Balloon Classic Invitational - North Canton 7/30-8/1

If you like photographing Hot Air Balloons then you might want to check out the Balloon Classic Invitational taking place in North Canton Ohio from 7/31 to 8/1.

NOTE: Access on the field is not allowed except for pilots and crews, but you should still be able to get some good photos.



For more information go here to the HotAirBalloon.com site

I got the following information off the HotAirBalloon.com site. Here's what you'll see.

After the sun sets Friday night, a special show begins with the spectacular balloon glow. The balloons tether on the ground and fill their balloon envelopes with propane so they glow brightly in the night, in a musically choreographed program. On Saturday night, the balloon flight is followed by the fabulous Jackson-Belden Fireworks show, also musically choreographed and sure to delight people of all ages.

Here's a schedule:

Friday, July 30th
Dawn Patrol – 5:00 am
Media Flight – 6:30 am
Evening Flight – 6:30 pm

Saturday, July 31st
Morning Flight – 7:00 am
Evening Flight – 6:30 pm

Sunday, August 1st
Morning Flight – 7:00 am

While I've never been to the Balloon Classic in Canton I have been to the Chagrin Falls Balloon Fest many times. It's very colorful and fun to watch!



Here are some of my Balloon Photography Tips

Balloon Photo Tips:

1. See which way the wind is blowing then position yourself so the balloons will fly toward you.

2. Look for colors, shapes and patterns









3. Use people as scale to show how large the Balloons are





4. Show the crew at work





5. And of course show them in the air!!!





More balloon photos here: Hot Air Balloons

Here's the address and a Google Map

Kent State University Stark Campus &
Stark State College of Technology
6000 - 6200 Frank Road NW
North Canton, Ohio 44720

Convenient parking available
Enter public parking lots off Frank Road,
and pay only $5.00 per vehicle after 3:00 PM

For those with a GPS here are the Coordinates in the Decimal Degree format

LAT N 40.867810
Long W 81.441656

Click on the Camera Icon to get directions from your location.


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Parade The Circle - Saturday June 12th

Attention Photographers - Parade the Circle is happening this Saturday June 12th in University Circle. I went last year for the first time and had a lot of fun. Lots of great photo ops and colorful costumes. If you get there early you can photograph the participants in the Art Museum Parking lot getting ready for the Parade. Find out more here: Parade the Circle

Click Photo to see more photos




Click on the camera icon for directions to Parade the circle

GPS Coordinates in the Decimal Degree format.

Latitude: N 41.50888
Longitude: W 81.61077


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Lake View Cemetery and Daffodil Hill

Ok Spring is finally here and it's time to get out and start shooting. A great place for April photography is Lake View Cemetery. Lots of great buildings to photograph like the Garfield Monument and Wade Chapel. Then there's the famous Daffodil Hill that is lined with hundreds of daffodils. You'll be able to use all of your lenses here from macro to telephoto.

Dona and I scouted out Daffodil Hill on Saturday (4/3/10) and there were small patches of Daffodils on the hill with a lot more still waiting to bloom. If the weather stays warm there should be a lot more daffodils in a week or two. Pick a day and check it out for yourself! You might want to avoid Daffodil Sunday (4/18/10) though cause it may be pretty crowded on that date.



See more Lake View photos here: Lake View Cemetery Photos

Lake View Euclid Ave entrance GPS Coordinates

Latitude 41.5139448
Longitude -81.598742

Click on the Blue Balloon to get directions to Lake View from your location:

View Larger Map
Click on the camera icons to see where the Garfield Monument, Wade Chapel and Daffodill Hill are located

Headlands Dunes In the Winter

Here's a cool photo op or should I say COLD photo op cause you can only do it in the winter months. It's a trip to photograph Headlands Dunes in the winter! I've photographed Headlands Dunes many times but never in the winter until last Sunday. Since Dona and I love taking photos at Headlands Dunes we decided to see what it looked like in the winter and boy were we surprised by what we saw. We knew Lake Erie would be frozen, but we figured it would be a flat frozen lake, instead we saw large dunes sticking up in the lake that made for some interesting photography. We were even able to walk out on the ice and got some photos of the lighthouse that you can't get other times of the year. Check it out if you get a chance, yeah it's gonna be cold, but the photos you get will be worth it.

Headlands Dunes in the Winter - Click Photo to see more.





To get to Headlands Dunes take the road just to the right of the entrance to Headlands Beach, this is shown on the map with the green icon, this will lead you to the 24 hour fishing entrance indicated by the red icon (look for the 24 hour fishing entrance sign) and the Dunes Parking area. To get directions from your location just click on the green and enter your address.

GPS coordinates:
Lat N41.752793
Long W81.287831


View Headlands Dunes Nature Preserve in a larger map

Winter Waterfalls

Ok it's the middle of winter so it's time to go out and get some winter waterfall shots. A good place to do this in Northeast Ohio is the Cuyahoga Valley National Park where you'll find Brandywine Falls and Blue Hen Falls. A few years ago I photographed Brandywine Falls in the winter. There is a stairway that leads down to an observation deck. In the winter this deck maybe closed due to ice on the stairs so you'll have to find another vantage point or risk getting caught by the Rangers if you sneak down the stairs.

Brandywine Falls by Ron Skinner




Blue Hen Falls is also located in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, its a small waterfall that you have to hike to from a small parking lot (about 4 cars) I've photographed Blue Hen Falls many times mostly in the spring and fall, this year I'm going to photograph it in the winter.

Here's a photo of Blue Hen Falls in the winter taken by my friend Vicki Moisio...
Blue Hen Falls by Vicki Moisio



For more information including GPS coordinates of the Falls click on the following links:

Brandywine Falls

Blue Hen Falls

If you get a chance this winter get out there and photograph these falls it's very scenic and a lot of fun.

If the weather is good I'm going to try and get out there this Saturday 2/6/2010, maybe I'll see you out there.

Here's a Google Map of both Brandywine and Blue Hen Falls, to get directions to Brandywine Falls click on the "CAR ICON" To get directions to Blue Hen Falls click on one of the "BLUE P ICONS" ( Blue Hen has two parking areas a small 4 car lot and a larger overflow lot)


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Gorge Metro Park

Here's a cool place to take photos in the Cuyahoga valley, Gorge Metro Park located in Cuyahoga Falls. I made my first visit to Gorge Metro Park on a photo walk I did with the Cuyahoga Valley Photo Society There is a 1.8 mile hiking trail that you follow that takes you past an old hydroelectric dam and past lots of rock formations. It's very scenic, check it out if you get a chance.

Old Hydroelectric Dam
Click photo to go to gallery

Gorge Trail
Click photo to go to gallery

While you are in the area you might want to check out High Bridge Glens Park where you can see waterfalls and ice formations in the winter. An old amusement park used to be located here.

Here's a map of Gorge Metro Park, click the blue icon to get directions from your location.

Here's the GPS coordinates in decimal degrees (Make sure your GPS is set for the decimal degree format)

Latitude: N 41.12030914
Longitude: W 81.4935135


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Punderson Sled Dog Classic 1/9 & 1/10/2010

Now for something different the 2010 Punderson Sled Dog Classic taking place on Saturday Jan 9th and Sunday Jan 10th 2010!

Pick the date that's convenient for you, I'm planning on going on Saturday Jan 9th and getting there around 9:30am



Hi Everyone a cool place to shoot this winter is the Sled Dog Classic at Punderson State Park on 1/9/2010. The event is free for spectators. This should be a fun Photo Shoot, I've never photographed Sled Dog Races before and I'm really looking forward to it.

They are also racing on 1/10/2010 if you can't make it on the 9th. If the weather is bad on this weekend the rescheduled dates are 2/27 and 2/28 and 3/6 and 3/7

They have all different classes of races and even have a Kid n Mutt Fun Run

More information can be found here: Sled Dog Classic Race Info

Time : 9:30 am Races are from 10am to 3PM
Place: Punderson State Park
Park Map: Punderson State Park Map
Directions: Click on the camera icon to get directions from your location. To view a larger map Click on "View Larger Map" below.

GPS Coordinates
latitude: 41.46118938889867
longitude: -81.21947765350342


View Larger Map


Sled Dog Photo Tips

This is my first time photographing Sled Dog races and I always like to be prepared when I photograph a new event. One way to do this is to study other photographers work, by doing this you can see what works and what doesn't work. A good place to find photos of the event you are going to photograph is on the photo sharing sites. Since I have my photos on Smugmug, I figured that would be a good place to start, so I searched Smugmug for "Sled Dogs" and lots of galleries popped up with photos of Sled Dog races. Some photos were good, some more like snapshots and some were outstanding. Go here to see the Sled Dog Galleries

So what did I learn?

1. The best shots are taken with the Sled Dogs running toward you. Shots from the side are not as dramatic

2. Get down low at the dogs eye level.

3. Try and take some human interest shots of the dogs and their owners

4. Sled Dogs are cool, try and get some good portrait shots of them.

5. Try to capture the peak action.

6. Try to show how strong these animals are as they pull the sleds.

Well those are some of my tips, if anyone else has any tips to share, just click on "comments" below and leave your tips, comments and suggestions.

If you are going on the Sled Dog Classic Shoot or any cold weather shoot you want to keep your hands warm but still be able to use the controls on your camera so what do you do? You might want to try a pair of Glommitts, Glommitts are a combination of a glove and a mitten.

Glommitts will keep your hands warm when you're not using your camera and the top mitten part folds back to expose your fingers when you are taking a shot.

There are a lot of different makes and models. Just Goggle glommitts to find out where you can purchase them.

Glommitts can be found at most sporting good stores. I get a lot of my stuff at Cabela's online. Click on the Cabela's link and enter glommitts in the search field. Mine are a couple of years old so they may not carry the brand above anymore, but they probably have new and improved models.