Save Zoar

In East-Central Ohio there sits a bit of American history. Founded by German Immigrants seeking religious freedom, the town of Zoar was settled on the banks of the Tuscarawas River. Over the many years since then, Zoar has stood the test of time. But now it faces its biggest test. A fight with Washington.

Protecting Zoar from the flood waters caused by the Dover Dam is the Zoar Levee. In 2005, the first of a series of floods hit the region. Unbeknown to the residents of Zoar was that the levee was in bad shape. Water seeped through the cracks and found it's way into the basements of many structures. But the residents fought back and got the water out. Then in 2008, it happened again. The flood waters returned. But this time, the levee was in bad shape. It was Easter morning that I saw large trucks filled with rocks and earth speeding into town to save the levee from collapse. The local fire department urged residents to move valuables to upper floors. The levee could have failed at any minute.

Now, the effort is on to get the Army Corp of Engineers to repair the levee. By law, they have to look at every option which includes possibly buying out all the home owners and leveling the town. This cannot happen. My family and I have adopted Zoar in our hearts as our hometown. We don't want to see anything happen to it and we want to see the levee fixed!  If you follow my photographic journey, you know I take a lot of pictures or Zoar.  It has a soul of it's own.  Stay tuned.  As soon as the official websites launch for the effort to save the town, I will post the links here.  Until then, enjoy the images.

Just a few more

We really had an incredible time the other day in Dennison. Here's just a few more images I wanted to share.

Thanking true heroes

It's been called the greatest generation.  They're probably right.  70 or so years ago, a war began that spread across the globe and eventually drew the United States into it.  When the war started, soldiers and sailors needed to be mobilized quickly and that mobilization continued throughout the war.  Trains were the primary means of transportation.  One stop along the route for these brave individuals was Dennison, OH.  Dennison became known for how it treated these brave people.  It earned the nickname "Dreamsville USA".
Now, every year, the Dennison Railroad Depot Museum hosts an event called "American Soldiers Homecoming Festival".  A way to thank true American hero's, our veterans, both old and new and open people up to an important part of our nations history.
The day starts with a parade.

And is followed up later by living historians, representing American soldiers, German soldiers and even a stray Soviet or two. These individuals, giving of their time and expenses, (bullets, pyrotech, etc),travel to and participate in these events. And maybe remind us all that war is a terrible thing.  To ANYONE that has ever served our country, thank you.

This is just some of the images I captured yesterday.  There are a LOT more pictures left to edit and upload.  Stay turned.

LOTS of images.  Wow.

Ok. I'm loving this lens

I'm still messing around with my 50mm lens.  I am pretty impressed with it overall.  For the money, you just can't go wrong!

Saturday is the World War II re-enactment in Dennison.  Cannot wait to see the results from that!  Stay tuned!

Back from the unknown!

Well, it really hasn't been the unknown.  Just really, really busy.  A few weeks ago, our son Alex graduated high school.  And of course with graduation comes the graduation party.  So for the few months leading up to that, all time and funding went into getting ready for the party.  It was well worth it.  But now with all of that behind us, it's time to get back into my work passion. One of the things I'm using to kick start things back up is a new lens.  For some time I've read in several places about how photographers are rushing back to use just a standard 50mm lens because of it's ability to give beautiful images.  With the re-enactments coming up, (Dennison Depot, Fort Laurens and Zoar), I wanted to get something that would help me get better portrait images of re-enactors.  I think I may have found it.  A Canon EF 50mm 1.8.  Wow.

What do you think?