Sunday, January 24, 2010

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

Saturday, January 2, 2010

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.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to my family and friends! I'm looking forward to hanging out and taking lots of photos with all of you in 2010!!!!



Sunday, December 20, 2009

Holiday Photos at the Cleveland Greenhouse and Nela Park

Here are a couple more ideas of places to take Holiday Photos..... The Cleveland Greenhouse and Nela Park.

The Greenhouse is decorated with colorful plants and Christmas displays, parking and admission is free.

Click the photos or slideshow below to go to the gallery.



Nela Park is the Headquarters of GE and has a nice lighting display...



Here's a slideshow of the Greenhouse and Nela Park.




To get directions to the Greenhouse click on the Blue icon, for directions to Nela Park click on the Green Icon.


View Cleveland Greenhouse in a larger map

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Holiday Lights

Hi Everyone, well it's the season to go out and get some photos of the Holiday Lights, there are lots of great displays out there but one of my favorites is a Crown Point in Strongsville, this street has been displaying lights for the last 20 years. The house at the end of the street looks like Clark Griswalds house in the Christmas Vacation movie.

Here's a slide show of holiday lights photos I took on a Cleveland Photographic Society Field trip to Crown Point and the Strongsville Town Center

Click on the photo to go to the gallery!



A fun thing to try when taking Christmas light photos is to use a long exposure and zooming the lens.


You can also try defocusing your lens to take out of focus lights


If you'd like to check out Crown Point in Strongsville here's a map of the location.

Just click on the blue icon to get directions from your location.

GPS Coordinates (make sure you're gps is set to the decimal degrees format)

Latitude: 41.282293
Longitude -81.796839


View Christmas Lights 14326 Crown Point Pkwy in a larger map

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Digital Images 15% Discount

Hi Everyone one as a way of saying thanks to everyone who visited my photograhy site Digital Images by Ron Skinner and my Cool Photo Ops Blog I'm offering a 15% discount on all photos until 12/31/2009



To take advantage of this offer do the following

Go to my Digital Images by Ron Skinner site

Select the photos you want to order

Enter the code: holiday09 during checkout!

Thanks!!!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

About Cool Photo Ops

Attention Photographers, looking for fun places to take photos in Northeast Ohio? Then check out my Cool Photo Ops Blog.

Everyone is welcome to come on the shoots, the more the merrier!

You will find information on the fun places to take photos in the Northeast Ohio Region.

You will also find links to Maps with directions to the shoots (including GPS coordinates), weather maps, sunrise and sunset information, photography links and helpful photo tips.

Coming soon is the Sled Dog Classic

Punderson Sled Dog Classic



Also if you have suggestions for shoots, let me know and I'll post them on the blog.