A Visit to Starved Rock
One thing I miss is shooting photography. It has always been a great hobby and a fun creative outlet, but with the death (at least unofficially) of film cameras I have been left with a number of high quality cameras that are fairly useless in this new digital world (finding someone to develop film well is a full on treasure hunt). Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy digital photography as much as the next guy, but as someone about to be married, going out and dropping $$$$ on a quality digital SLR is just not in the cards…
So anyways, extensive ramblings aside, recently I was able to travel to Starved Rock State Park in Illinois for a staff retreat/advance. Arriving early afforded plenty of time to hike, take in nature and shoot plenty of photography. Starved Rock is one of the “Seven Wonders of Illinois” and a fantastic park that sits on the Illinois River. It offers a variety of strenuous trails, canyons and wildlife. The only major downfall is the popularity of the park. While its fantastic to see the multitude of people who visit the park, the ecological impact is evident. However, a few years ago my fiancee and I discovered Matthiessan State Park just a few miles south of Starved Rock, and while not as popular, Matthiessan offers the same style of fantastic trail hiking in canyons, ravines and bluffs without the crowds.
All of the photos taken are shot using a Canon Rebel XSi with 18-55mm lens. The camera itself takes wonderful images and while the lens is a fantastic lens, it offers such a small range of optical zoom, that takes some practice in adjusting to the depth of field.
-Sean
