The walking photographer

          The Goodyear Metro Park in Tallmadge, Ohio is a splendid example of what can be done and maintained in an urban area. The park includes ball fields, miles of walking trails, hills for sledding and a pond rife with waterfowl, fish and turtles. The trails allow the alert visitor to see squirrels, deer, rabbits and other wildlife roaming free.

          The park is a glorious place to be. On any given weekend day you are likely to see barbecuers, ball players, hikers, fishermen and women (the rule is that you have to release what you catch) and joggers

          Given all that, the park is a neat place to have a camera.

          As you walk the trails, the trees arch overhead to provide shade from the sun and cover from the rain. Those arching branches and spreading leafs darken the paths in some places and your loyal blogger set out recently to capture the tunnel effect those overhead coverings afford.

          The equipment, as usual, started with the Nikon D90 digital SLR camera. The decision about which lens to bring was complicated by the desire to travel light, as the photographic search would double as the day’s walk. Eventually the choice was the Nikor 70-300 mm. Although this lens is relatively slow (f4-5.6), the idea was to capture the effectiveness of the shade provided from above anyway and so, what the heck, that’s the lens that came along.

          Most of the images among the trees were shot at ISO 200, although a few were taken one setting lower. Most of the images were taken at f4 and at shutter speeds around 1/60 of a second.

          The first image here shows an area very early in the excursion. There is more light here than other places, but look at how the trees seem to reach for each other overhead to cover the pathways. The deeper you get into the park, the more the city seems to be closed out by the protective trees.

          Next is an image showing a gradual uphill slope peaking just ahead and then declining. But forget the path, look at the trees. The walker is closing in on the inner peace that is this park and the wild growth leads one onward.

          Alder Pond is home to the above-mentioned waterfowl. Here is a goose shaking

its head after picking under its wing for some reason, probably to clean itself of insects. The same goose prefers to stand on one for some reason.

          There was a heron in the pond (a heron herein?), as you can see. The lens was not big enough to really zero in on the floating bird, but sometimes you just do what you can. The reason for including the pond in the jaunt was the idea of capturing the reflection of the surrounding plant life on the still water’s surface.



The reflection of the plant life on the surface of Alder Pond.

The bird is floating in the center of this image.

          Free from the shady trees, most of the images at the pond were captured with shutter speeds at 1/125 of a second or better and at f11 or faster. The ISO remained at 200 while at the pond.

          The walking paths in the park include changes in elevation. While not overly challenging, these hills will get your legs in shape. The next challenge, photographically, will be to capture these jumps and drops in elevation.
   
          Thanks for reading.