Ohio!

I was able to go home to Ohio for Christmas this year, which was lovely! Kent, Ohio has grown and changed so much from what I remember growing up, yet it still manages to feel exactly the same whenever I visit. There were a lot of opportunities to go out and photograph, and while it was pretty cold most of the time, the sun was still out and made it very easy to take a million photos.

My family and I took a nice walk around the Kent Bog (the Tom S. Cooperrider-Kent Bog State Nature Preserve, to be exact), which I don't think I had visited since I went for a school field trip when I was little. The bog is a special place--- a strange little environment that hosts a unique ecosystem that is a direct result of glacial movement during the last ice age. You can read more about the Kent Bog here--- it's fascinating!

My brother, Michael, has been building his own cameras (and stringed instruments, and furniture...) for a while now. He took his latest invention out on our walk--- it's an 8x10 camera with a scanner attached. He attaches his laptop to the back so he can control the scanner and use it to create the exposures.

Among it's spectacular plants and animals, the Kent Bog is home to the largest stand of tamaracks in the contiguous United States, which is especially interesting because its a bit farther south than most tamaracks are found.

While I was really looking forward to a snowy Christmas, the weather was beautiful, and sometimes Ohio is at its best in the winter with no snow and just a little sun.