Dave Daniel Photography

Motorists on I-65 are enjoying an interesting distraction just north of Lafayette as they enter the middle of an immense wind energy farm with wind turbines towering over 250′. The wind farm is home to over 600 wind turbines spread across 100,000 acres. The entire farm provides thousands of megawatts of clean energy to local energy users. Honestly, there really isn’t much of interest to look at on northern Indiana highways, but as I found myself looking around the countryside at the countless wind turbines, I began to wonder if the accident rate has increased on this stretch of highway.

After many trips through the area, I finally managed a short stop to get a handful of images. Pictures don’t do these turbines justice, as they are incredibly large with a total height of 372 feet, and there are so many of them. On the windy day I stopped, the 110 foot long blades made a low vibration as they slowly spun. Even though the blades turn at a seemingly slow speed of 15rpm, the tip speed is high enough to blur them in the photos.

I plan on returning to the area in the near future to take a number of night shots. It’s really hard to describe, but picture hundreds of red lights a couple hundred feet in the air, flashing on and off in unison well off to the horizon. The area truly looks like a sci-fi invasion. Meanwhile, enjoy these daytime shots of a very small fraction of the turbines in the area.

The Indianapolis Canal was a spectacular destination for this unusually warm spring day. With camera in hand, I spent the afternoon watching visitors to the canal take in the views, the museums, and memorials along the canal. I was also wanting to check out the canal length for candidate locations for some upcoming portrait shots.

In case you didn’t know, what we know as the Indianapolis canal downtown was actually part of the Indiana Central Canal. It was intended to connect the Wabash And Erie canal (which is partially intact today) to the Ohio River. The Indianapolis section roughly parallels White River and extends in pieces between Broad Ripple and White River State Park.

Although it’s a wonderful destination, I continue to be upset that the city allowed private construction along the canal, such as a tacky Residence Inn hotel, office buildings and condos. In my never to be humble opinion, the entire canal should be surrounded by park space and public venues. So much for the soapbox.

This was a chamber of commerce day – unusually warm at 84 degrees, slightly breezy, and mostly sunny. I ended up shooting over 200 images ranging from canal views to some families and pets along the canal. It’s clear that I need to make up some info cards so people know where to go to see some of the pics I took of them.

I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and will be back with some photo clients to use the canal as a backdrop for some portrait shots. I easily found a couple dozen locations that should provide excellent results.

Enjoy!