The Landscape Letdown Syndrome

I have an acquaintance who told me, upon return from a trip to Olympic National Park a few years ago, that he was done photographing locally.  “I just can’t get inspired by anything around here anymore,” he said.  In his case, “locally” was the greater Chicago area, but it just as easily could have applied to someone in central Indiana.

For those unfamiliar with this part of the world, “locally” does, in fact, pale in comparison with…well, Olympic National Park, among other places…like just about all other places, it seems.  I’m frequently faced with this problem, most recently when I returned from the Canadian Rockies last October.  This was pretty much the acid test, given the landscape I was leaving behind (because it doesn’t get any better than the Canadian Rockies).  The fall color season in the American Midwest was less than three weeks away when I got back and, while I wasn’t going to see anything comparable to what I’d left behind, I was determined not to fall prey to the Landscape Letdown Syndrome.

What is the Landscape Letdown Syndrome?  It’s my descriptor for the malady I outlined in the opening paragraph:  a malaise that can arise when the place you’re at doesn’t measure up to the place you’ve been.

In early October, I determined that I was going to pay a visit, hopefully during the peak of fall color, to Brown County State Park in south-central Indiana, about 75 minutes south of my Indianapolis area base.  I had visited the park before–once, more than a decade prior, on a relentlessly blue sky day.  People in the Indianapolis region absolutely rave about Brown County as a fall color destination…and, as local venues go, it’s pretty nice.  I mean, it doesn’t hold a candle, colorwise, to the North Woods (hundreds of miles to the north in Wisconsin and Michigan), and it’s hardly the treasure trove of subject matter endemic to a place like Great Smoky Mountains National Park (more than 500 miles to the southeast), but for the region, Brown County State Park has much to recommend it.

Ogle Lake Oak, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Autumn Overlook, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Brown County State Park is located near the northern terminus of the hilly terrain that makes up much of the southern half of the states of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.  There are a series of overlooks, providing vistas covering miles of thickly forested ground.  There are several creeks that flow through the park and they’ve been dammed, creating a pair of lakes.  The park itself is filled with trees, including oak, maple, beech and sycamore.  There’s also a coniferous stand, near Stahl Lake.

Autumn Overlook, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park, Indiana

The truth is, I’d been aiming to get back to Brown County during peak color for years, but I kept being denied.  Sometimes I was simply out of the region when color was at its best.  Several years, the color basically never materialized, due to preceding months-long summer droughts.  In 2014, I thought I’d finally get my opportunity and headed down to Brown County one Saturday only to be hit with miles of bumper to bumper traffic.  There’s a fall festival on the weekend before Halloween every year and the tens of thousands of attendees turn the two-lane roads in Brown County into parking lots.  I’d forgotten about that and I ended up spending several hours trying to fight my way through the traffic and never so much as set foot inside the park.  (It was at that point that I resolved that I would never, ever head to Brown County on a fall weekend again.)

Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Stahl Lake Trees, Brown County State Park, Indiana

So, in 2015, I planned ahead a bit.  In the middle of the month I traveled down–clearly ahead of the best color–to scout the park…on a weekday.  The scouting session was well worthwhile.  I scoped out a series of overlooks and interesting spots around the two man made lakes in the park.  And I was able to determine that peak color was just about exactly one week away.  So, I planned to return the following week (also on a weekday) and spend the day photographing.  And so I did.

Ogle Lake Reflections, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Brown County is no Canadian Rockies–there’s no point in denying it.  But, I basically concluded, so what?  It doesn’t need to be.  I avoided Landscape Letdown Syndrome by simply not making the comparison in the first place.  The trick is to view each location with fresh eyes–to, essentially, take what you’re given.  Perhaps it’s easier said than done, but over the years I’ve found that it’s possible to appreciate all forms of landscape beauty for what they are, rather than being blinded by what they aren’t.

Stahl Lake Reflections, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Autumn Tapestry, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Perhaps it also helps that the main theme of this Brown County shoot–rich, varied fall color–was effectively absent during my time in the Canadian Rockies (where fall color is largely manifested by the beautiful–but single-minded–yellow of aspen leaves).  Perhaps the change of pace made it easier to avoid the perils of Landscape Letdown Syndrome.

Autumn Overlook, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Regardless, I was rewarded with an enjoyable day and had the opportunity to spend time photographing at another Midwest state park.  That in and of itself was worth considerably more than the price of admission.

Ogle Lake Oak, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Autumn Overlook at Sunset, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Hesitation Point, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Even better, I proved to myself, conclusively, that I could overcome the pull of Landscape Letdown Syndrome.