Revisiting shoots taken at Oliver Winery

In observance of a somewhat recent practice here of periodically revisiting some of my older photo shoots -- those occurring before Photo Potpourri launched in December 2008 -- photos in today's post are from two visits I made Oliver Winery in Bloomington, Ind., some years ago.

One of the shoots, indeed occurred before this blog began. It was from a trip I took with my daughters on Oct. 18, 2008. The other was from four years later, but I never used any of the pictures from that visit at the blog.

While reviewing the photos in preparation for composing this post, I was struck by how the pictures were unlike pretty much any other visit I've taken to a winery or craft brewery. The Oliver Winery pictures were devoted entirely to the outdoors and landscape. Nothing was taken indoors -- no tasting room, no huge wine vats, no bottles of wine for sale on the shelves, nada.

Obviously I was struck by the vista.

Most of the pictures you see here -- the florals, foliage and waterfall landscaping -- were taken on my first visit; the two pictures of the pond and green meadow were taken in the subsequent visit.

Photo geek stuff: My primary DSLR camera in October 2008 was a Canon 30D, and I still was using a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 as my primary walk-around lens. By summer 2012, I'd moved up to my Canon 7D, and my primary walk-around lens then was the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L. The 24-70mm is still my preferred lens for important shoots and everything short-range and wide-angle that is indoors. But today, more often than not, the Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lens is on my camera outdoors because of its versatility, clarity and reach.

Above: My daughters Elizabeth (left) and Kelly Anne with me in a shot taken by another visitor who kindly offered to get us all into a group shot.