Pretty much every tourist town in the west has a photo gallery of some sort. Some of these are high-dollar galleries with professional lighting and prints costing thousands. At the other end of the spectrum might be a small-town artist who has a few prints for sale on a wall or in a bin at a small cafe. As I've discussed before, local photographers have a huge advantage when it comes to capturing great shots of a regional attraction, because through experience they know when to be at which location for the best light, weather, color, etc.
If I had to pick out my favorite 'photographic attraction,' it would have to be Horseshoe Lake, just across the river in Southern Illinois. I've got friends who lead photography tours for a living, and they both live in Arizona....close to places like the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park. It would be a challenge to make a living leading photo tours in our area, but one of the places that would be a pleasant surprise to out-of-town photographers would be Horseshoe Lake, with its cypress, tupelo and wildlife. Severe flooding from the Mississippi over the last few decades has been harmful, but it is still my go-to location once or twice and month, and I can usually find something new.
This particular shot was taken this fall on a quiet, foggy morning. I shot for about an hour, but it was the first few shots taken right at sunrise that had the best atmosphere and lighting. At my recent gallery show, a large black and white print taken many summers ago on my 4x5 view camera got a lot of comments; most people had no idea that the shot was taken just a few minutes away at Horseshoe Lake.
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