The Flickr Northamericaplains Image Generatr

Enchanted Rock.
I wanted to enjoy an enchanted day
Life events often unfold that way
To walk around and savor views of nature’s wildness
We’ll never get enough, but it is quite special nevertheless.

Another work of short poetry or prose to complement the image captured one late morning while enjoying some time in Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. Here I wanted to capture a wider angle view of the famous granite monadnock. The greens and yellows of the nearby trees and plantlife would be a color contrast and balance to the blues and whites of the skies above.

A setting looking to the west while taking in views and walking along the shoreline of Lake Michigan in the Mount Baldy area of Indiana Dunes National Park.

A setting looking to the northwest while taking in views across grass covered sand dunes and then Lake Michigan along the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Trail in Indiana Dunes National Park.

While walking around part of the Pump Jack Picnic area with a view looking to the southeast across ridges and dune formations present in Monahans Sandhills State Park. In composing this image, I decided to pull back on the focal length to have more of a wider angle view, and then angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward to create a sweeping view across this sandy landscape. I wanted to take advantage of the ridges and dunes in the way they created a layered look with the shadows cast, here and there.

A setting looking to the southwest while taking in views across grass covered sand dunes and nearby woods along the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Trail in Indiana Dunes National Park.

A setting looking to the west while taking in views and walking along the shoreline of Lake Michigan in the Mount Baldy area of Indiana Dunes National Park.

A setting looking to the northwest while taking in views across grass covered sand dunes along the Dune Succession Trail in Indiana Dunes National Park.

A setting looking to the west while taking in views and walking along the shoreline of Lake Michigan in the Mount Baldy area of Indiana Dunes National Park.

A setting looking to the southwest while taking in views across grass covered sand dunes and nearby woods along the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Trail in Indiana Dunes National Park.

A setting looking to the northwest while taking in views and walking along the shoreline of Lake Michigan in the West Beach area of Indiana Dunes National Park. Just me and my shadow :-)

While walking through the national park beach house structure and looking to the north-northeast to the distant water of Lake Michigan. Here I used the concrete walkway as a leading line into the image. I also decided to use the framing of the beach house structure and keep that more or less in silhouette to draw the viewer into the image with that sliver of blue waters at the end of the walkway.

A setting looking to the northeast while taking in views across a sandy landscape with dune formations and wild grasses in Monahans Sandhills State Park.

While walking the Dunes National Park in the West Beach area of the national park. The view is from a high point along the trail and looking to the northwest with the quite distant city skyline of Chicago. My thinking in composing this image was to use the higher ground that I was located on and angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward to create a more sweeping view across the grass covered sand dunes and ridges present. That would also raise the horizon with Lake Michigan and bring the skyline of Chicago more prominent position in the captured image.

A setting looking to the southeast while taking in views across grass covered sand dunes caught in the morning sunlight in Indiana Dunes National Park.

A setting looking to the northwest while taking in a view across the blue waters of Lake Michigan with the skyline of Chicago off in the distance and caught in the morning light of a new day. This was in the West Beach area of Indiana Dunes National Park.

While walking along the shoreline of Lake Michigan before heading out to walk the Dune Succession Trail in the West Beach part of the national park. The view is looking to the east and using the shoreline with the waves coming in as a leading line into the image. There were a few reasons for angling my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward, but the main reason was the sun was just above the horizon and would have washed out much of the image and colors present.

A setting looking to the north-northeast while taking in a view along this concrete walkway leading out to the shores of Lake Michigan in the West Beach area of Indiana Dunes National Park.

A conversion to black & white using DxO PhotoLab 4 where I made some adjustments to color filters to bring out a much richer tonal contrast for the final image.

While walking the Dune Ridge Trail with a view looking to the southeast across a forest and grassy marshes. This was in Indiana Dunes National Park,

A view from the shoreline of Lake Michigan at Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Pavilion with a view looking to the northwest. I decided to use a layered approach and include some of this land cliffside edge as a way of letting the eyes slowly work through the image to the blue waters of Lake Michigan. Given the overcast skies that day, I felt that they were more of a negative space and decided to angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward to minimize that.