Chasing Fall On The Great River Road

My wife and I recently enjoyed a weekend getaway to relax, get closer to nature and enjoy the beauty of the changing colors of Fall. This was originally scheduled to be during the forecasted peak for fall colors, but Mother Nature had different thoughts. The colors were emerging and shy of the peak, but beautiful nonetheless. While our primary purpose was to chill with nature in a beautiful setting, I did bring my camera in hopes to capture some great photos as a bonus. I think we achieved all our goals.

Our destination was a little stretch of the Great River Road between Grafton and the Pere Marquette State Park along Route 100 in Illinois. The drive was amazing, hopping on the Great River Road in Alton, Illinois, then driving north with the Mississippi River, and and then the Illinois River to our left, and beautiful bluffs, cliffs and forests of fall colors to our right.

Our first stop was to check in at the Pere Marquette Lodge, nestled in the Pere Marquette State Park.  We chose this lodge because of its beauty, location and history.  It's a stunning and peaceful lodge built during the Great Depression with limestone, massive timbers, vaulted ceilings and a huge fireplace.  It's located near the entrance of the park with views of the Great River Road, the Illinois River, and the parks bluffs and cliffs.

After checking in we first explored the scenic overlooks along the park's scenic drive, gracing us with amazing views of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers' valleys.

We then got serious and hiked some of the park's trails (Goat Cliff, Dogwood, Ridge), with several hundred feet of elevation gain to bluffs and overlooks with stunning vistas.

Following the hike, after a little rest and recovery, we headed to the quaint town of Grafton, located along the Great River Road at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.  We had a wonderful dinner at the Grafton Pub, located right on the riverfront.  I also used my Photographer's Ephemeris to find the right time a location to capture the sunset over the Mississippi River.  Again, Mother Nature delivered a few more clouds than I would have liked, muting the colors and reflections I had hope for.  It was a beautiful sunset nonetheless. 

The next day we topped off our trip with a late lunch and libations at the Grafton Winery and Brewhouse while listening to live music from one of our great local bands.  As I said, we did achieve all our goals; relaxation, hiking, great vistas and lodging, beautiful fall colors, yummy food and beverages, live music, and some great photographic memories!

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Behind The Shots - Cityscapes in Black & White

This is my inaugural blog post and I'm excited to add this media to my communication mix in sharing my journey.  With this post, I've chosen to dive a little deeper into a couple of photos that I shot earlier this year, recently posted to my galleries, and have been honored to have them printed and hung in the home of our very good friends.  I'll provide some background into why these photos were shot and chosen, and insights to the post-processing applied.

Our friends have a long-standing close affiliation with the St. Louis Zoo and wished to hang some art in their home to reflect that.  They specifically were interested in photographs of the sculptures near the south entrance to the zoo and commissioned me to take those photographs.  Well maybe I have embellished that a little, OK a lot!  Yes, that implies I was being paid handsomely for this shoot, but in reality they asked if I would take some pictures and I immediately responded with "hell yea!".  What a great idea, and I was honored to be asked.

So, on a cold winter day this past January, my wife, Barb, and I went to the zoo around sunset.  I was very pleased with the evening's light, and pleasantly surprised with the beauty that zoo sculptures presented.  Our friends chose the pictures above.  And you ask, why in black and white?  They also preferred that they be processed in black and white.  I did take and process the pictures in color, and then converted to black and white.  All the processing took place in Lightroom Classic.  A discussion of the options and methods for processing in B&W sounds like a great topic for a future blog post.  I did present both versions, and after seeing both, they deliberated a little more before deciding on black and white.

Here's a color version of one of the photos.  Which do you prefer?  I think they're both great. This is one photo that works well either way.  The B&W versions worked best for our friends given where they were to be hung, lighting, wall color and other wall art.  The B&W versions were the right choice for them.  The considerations around B&W versus color are many and worthy of another separate blog post in the future.

They ultimately chose to have them printed on metal with a semi-gloss finish.  These were printed at my favorite local printer in St. Louis, Diversified Labs.  Lastly, I'll cut this off with a shameless plug for the site that I started in the past year for selling my photos online, through Fine Art America and it's affiliate, Pixel.com.  The pictures have been uploaded and are available for purchase there.  Here's a link to my site.

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