Places Archives - Page 2 of 6 - James DeCamp Photography

The SpringHill Suites Dayton North

The SpringHill Suites Dayton North photographed Wednesday, March 8, 2017.

Infuse your trip with innovation and inspiration at the SpringHill Suites Dayton North. Our state-of-the-art hotel offers an unparalleled location just moments away from the Dayton International Airport (DAY), University of Dayton, Wright Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB), the I-70/I-75 Interchange, Historic Oregon District and Downtown Dayton. After an unforgettable day exploring the Birthplace of Aviation grab a signature cocktail in their lounge and unwind by the outdoor fire pit. Sleep soundly with plush bedding and wake up with help from their complimentary breakfast buffet offering healthy and hearty choices for every taste. They’ll even enable you to stay fit with our modern fitness center featuring a variety of cardio equipment and free weights. You can also indulge in an invigorating splash in their indoor pool. Their spacious suites offer complimentary Wi-Fi which is also available throughout their lobby and meeting spaces.

March 8, 2017/0 Comments/by James

Know Your Rights: Photographers

Architecture, Behind The Scenes, Images, Personal, Places

What To Do If You Are Stopped Or Detained For Taking Photographs

During my many years on the street for several different newspapers and magazines I was stopped by police and security personnel dozens of times from taking images of events and even buildings and once even detained shortly. On more than one occasion I was asked to hand over or destroy the film and CF cards that the images resided on. Knowing my rights, I stood firmly and did not allow this.

The image below is one example of an image that caused my detention – photographed from a road, belonging to the county, an American Electric Power security guard stopped me and threatened me, demanded my camera card and forcibly detained me. Luckily a Sheriffs deputy was passing by, saw the confrontation, and having a more level head than the security guard defused the situation.

The American Electric Power Conesville Power Plant, 47201 County Road 273, Conesville, Ohio photographed Wednesday night October 1, 2008.
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
[Photographed with Canon 1D MkIII cameras in RAW mode with L series lenses]

The American Civil Liberties Union has a wonderful website post regarding the law and how to deal with being restrained from taking images in public places.

Taking photographs of things that are plainly visible from public spaces is a constitutional right – and that includes federal buildings, transportation facilities, and police and other government officials carrying out their duties. Unfortunately, there is a widespread, continuing pattern of law enforcement officers ordering people to stop taking photographs from public places, and harassing, detaining and arresting those who fail to comply.

LEARN MORE at the ACLU site.

February 14, 2017/1 Comment/by James

Staybridge Suites University Area OSU

Architecture, Images, Places

Staybridge Suites University Area OSU photographed Wednesday, December 21, 2016.

Staybridge Suites University Area OSU photographed Wednesday, December 21, 2016. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

December 21, 2016/0 Comments/by James

State Auto Insurance Christmas Corner

Images, Places, Scenics, Things, Travel

State Auto Insurance Christmas Corner photographed Friday, December 16, 2016.

In the middle of the Great Depression, Robert Pein, founder of State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co., gave Columbus a gigantic Christmas present – one that decades later still brings joy to the city each yuletide.

In 1931, as the nation struggled thru the great depression and unemployment was rampant, Pein had the State Auto Insurance’s building on E. Broad Street decorated with more than 1,000 blinking lights, Christmas trees on the roof and an electric sign proclaiming “Christmas Greetings.”

Pein, who grew up the third of seven children in an impoverished Cincinnati household, was intent on his spectacular Christmas decorations because he recalled that although his family had been poor, “Christmas was somehow Christmas.”

Pein, who died just before Christmas in 1956, called the display a “Christmas card to the community.”

No photos survive of the original display, but The Columbus Citizen newspaper noted on Dec. 25, 1931: “Trinity Episcopal Church boys sang Christmas carols in front of the State Automobile Insurance Co. building on Christmas Eve in the city’s only outdoor public observance.”

On Christmas Day that depression year, the display gave cheer to passers-by on their way to church, friends’ homes and family gatherings.

The next year, the display was back — with 1,000 more lights, four crosses, a star and 853 Christmas trees. “Eight electricians worked around the clock for a week to complete the spectacle,” the company reported.

The display disappeared during World War II years and was downsized during the postwar years while the company’s headquarters were remodeled and rebuilt.

The company’s entire E. Broad St. building, which was now five stories tall, was decked out for the 1954 display. In 1962, the display’s signature life-size Nativity figures were added.

For 50 years, Mary, Joseph and a changing array of Nativity figures have drawn crowds each Christmas season.

In 2009, the display was moved from a raised area in front of the building to a small park to the east, where families can walk among the statues as they follow the story of the birth of Jesus.

State Auto Insurance Christmas Corner photographed Friday, December 16, 2016. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

December 16, 2016/0 Comments/by James

Scioto Mile

Images, Scenics, Wild Art

A little different take on the traditional Columbus skyline image.

Featured in 614 Magazine as their ‘Big Picture’ for November 2016

Kayaking along the Scioto Mile photographed Saturday, November 5, 2016. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

November 5, 2016/0 Comments/by James

Hampton Inn Kent

Architecture, Images, Places

The Hampton Inn Kent photographed Thursday, October 20, 2016 for Witness Hospitality, Inc.

The Hampton Inn Kent photographed Thursday, October 20, 2016 for Alliance Hospitality. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

October 20, 2016/0 Comments/by James

Hampton Inn Middleburg Heights

Architecture, Images, Places

The Hampton Inn Middleburg Heights photographed Wednesday, October 19, 2016 for Witness Hospitality, Inc.

The Hampton Inn Middleburg Heights photographed Wednesday, October 19, 2016 for Alliance Hospitality. (© James D. DeCamp | http://JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

October 19, 2016/0 Comments/by James

Blue Jackets Opening Night

Architecture, Events, Images, Sports

The Columbus Blue Jackets Opening night photographed Thursday, October 13, 2016 at Nationwide Arena.

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October 13, 2016/0 Comments/by James

Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station

Images, Places, Scenics, Travel

The Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station photographed Sunday August 21, 2016.

The Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station is a decommissioned nuclear power plant built by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) in Herald, California.

In 1966, SMUD purchased 2,100 acres (850 ha) in southeast Sacramento County for a nuclear power plant, which was built in Herald, 25 miles (40 km) south-east of downtown Sacramento.

In the early 1970s, a small pond was expanded to a 160-acre (65 ha) lake to serve as an emergency backup water supply for the station. The lake has always received its water from the Folsom South Canal and has no relationship with the power plant’s daily water supply. Surrounding the lake is 400 acres (160 ha) of recreational area originally operated by the County of Sacramento for day-use activities.

The 2,772 MWt Babcock & Wilcox pressurized water reactor (913 MWe) achieved initial criticality on 16 September 1974 and entered commercial operation on 17 April 1975.

On 20 March 1978 a failure of power supply for the plant’s non-nuclear instrumentation system led to steam generator dryout. (ref NRC LER 312/78-001). In an ongoing study of “precursors” that could lead to a nuclear disaster if additional failures were to have occurred, in 2005 the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission concluded that this event at Rancho Seco was the third most serious safety-related occurrence in the United States (Behind the Three Mile Island accident and the cable tray fire at Browns Ferry).

The plant operated from April 1975 to June 1989 but had a lifetime capacity average of only 39%; it was closed by public vote on 7 June 1989 (despite the fact that its operating license did not expire until 11 October 2008) after multiple referendums.

Operation of the recreational area was assumed by SMUD in 1992. In cooperation with the Nature Conservancy, SMUD dedicated in June 2006 the Howard Ranch Nature Trail, a seven-mile (11 km) long trail that follows riparian and marsh habitat along Rancho Seco Lake and the adjoining Howard Ranch that once belonged to the owner of the famous racehorse Seabiscuit.

All power generating equipment has been removed from the plant and the now-empty cooling towers remain a prominent part of the local landscape. Also scattered throughout the area around the plant are abandoned air raid sirens that at one time would have warned people of a radioactivity release from the station. Additions to SMUD’s Rancho Seco property have included massive solar installations and, more recently, the natural gas-fired Cosumnes Power Plant, brought online in 2006.

On 23 October 2009, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released the majority of the site for unrestricted public use, while approximately 11 acres (4.5 ha) of land including a storage building for low-level radioactive waste and a dry-cask spent fuel storage facility remain under NRC licenses. The plant cost $375 million when it was built in 1974 and it cost about $120 million (in 1974 dollars) to decommission according to the SMUD Rancho Seco Nuclear Education Center.

The Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station is a decommissioned nuclear power plant built by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) in Herald, California photographed Sunday August 21, 2016. (© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

August 21, 2016/0 Comments/by James

Calaveras Big Trees State Park

Images, Places, Scenics, Travel

Giant Sequoias photographed along the South Grove Loop at the Calaveras Big Trees State Park in the Stanislaus National Forest photographed Sunday August 21, 2016.

More images available in a gallery HERE.

Calaveras Big Trees State Park is a state park of California, United States, preserving two groves of giant sequoiatrees. It is located 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Arnold, California in the middle elevations of the Sierra Nevada. It has been a major tourist attraction since 1852, when the existence of the trees was first widely reported, and is considered the longest continuously operated tourist facility in California.

The area was declared a state park in 1931 and now encompasses 6,498 acres (2,630 ha) in Calaveras and Tuolumnecounties.

Over the years other parcels of mixed conifer forests, including the much larger South Calaveras Grove of Giant Sequoias(purchased in 1954 for US $2.8 million, equivalent to US $25 million in 2017 dollars), have been added to the park to bring the total area to over 6,400 acres (2,600 ha). The North Grove contains about 100 mature giant sequoias; the South Grove, about 1,000. According to Naturalist John Muir the forest protected by the park is: “A flowering glade in the very heart of the woods, forming a fine center for the student, and a delicious resting place for the weary.”

The North Grove included the “Discovery Tree”, noted by Augustus T. Dowd in 1852 and felled in 1853, leaving a giant stump, the only remainder of the tree. It measured 25 feet in diameter at its base and was determined by ring count to be 1,244 years old when felled. At the time the grove was discovered by white explorers, the Discovery Tree was measured by Dowd and others as the largest tree, and it was cut down to advertise the tourist attraction. Today only a fire-blackened snag remains of the Mother of the Forest, and the Discovery Tree has been renamed the Big Stump; the largest tree in the North Grove today is the Empire State tree, which measures 30 feet at ground level and 23 feet at 6 feet above ground.

In addition to the popular North Grove, the park also now includes the South Grove, with a 5-mile (8.0 km) hiking trip into a grove of giant sequoias in their natural setting. The South Grove includes the Louis Agassiz tree, 250 feet (76 m) tall and more than 25 feet (7.6 m) in diameter 6 feet (1.8 m) above ground, the largest tree in the Calaveras groves. It is named after zoologist Louis Agassiz (1807–1873).

Other attractions in the Park include the Stanislaus River, Beaver Creek, the Lava Bluff Trail, and Bradley Trail.

The park houses two main campgrounds with a total of 129 campsites, six picnic areas and hundreds of miles of established trails.

Giant Sequoias photographed along the South Grove Loop at the Calaveras Big Trees State Park in the Stanislaus National Forest photographed Sunday August 21, 2016. (© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)