floor all the way to the 4th floor. The group was disappointed there was not a 5th floor - that's how well it was going.
The above image was captured on the 2nd floor. When I first saw it, I thought it would make a great black and white. As I was looking at various Black and White samples, I began to miss the red wagon. I kept the color version.

The Mill is on the historic register and is still operating. It has a very nice store and a small but nice art gallery on the first floor. They serve coffee and sell home made candies and cookies. Their coffee is the Boston Stoker brand, which I purposely mention because of the delightful coffees they produce. So, I had some coffee. It was delicious.

This photo is of Terry, standing in the art gallery. His wife is an artist - she works a lot with clay and pottery. I have a feeling she has a lot to do with how well the Mill looks. I don't usually create images of others art work because it is an infringement on their rights. Because this photo is not of a particular piece, and because this is a "journal", I can display it without causing an offense.

However, photos I place here are copyrighted and if you would like to copy and send to a friend electronically - that is fine. Of course, I would sincerely appreciate it if you reference me and my blog. If you want prints - then contact me and I'll create prints from the original full size file, just for you, for a fair price. And if you would care to use any of my images for publications then - yahHOOO! I mean, let's talk.

Straight on shots like this are not usually preferred. Folks like to put a little angle to it and give the image some depth. I chose this one because what I could do with it. The original image was created with a wide angle lens standing in some grass on the other side of the street. In this image it appears that the building may be a few hundred feet away from me - but it was much less than what it appears.

The problem with a wide angle lens is that it can distort and bend straight lines. When photographing buildings, the distortion can make the building look much different than it is. Yet I, having special powers, was able to correct for the distortion and create a fairly good representation of the front of the Mill.

A good technique for making photos look a bit older than what they are is to create layers and work with the transparency of each layer. This was a simple image at first and was very easy to alter. After cropping and resizing, I created a second layer and totally desaturated the color - so it appeared as a black and white. I then gave it a sepia tone (brownish). Then I adjusted the transparency of that layer so I could see the full color version - as much as I wanted - which was beneath it. The result is an older look similar to "colorized" black and whites photos from yesteryear.

"Yesteryear". Now that's a word from... well, yesteryear.

Mississippi River Bridge

Vicksburg, Mississippi

The old Mississippi River Bridge is now closed to vehicular traffic but the railroad is still in use.

I saw the potential of this setting for a sunset shot on a previous visit to Vicksburg. When I found myself within 16 miles of Vicksburg in the early evening, I took the opportunity to go to Vicksburg, throw down some food at an Asian cuisine restaurant, and then then search out something to photograph until sunset arrived.

There were numerous vantage points to shoot the bridge but the lighting and the time of day could only produce a decent silouette image. As far as a photo record of the bridge, there are many. So my objective is not so much a view of the entire bridge but to capture the geometry of the towers against a sunset lit sky.

Old Glory floating in a hot summers southerly breeze is a very nice touch.

Coyote

As I drove past a small field, the coyote was focused on prey hidden in the clumps of mowed tall grass. It seem to have not noticed me and I barely picked its tan and straw colored figure which blended into the environment so well. I drove past a little ways, stopped and turned around. As I drove by the small field again, I did not see it. Disappointed, I found another place to turn around, and started slowly back up the highway, northeast - my original direction, with the passenger window down and the telephoto lens mounted and the camera ready. I really did not expect to see the coyote again - but there it was. About 100 yards off and it noticed I was not just a passing car - I was going much slower than previous traffic. About 50 yards out, she took off for the brush and I barely was able to get a few shots before she slipped out of sight.

The composition of the uncropped image tells how I was lucky to get her at all.

This photo was taken this past Thursday evening on the Natchez Trace Parkway, not far from Tupelo, Mississippi.

As a side note, I've seen alligators, turtles, beaver, deer, coyote, turkeys, pheasant, raccoon, lizards, skunk, groundhogs, stray dogs, and a cattle stampede while traveling the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Biking the 440

Bill - his name is Bill. Here he is at Mile Marker 228. After day four, he is now 8 miles past the midpoint of the 440 miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway. He started in Natchez and he will finish in Nashville. That's his plan.

Remnants of War

Vicksburg, Mississippi National Military Park - a memorial to the War Between the States. The Union was preserved and the United States continued on its destiny to become the single greatest nation this world has ever known. Strong enough to support their allies in defeating tyranical enemies, caring enough to help feed and clothe less fortunate nations, and selfless enough to do so without conquest.

Walking for Peace

His name is Dermot Butterly and he is walking for peace.

I was travling on the Natchez Trace Parkway just south of Nashville, Tennessee and I saw this "hiker" turned "hitchhiker". He didn't appear to be a serial killer so I stopped and gave him a lift. He was going back to camp.

He introduced himself as Dermot and announced what he was doing. "I'm walking from LA to DC for peace." He is more or less a disciple of Mohandas Gandhi and an advocate of non-violent protest. He is softselling his stand against the war in Iraq by asking others how they feel about it and pointing out how war is not the best solution to solving political problems. His organization appears to be not only about talking of peace, it is also helping to take care of an impoverished village in India through GandhiPeaceMarch.org

I took Dermot to his camp where it was set up near the gravesite of Meriwether Lewis, who was a great American explorer commissioned along with William Clark to map out the vast wilderness acquired via the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. This was the beginning of the great blessings of the American people.

Dermot is genuine and sincere - and committed. He also bribed me with a cup of tea to say that of him. Not actually, but in so many words. He said, "Would you like a cup of tea?" / "Earl Gray, hot." Was my reply. But I knew what he was getting at.

I asked him if I could share this information with others on my blog and he agree to pose. I also found this nifty thing on YouTube. Check it out...

Walhalla Home

When we were younger, we use to move or help others move often. Someone we knew was always moving - so it seemed. This past Sunday we helped some friends move from Groveport, Ohio into a suburb in close vicinity to Columbus. It's a suburb called Clintonville. Clintonville was named after George Clinton, Vice President of the United States in the early 19th century.

Their new home is on Walhalla - which is equivalent to a "heaven" in Norse mythology.

The house was designed and built some time ago, when building a home required artisan/craftsmen.

The setting is in a densely populated area of Columbus, but because the natural landscape was not destroyed during the development, the steep wooded hills remain in tact and are home to wildlife including a pair of red tail hawks. The area is so wooded that one could easily forget that crazy civilization is just a few hundred feet away.

Here's a photo of my friends on move-in day standing in front of their new, yet timeless home.

Tulip - Yellow Poplar

This tree shadows the grave site of Alvin C. York and his family in the afternoon and late evening.

Birding for Eagles

Memorial Day, watching for the Eagles at Englewood Reserve.

Fine prints up to 12" x 40"

North Carolina

View from the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville

Fine prints up to 13" x 70"

Natchez Trace

Natchez Trace Parkway & Old Natchez Trace

Limited access, two-lane parkway runs 440 miles from Nashville, Tennessee through Northwestern Alabama, to Tupelo, then to Jackson, then ending in Natchez in Southwestern, Mississippi. The Parkway is a truly scenic route with many points of interest and few travelers.

Below are some of the features along 'the Trace' which mark the history of the very hard work it took to create the greatest nation ever to exist.

"Cypress Knees" (Black & White also available in color)

"Tennessee River at Sunset"


"Buriel site of Meriwether Lewis" Meriwether Lewis



"Pogo" - This photo taken at the Cypress Swamp.

"French Camp"

"Southern Pines and the Old Trace" Panoramic image prints out to 12 x 34.

"Old Natchez Trace" Panoramic image prints out to 12 x 34.

"In a Tobacco Barn"

"Farm Lane" Black & White

"Cascade" Panoramic image prints out to 12 x 34.

"Tobacco Barn"

"Waterfall" Panoramic image of a waterfall. Prints out to 12 x 24.