Steve Simmons – Brown County State Park

The original artists came to Brown County over a century ago for a variety of reasons.  Yet one aspect that seems to have been important for most of them was that the area offered an interplay of terrain and light that was a landscape painter’s delight!  I’m not an oil painter, but as an avocational photographer I too am entranced by these facets of the place.  This photograph was made in mid-September 2017 while I was passing through Brown County State Park in late afternoon.  As I composed this picture several components of the scene impressed me: •  There are at least seven “lines” of terrain from front to back in the picture and they don’t all enter from the same direction or angle.  I figured this might help to give a viewer a stronger sense of depth and perspective.  I also included the line of grass inforescences in the foreground as a natural “baseline” from which a viewer’s eye can progress back to the horizon. •  I could tell at the time that the sunlight was very rich; this is almost always a good quality to have. •  It was the shadows that most called to me as I framed this photograph.  They highlighting of the grass inflorescences in the foreground against the darker shadow behind; the prominent ailanthus tree leaves protruding from the ridge against another area of shadow; and the more distant shadows accenting the relief of the hills.  •  Of course, there was also a hint of late-summer haze over the distant hills.  This must be Indiana.