My Discovery of Park Photography

What started out as a year of restrictions ended up as the perfect opportunity for my discovery of park photography.  For as much as I thought I loved the outdoors and the parks in my area, there was a lot that I never knew about. With COVID 19 altering our plans for the summer, we did like many families and took to the outdoors.

Cleveland has one of the best park systems in the country and we’d enjoyed the parks in previous summers, but this would be quite different.  

This time not only would we be enjoying the parks, but I’d be doing so for the first time as a photographer. The parks are beautiful and enjoyable on their own. It’s when you have a camera in your hand with the purpose of capturing that beauty, you’re forced you to slow down a bit more. You focus on smaller details amongst a vast tapestry of splendor. 

And so it was on my journeys to various parks. Some of which I’d visited previously and some I’d heard of but never had the time to visit. Once I was there to not only enjoy the park but capture snapshots my perspective was a bit different. 

I quickly realized how much was out there. So much that I had previously walked past or quickly glanced at. Now I was stopping and observing. Attempting to catch things in a frame that otherwise may seem mundane and ordinary.

While I was learning the technical aspects and experimenting with my camera and improving, what stood out to me was the amount of time that I could spend in one spot. I was completely occupied, observing and attempting to capture all of the minute details, angles and variations of the scene.

It was then that I realized that each park was really a collection of an infinite amount of scenes and experiences and that camera or not I would never be able to capture them all. But I had fun trying.