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


View Gorge Metro Park in a larger map

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.