Thankfulness Set to Pictures | My Best of 2013

The best way for me to express the incredible experiences of 2013 is by sharing my personal favorite images from throughout the year. January 1 2013 began on Hilton Head Island. By the end of the month I was on my way to Texas and by the beginning of July I was back home in Ohio. I’ve taken some kindhearted ribbing from a few family members and friends regarding the craziness of my moving twice in one year, but, I still believe that it all happened for a reason and to set the stage for greater blessings down the road. Besides, at least I can say “done that, been there, I tried it out.”

One of the important lessons I learned is that the grass is not always greener on the other side and Ohio can be a pretty awesome place to live. It gets a bum rap by many who grow up here. It deserves much better. Another lesson is to carefully think through the advice of others when they give you their opinion about where and how you should live your life. Just saying. I have a tendency to be too much of a people-pleaser, much to the determent of my own health. I’m working my way out of that, one day at a time. Follow your heart and those who love and care will fall in around you.

Another lesson reinforced is the fact that the best images arise from where and when the heart is engaged. It’s not so much of chasing images in many locations but rather letting go of expectations and following the heart and the blessings that are presented, even if just outside the back door or down the road.

All in all I am very thankful to have finally landed back in the Dayton Ohio area, enjoying life and photography on my little eight acres of rural heartland. The journey has been incredible, tiring, wonderful. So many images captured that could have made my top ten list. It was hard to select the ones to post here but honestly these are the ones that carry the most personal meaning for me, whether they were popular on social media or not, it’s the personal connection and story that counts.

These images are no particular order. For more insight on the story behind each image, please see http://calmphotos.com

Here goes -

Altus, Oklahoma. March 2013

Raptor Ridge, Beavercreek Township, Ohio. September 2013

Broken Rock Trail Falls, Hocking Hills, Ohio. April 2013

Broken Rock Trail Falls, Hocking Hills Ohio. April 2013. I had returned to Ohio for a short visit after moving to Texas, to Hocking Hills to teach a one-day spring workshop at The Inn at Cedar Falls and to be a judge/guest speaker at the 2013 Shoot the Hills event. It was a spectacular spring in Southeastern Ohio and the streams and waterfalls were flush with flowing water. When I am in Hocking Hills, most often to teach workshops, I try to always set aside at least one day to get out and shoot on my own. When I am teaching I am completely devoted to the task of instructing and guiding my students. This image was one of many that I captured during that day out on the trail by myself, on the Monday following the Shoot the Hills weekend. I was blessed with pristine spring conditions. The light was ethereal coming through the Hemlocks and into the gorges. It was an intimate connection to the place I know best as home when it comes to my love of nature and landscape photography. Broken Rock Trail Falls is off the beaten path and a little bit of a challenge to get to but that’s why I love this scene so much. It’s a closeness, a connection, in quiet and peace. - See more at: http://calmphotos.com/#sthash.gszilkgz.dpuf

November Sunrise at Raptor Ridge

Summer Morning. Raptor Ridge, Beavercreek Township, Ohio. August 2013

Summer Nightfall on the Farm. Raptor Ridge, Beavercreek Township, Ohio. July 2013

The Rural Route. Frisco, Texas. April 2013

Harvest. Raptor Ridge, Beavercreek Township, Ohio. August 2013

The Classic. Trebein Road in Xenia, Ohio. November 2013

Moon and Thunderhead. Kettering, Ohio. July 2013

Holy Spirit You Are Welcome Here. Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills, Ohio

Best Christmas Present Ever. Raptor Ridge. December 2013

Best of 2013 by Ohio Photographer Jim Crotty from Jim Crotty on Vimeo.

A Place Called Home | Where The Best Photographs Come From

While in Ohio recently I was hoping to have a day or two following the October 26 - 28 Hocking Hills workshop to hit the trail alone and capture some of that beautiful light of autumn in a landscape that I've come to know and love. But it was not to be so. A painful knee and immobile leg made it practically impossible to transverse the trails through those deep gorges. However, one thing I've learned in working for myself as a professional photographer is that there is a reason for everything, good, bad or just painful inconvenience.

Immediately following the workshop weekend in Hocking Hills I traveled back to the place I call home, Dayton, for an extended, unplanned visit while I had my knee looked at and healed. Even though my current residence and place of business is Hilton Head Island (and even that is going to change soon), Dayton is where I grew up and have lived the majority of my life.

Despite my injured knee I was able to get out and do some photography. My favorite haunt near Dayton is the Sugarcreek Preserve MetroPark, south of town near Bellbrook and Centerville. There is a rolling, open meadow that never disappoints at sunset. I love working from the perspective of being down low at eye-level with the tall grasses and shooting upwards to include a dramatically lit and vibrant sky. In late autumn the grasses offer an array of texture in rich hues of tans and browns.

It was inspiring to walk the old and familiar trails again, both in Hocking Hills and at Sugarcreek. Yes, the natural beauty of the tidelands of South Carolina is alluring but home is where the creative heart resides. It's the connection to my formative years, my "proving ground' of sorts where my passion for camera and film first took root.

I think we tend to be hardest on those places - and often people as well - we love the most. A full appreciation for childhood homeland takes a while to make its presence known. In later years as we grow older we become more fond of the memories - the neighborhoods, the schools, the friends.

With artists the memories are more acute and run just a tad bit deeper. Perhaps it's because the feelings conjured through that touchstone of emotion is always echoed in and through the work they create. Maybe that's part of the reason I am always visually drawn to the fading light of a moody sky. I struggle with finding the right words but I know it when I see it. More importantly, I know it when I feel it.

The old trails through woodland and meadow. Sugarcreek, Cox, Germantown, Ft. Ancient, Little Miami, Clifton Gorge, John Bryan and of course, Hocking. Each season so distinct in light, shadow, color and scent. Familiar ground underfoot and trail side companions of Maple, Oak, Beech and Hemlock. Home. It's always there wherever life takes me.

“A human life, I think, should be well rooted in some spot of native land, where it may get the love of tender kinship for the face of the earth, for the labours of men go forth to, for the sounds and accents that haunt it, for whatever will give that early home a familiar unmistakable difference among the future widening of knowledge: a spot where the definiteness of early memories may be inwrought with affection, and kindly acquaintance with all neighbors, even to the dogs and donkeys, may spread not by sentimental effort and reflection, but as a sweet habit of the blood.” - George Eliot

The song "My Father's Father" by The Civil Wars provides the near perfect sound and lyrics to the experiences and images that come to mind when I think of my favorite Ohio trails and haunts.