I love instagram, and it frustrates me, too. Like the '“Kodak Picture Spots” at Disney World, certain places seem to get heavy instagram traffic. Case in point, #thenwohiospot.
The hashtag has 1700 posts as of this writing, pretty good for a small grove of trees in an Ohio park. It is, in fact, a fairly small grove of trees, right next to a main road in the park, as I discovered the other day when I was in Toledo for work. I passed it by once, although I spied a few bearded photo dudes by their cars as I said to myself “look at that nice stand of trees, there.” I found a different place to park and walk and shot some other trees with my phone and camera, as it’s a nice park with a lake and trails… a guy on a bike asked me for directions, which was funny as it was my first time there!
These are all unedited, which for a photography site is a mortal sin, I know, but it’s a combination of iPhone and Fujifilm X-M1 and X-T1 shots, and I just wanted to share! :)
It was a bland, grey day as you can see, so I grabbed a couple of reflection shots to capture something interesting.
So, after a few days, I went back, determined to find “the spot.”
I figured it was where I saw the beardos, and with some internet searching, I confirmed my suspicion.
That’s a horse trail going by (the dotted line). Easy peasy.
Two things that I have as takeaways:
1. It’s pretty.
2. People can’t leave stuff alone. I got some of the large glitter that was littered on video, no photos, but here’s something I think most folks are charmed by, or at least ok with, but not me:
Why do we have to build stuff? Why must we take a cool nature spot and do something to possess it, to leave a human mark? It’s practically graffiti, to me.
It’s still pretty, though.
For all its Instagram popularity, I had my alone time at the Northwest Ohio Spot, and it was nice.
I do have my own “spot,” however. Driving north a year ago, I found a planned grove that is much younger and larger, actually, and I’m not telling where it is! In a few years, it will be even more impressive, I think…
All photos are mine. ©DavidPaulThomas