The Awakening

This is a photo I took of a sculpture recently erected in Chesterfield. It is titled "The Awakening" by an Artist named Johnson who happens to be the son of the founder of Johnson & Johnson.

Top of Taum Sauk Mountain

Sharon, Candice, AJ and I traveled to Taum Sauk mountain this past Sunday with the idea of getting some Fall shots of the turning trees. Unfortunately, because of all the bad weather this past couple weeks, and the lack of sunshine, we were about a week or so early for the "peak" of colors. Maybe I will try again later this month. In the mean time, below are a few shots of AJ and mom.

These two images were single exposure shots made to look like HDR photography. In Adobe Camera RAW, I created copies of +2 and -2 of the "as-shot" exposure and then imported the 3 shots into Lightroom then exported them as a group to Photomatix. I merged the 3 shots and Tone Mapped them in Photomatix and exported them back to Lightroom and from Lightroom into Photoshop. In Photoshop I made use of the Topaz Adjust plugin to give them that "sureal" look.

Johnson Shut-Ins

Sharon and I visited Johnson Shut-Ins State Park on September 25, to see how things have changed since the breach of the Taum Sauk reservoir in December of 2005. When the breach occured, 1.3 BILLION gallons of water were released down the side of Profit Mountain in under 10 seconds. For more information on the breach and the devestation it caused, just Google Johnson Shut-Ins, or click on the link at the end of this Post.


This is where the Black River enters the shut-in area and begins its journey through the rocks.


This is a new boardwalk that has been built along the river bank that leads down to the shut-ins.


There was a couple sitting on the rocks in this photo but I Photoshop(ed) them out (HAHA).


Again, people were clogging up my view so (you guessed it), Photoshop to the rescue. I did try and asked them to get out of the river so I could take the shot but they just ignored me...go figure!



You can view all the photos I took at the Shut-Ins as well as those of the SCOUR Channel cut by the breach by clicking on the slideshow at the right. When there select View All and then Slideshow.

Breach Information: http://www.missouristateparks.net/johnson's-shutins-state-park/index.htm