Hanover, overlooking the Ohio River

I mentioned in a post Friday that I had gone to Hanover, Ind., two days earlier to shoot photos of the men's Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference basketball game between the host Hanover College Panthers and the Rose-Hulman Institute Engineers, a game won by Hanover 69-66. I'm almost finished processing the huge batch of game shots I took that night.

I reached the college -- the oldest four-year private college in Indiana (1827) -- about an hour and 45 minutes before the game because I wanted to stroll the campus, especially to visit "The Point," a striking scenic overlook of the Ohio River on the far southeast corner of the property. Unfortunately, twilight threatened my optimum light threshold, so I shot as quickly as I could before making the slow walk to the Horner Health and Recreation Center, which is toward the center of campus. On the stroll to Horner, when it already was starting to turn dark, I grabbed some images of the stately academic buildings and landmarks. By the time I reached the arena, the sun had dipped below the horizon, transforming the day's remnants of natural light into a fleeting purple haze (apologies to Jimi Hendrix) that made for some striking pictures, as illustrated below. 

This post is about those non-game pictures -- beginning with several at "The Point," including the one at the top of this post (that's the Ohio River, with Kentucky on the left, Indiana on the right). The view looks downstream, or west. Game pictures will be forthcoming in the next couple days.

Above: Using the Ohio River as a depth-of-field backdrop to a patch of dried grass and one of several wooden guide posts situated along the bluff at the point where it drops off.

 

Above: Backing up a ways to utilize a tree to frame the Ohio River vista. This view also gives you a look at several of the wooden guide posts, left of the tree.

Above: Backing up even further, this time to add a spectator's bench to the vista. 

Above: It was cloudy the entire day Wednesday, and this capture of the western sky came about 10 minutes before the purple haze set in.

Above: Nicely landscaped rock plates -- limestone, perhaps? -- form a stairway for the modest trip down to the asphalt drive at The Point, the last level piece of land before the bluffs.

Above: This is part of the landscape at The Point.

 

Above: My first shot on my return trip to the basketball arena. This structure, Hendricks Hall, the oldest classroom building on campus, is the first you come upon as you make your way back toward the heart of campus. It was named for former Indiana Gov. Thomas A. Hendricks, Hanover Class of 1841, and has has been used for various purposes over the years; today it houses the Rivers Institute and Center for Business Preparation as well as a large conference room.

Above: A closeup of the belfry -- with clock and weather vane -- atop Parker Auditorium (below). 

Above and below: Views of the Science Center/Goodrich Hall, also built with a cupola -- with weather vane.

Above: The J. Graham Brown Campus Center. 

 

Above: A neat, free-standing clock at the intersection of Morse Lane and Ball Drive, the background showing the first glimpse of purple haze. As the clock indicates, I'm still about 50 minutes away from the 7:30 p.m. game start time.

 

Above: One angle of the Horner Health and Recreation Center, where purple haze has clearly set in. 

Above: The Hanover mascot, a Panther; I saw this one and at least one other one in the lobby of the rec center.

Above: A wall in the rec center devoted to plaque illustrations of inductees into the Hanover College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Above: The arena and court where both Hanover and Rose-Hulman players were warming up ... and the crowd had yet to fill in.

Above: Elsewhere in the rec center, this indoor running/walking track -- on an upper level -- can be found overlooking an expansive gymnasium, which is separate from the main athletic arena.

Above: Yet another bench (those of you familiar with my photography interests know I like to photograph new and different bench designs). This one sits in the rec center, just outside the main entrance to the basketball arena.