What to Photograph When the Waterfalls Aren’t Flowing at Hocking Hills State Park

You’ve taken time off work, booked reservations, and driven all the way to Hocking Hills to capture the beauty of the many waterfalls at Hocking Hills. You get there and the water flow is really low.

This happened to me one fall. I was leading a photography shoot for my camera club. I made several scouting trips to Hocking Hills and informed the group of the less than optimal conditions. Several of the participants made non-refundable reservations and the group unanimously agreed to continue with the photo shoot.

So I needed to get creative. I made a couple more scouting trips and found some really cool photo opportunities that weren’t so dependent on the water flow.

Here is what I found.

Photography Opportunities in the Hocking Hills Area

Rock Mill

A covered bridge, mill, and waterfall in one composition? Really? Yep. No Kidding. I know I said “what to photograph when the waterfalls aren’t flowing”, but this waterfall still had a pretty good flow when the ones in Hocking Hills were low. Rock Mill is about 30 minutes north of Logan in Lancaster, Ohio.

Rock House

Rock House is a smaller cave structure with small openings in the cave. This is a good spot for HDR photography where you capture the dark interior of the cave with the bright forest outside the cave. You may need to be patient and wait for people to move out of your shot, especially later in the day.

Alley Park

Alley Park has a covered bridge and lodge located on the bank of a scenic lake. A good photo opportunity at any time, but really great if you can time the fall color. There is also a cabin on the property to photograph and a trail that goes through the forest area of the park. Alley Park is about 20 minutes north of Logan.

Lake Logan

A picturesque little lake near the town of Logan. It’s a good spot for fall landscape photographs with the colors near peak. I like to photograph it in the morning where you can get compositions from the marina, fishing pier and beach.

Horse in the Fall Colors at Slate Run Living Historical Farm

Slate Run Metro Park and Living Historical Farm

The highlight of this Metro Park is the Living Historical Farm. There are animals, farm equipment, farm buildings, and people in historical clothing working the farm. Amazingly, there is no fee to enter the farm.

Slate Run Metro Park also has a covered bridge (not as photogenic as Alley Park) and a nice trail around an island in the middle of a lake. Compositions of lily pads, fall color reflections and waterfowl can be found on the lake.

Clear Creek Metro Park

Scenic metro park close to Logan. There are several old cabins and barns to photograph in the park. There is also a large, colorful rock (Written Rock) on the road just west of the park Headquarters. There are also miles of hiking trails if you want to try some macro or bird photography.

Johnston Covered Bridge

Located just a few miles west of Clear Creek Metro Park in Two Glaciers Park. A white covered bridge with a decent sized creek underneath. Great for Infrared or Black and White photography.

Below is a video tour of what to photograph in and around Hocking Hills. If you like the video, I’d appreciate if you’d give it a “Thumbs Up”.

Written by Martin Belan

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