Portland Arch 10-11-2004

The following pictures are from a day trip to the Portland Arch nature preserve. I decided to start searching for some interesting out of the way places to visit and discovered an abundance of nature preserves in Indiana. This one has quite a bit to see in its 1.7 miles worth of trails. The nice thing is that places like this are in general much less well known than the state parks so there are few people to bump into. We saw a car or two in the parking lot, but never saw people the entire time we were there.

Nearly every photographic tutorial I've read suggests taking pictures on overcast days because the lighting isn't so intense and thus there isn't as much contrast between light and shadow. While it was true that I had fewer problems with having blown out highlights or murky shadows, these pictures all seem to be a little gloomy to me. The lighting might be good, but there's no substitute for a dapple of sunshine here and there.

Click on the thumbnails to view large images.