Presque Isle State Park

 Rock - 1/28/12

 Lonely Pier - 1/28/12

 Winter Beach - 1/28/12

 Pebbles - 1/28/12

 Eb & Flow - 1/28/12

 Low Tide - 1/28/12

 Tall Grass - 1/28/12

 Light Snow - 1/28/12

 Empty Path - 1/28/12

 Straw - 1/28/12

 Winter Wonderland - 1/28/12

 Windy - 1/28/12

Rain Drop - 1/28/12

- Presque Isle State Park -

On Saturday, January 28^th, I, along with the rest of my class, slowly made our way to the shuttle lot at 6:30 a.m. to make our way towards Lake Erie and Presque Isle State Park. The shuttle drive was quiet and relaxing. Most were sleeping, I, on the other hand, was wide awake reading and mentally preparing my first wilderness adventure and the cold that would come with that. As we made our way further north, snow began to fall more and more, which was very exciting to me. We arrived at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center where Chris would be giving his lecture but only after touring the peninsula first. The snow-covered center was very inviting to our exploration before sitting down to Chris’ lecture.

            The lecture hall was full of eager Erie natives to learn the beautiful wonders of Western Pennsylvania. The snow continuing to fall harder and faster than before, leaving a wonderful new sheet of fresh snow which only added to the nice beach landscape. The snow also made it chillier. After packing up Chris’ exhibit we layered up to embark on our first real excursion along the beaches shore of Lake Erie.

            We all broke off into small groups and set out to come across the beautiful wonders along the shore. At first I found it difficult to again get inspiration because I am so used to taking photographs of sports and events that to find simple beauties in nature was definitely a step out of my comfort zone. This class will continue to be a challenge each week but I will try my hardest to continue to keep the work up to standard. I showed these images to my roommates after looking them over once myself. I personally wasn’t much impressed by my work but my roommates were very much impressed and showed me the natural beauty that was always there; I just needed it pointed out to me. I hope to find more beauties on these trips.

Point State Park

 Brick Landscape - 1/24/12

 City Parking - 1/24/12

 Walking on a Winters Day - 1/24/12

 Tiny Acorns - 1/24/12

Tangled Limbs - 1/24/12

- Point State Park -

On the morning of Tuesday the 24^th I woke up and got ready for another busy day of class… I ate breakfast quickly and finished getting ready to rush off to my first class of the day where I checked my email from Chris to make sure we were meeting in class before our first adventure. I opened and found that I was completely unprepared for class without my compass (because it hadn’t come in the mail yet), camera (which was just a blonde moment on my class since it is a photography class) and my backpack (because I didn’t read the bottom of the email stating that we needed it). After all of that explanation, I would like to formally apologize for being so unprepared but I made due with my iPhone’s camera and compass.

            This experience was very rewarding because I never really followed a map given to me in directional position and paces. I found it difficult to become inspired by my surroundings because I walk through these areas over and over again without really taking notice to anything. This time I had to walk through and attempt to notice everything. It’s hard to find “nature” in an urban setting. At first I liked the idea of steel and industry but as I continued along I found the beauty in the little nature that is around. All in all, I feel this assignment was an interesting way to see the city we all live in.