Ha Ha Tonka State Park

[Cameron]

Last weekend I went to Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri for a class retreat - our class is finishing our Pediatric Residency this month!
:clap
I had the chance to go on a 30 minute arial tour of the lake which was fantastic. While on the flight I saw this:
http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/306295122_bXCuJ-M.jpg

I learned that this was part of Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Early in the 1900's a wealthy business man from Kansas City, Robert M. Snyder built an elaborate mansion/castle overlooking what is now the Lake of the Ozarks. He died prior to its completion but his family gradually finished the mansion. The structure was destroyed in a fire in the 1940's and the ruins are all that remain today. I later went to the park and walked around the ruins of the old mansion... of course, I took my camera. :)

1.
http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/306888804_Ps449-M.jpg

2.
http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/306887272_jjQGY-M.jpg

3.
http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/306791349_ooJoh-M.jpg

4.
http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/306791854_u4nVx-M.jpg

5.
http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/306793708_kByFg-M.jpg

6.
http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/306793938_52jV2-M.jpg

7.
http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/306891649_4tSCE-M.jpg

8.
http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/306793509_oAb34-M.jpg

9.
http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/306793367_fxUrk-M.jpg

10. And a bit of color..
http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/306291399_uJ9st-M.jpg

[swintonphoto]

Awesome shots bro! Love the tones and great use of various perspectives. Sweet! Wish I took em myself!:clap
I think #5 may be my favorite. But, its pretty close with just about all the others.

[Tee Why]

Very nice series. I liked the texture in the b/w versions, esp. no.2.

[goofry]

Very nice and what a find. The ruins evoke some mystery and the B/W seems to add to this.

[Cameron]

Thanks all for the kind words! I was delighted to find that place - it made the weekend complete. ;)

It would have been quite a place to see as a working home!

[Art Scott]

Gheee Whiiiiz....as many times as I have been to Lake of the Ozarks and I never knew that existed....
Extremely great captures Cameron!!!!!:bow :bow :bow :bow :bow :thumb :thumb :thumb :thumb :thumb

[Llywellyn]

Great series. :clap I love the tones and contrast in your BW conversions. They work really well with the ruins. :thumb

Any insight into how you approach conversions?

[Cameron]

Great series. :clap I love the tones and contrast in your BW conversions. They work really well with the ruins. :thumb

Any insight into how you approach conversions?

Thanks! As for my approach, I've recently started using Lighroom for most of my B&W conversions simply because the new tools make it SO EASY. However, the same techniques could be done in Photoshop fairly easily (what I used to do). I use the Adjustments tab in Lighroom to selectively modify the color channels to give me the desired contrast and selectively lighten/darken different colors in different parts of the photo. Before Lightroom I just used Photoshop to create a layer for each color channel and adjust them individually from there, but Lightroom makes it so much easier.

Most of the photos in this series were converted to grayscale in Lightroom, contrast was increased with curves or the contrast slider. I also make good use of the "Clarity" slider - this adds local contrast - increases mid-tone contrast similar to using USM in photoshop with a large radius and low amount.

For this particular series I also took the photos back into photoshop and added a touch of a warming filter to tone them slightly. I have yet to be able to recreate the same feel of the photo-filter warming filters from Photoshop in Lightroom - I'd love to be able to do that.

I don't have a canned approach but overall my approach with these photos was to make them high contrast which accentuated the texture and added a sort of "desolate" mood.

[Awais Yaqub]

These are superb. And place is amazing too :huh

[Llywellyn]

Thanks! As for my approach...

Awesome! Thank you. :clap