Heading Back To The Hoosier State!

by | Feb 17, 2023 | Impressive Places, Updates & Opportunities | 0 comments

There’s nothin’ quite like making breakfast over an open fire! Biscuits on a stick. Sizzlin’ bacon! I will not soon forget that foggy morning in November, 2006. A whole group of us guys had come early to spend the whole day at Turkey Run State Park in western Indiana, exploring, eating, and playing Capture the Flag in the vast forests and damp gorges of that incredible place.

061108_James Staddon_2869 Canon EOS 20D, 24 mm, 1-8 sec at f - 3.5, ISO 200

I took a ton of photos that day. Hardly a single one of them turned out well, though. Smile I was the trigger-happy newbie photographer who hardly knew how to use his almost-brand-new DSLR camera.

061108_James Staddon_2982 Canon EOS 20D, 18 mm, 1-40 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 100

061108_James Staddon_3078 Canon EOS 20D, 24 mm, 1-100 sec at f - 6.3, ISO 400

Even if I had known how to take good pictures, I don’t know if I would have used the camera much that day, running all over the place as we did! It was such a great day. And I will always remember the unique beauty of the park. It wasn’t the kind of beauty I had expected to be in Indiana.

The following year, in July 2007, I was in Indiana again. A smaller group of friends and I went on another all-day excursion. And this time it was to McCormick’s Creek State Park.

Some shots I took while at this beautiful state park. I really wasn't doing much but having fun because this was during the leadership cooldown week after Life Focus 15. It was a lot of fun even though I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked.

Some shots I took while at this beautiful state park. I really wasn't doing much but having fun because this was during the leadership cooldown week after Life Focus 15. It was a lot of fun even though I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked.

Again, gorges and frolicking streams are not the pictures of Indiana I have painted in my head from driving between Chicago and West Virginia so many times along the flat terrain of I70 and I65. Over the years, I’ve always thought it would be neat to go back to western Indiana. To explore a bit with an artistic mindset.

Leadership

But since those first experiences, there hasn’t ever been a good reason to return.

That is, until I got an interesting email a couple weeks ago.

Amy joined the Lenspiration membership in the beginning of January. As is my custom, I replied by email to personally welcome her to the membership. I noticed her address was in western Indiana, so I casually mentioned that I had been in her area before and thought it was a pretty neat place.

Her reply was a fun surprise. “Thanks James. It’s 3 of my children who love actually taking the photographs. The two boys especially love it and their cameras are like an extra appendage. They shoot beautiful sunrises on our farm, local homeschool events, conferences, and more. They are looking forward to getting feedback on their photos. They really wanted to do your workshop at TTD in Pigeon Forge but it is too far for us. If you ever come near IN, we would love a workshop here.”

Wow. With plans already in place for driving to Texas in April, it would only be a 90 mile detour to do some workshops. A no brainer. So, we put our heads together and are now happy to announce two photography workshops back to back! A Photography Field Day will be held at McCormick’s Creek State Park on Thursday, April 13.

Field Day - McCormick Creek State Park, IN

And then there’s CAPTURE Indiana, which sold out yesterday! Can you guess where it will be held? Turkey Run State Park, of course! Can’t wait to be back in the area.

2023 CAPTURE Indiana

And now for a fun, behind-the-scenes fact that perhaps you observant people would have already noticed.111123_James Staddon_4807 W

Frolicking Through the Gorge
Old Man’s Cave, Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio
Download as a free desktop background in the next Latest from Lenspiration update (subscribe)

Take a look at the featured image used for the McCormick’s Creek Field Day. Now, observe the same photo and where that picture was taken, in the description of this month’s free desktop background.

Where was it taken? Not McCormick’s Creek.

Remember how I said I wasn’t a great photographer back in 2006/2007? Well, since I didn’t have any great photos from back then, I had to come up with something! So I found a photo taken in Ohio in 2011. It doesn’t look like a Ohio place either, does it! But Hocking Hills State Park with it’s gorges and scenic beauty is very similar to the parks found in western Indiana. I’m hoping it will work and no Hoosiers or Buckeyes will notice. Smile

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