Following my last assignment in the US Air Force, we were finally free to choose the location of our own home. Although we lived in many wonderful places, having started my career in Dayton, Ohio, returning back to the Miami Valley remained our goal.
After looking at many homes, we settled on our current home just outside Bellbrook, Ohio. I love the neighbors, the terrain, and access to a host of Ohio State Parks, Five Rivers MetroParks, and even our local Bellbrook Sugarcreek Park District. Being close to these many parks has been helpful in the pursuit of my landscape photography.
Every year, our local park district holds an annual photography contest. Submissions are gathered and then images are placed on Facebook for the popular vote. For the 2023 Calendar, this scene won with 185 popular votes. As with previous years, the park district placed the winning image on the calendar cover. Residents are allowed to submit two images and my second image garnered 133 votes and appears on the June 2023 page. The second image depicts two cumulonimbus clouds hanging in the western sky over Morris Reserve.
Osage Orange Tunnel
The Osage Orange Tunnel in Sugarcreek MetroPark is a pleasing footpath that farmers first formed in the 1880s. A more common name for these trees is the hedge apple. Before barbed wire was invented, farmers would line their pastures with Osage Oranges as a living fence. On this autumn morning, the azimuth of the rising sun aligned with the Osage Orange Tunnel making for a pleasing scene.
If you’d like to purchase this print, it is available on my website (Sunrise Along Osage Orange Tunnel No. 7). Sugarcreek MetroPark is full of natural wonders and I offer even more scenes in the Sugarcreek MetroPark Gallery.