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[Lupe Garu]

For Iowa/Nebraska there is the Pedestrian Bridge the spans the Missouri river connecting Omaha and Council Bluffs. Also the Old Market (Omaha) in general is a great place! (The Old Market Passageway is my favorite spot, there is a gallery there with and AMAZING garden)
In Council Bluffs, Iowa there is the Black Angel, Lake Manawa, Bayliss Park, and possibly the Squirrel Cage Jail.

[EvilLittleKiss]

Originally Posted by ToasterPuppy

Missouri -
-Botanical gardens. They have everything from rose gardens to rock zen gardens. You kind of have to just go there and explore but if your shoot is based around a more natural environment it will most likely have something for you.
Not sure if its open year round or even for photos but they also have a building were they have traditional tea ceremony during the Japanese festival.


I am lucky enough to live on a farm with a pond in the back so I can set up my outdoors photo shoot the extreme but I hope this can help someone

Nope, the tea house is only open during the Japanese festival. And you can't go inside of it anymore, so you could only take pictures outside of it.

[EvilLittleKiss]

Originally Posted by cuddly_kitten

I know this may seem kind of late.....buuutttt:

Missouri:

Japanese Garden

Very beautiful place located in Springfield, Missouri. Has a a small boardwalk to walk out onto the pond, pond is filled with a variety of fish like the Kohaku fish. There is full grown Bamboo, garden is well taken care of, and of course a little Sukiya style tea house.

St. Louis has a very beautiful one too, only the tea house is only open during the Japanese Festival (Labor Day weekend) and you can't go inside of it anymore.

[EvilLittleKiss]

I don't mean to spam, but here's another post.

Locations near St. Louis, MO:
~Botanical Gardens in St. Louis. Has everything from tropical plants to Victorian gardens to a Japanese one.
~Forest Park. It's bigger than Central Park, and has TONS of beautiful and fun places to take pictures. There's the zoo, the Jewel Box greenhouse, Art Hill, the Art Museum (which was a building from the 1904 World's Fair, so it'd look great for Edwardian/Victorian cosplays) the History museum, lovely park trails, the Science Center/Planetarium, (Good for futuristic/sci-fi cosplays...hell, the Planetarium was one of the main locations in the derpy 2006 sci-fi movie Black Hole.) and all sorts of other wonders. How much are all these? Almost everything in that park is FREE.
~The City Museum. Bring a flashlight for the caves, cosplay repair kit, and first aid kit. If you leave with a few bruises, you had fun.
~The Arch grounds get you a nice view of the Mississippi River.
~Castlewood State Park. Nice riverside beaches, secluded, quiet, and lots of flora.
~Historic St. Charles. Has the nice historic small town feel.
~Laumeier Sculpture Park. You can climb on certain statues, and even the natural woods look like a work of art.

Other MO locations:
~Mermac Caverns. One of the caves rooms used to be a freaking ballroom, so you'd have plenty of room in there for whatever.
~Lake of the Ozarks. It's beautiful.
~Various farms can be really pretty. Just get permission before you step on anyone's land. I think that most farm owners would be flattered that you think their farm is so pretty that you want to take pictures on it!
~St. Genevieve. It's a small city but has a LOVELY historical/small town charm that makes it so pretty.

IL locations:
~Cahokia Mounds. Ancient Native American ruins that look pretty cool.
~Lake Carlisle. Nice lakeside beaches.
~Somewhere on the coast of Lake Michigan and various parks in Chicago. (Last time I went I was in 3rd grade, so I can't remember anything about that city.)
~Various farms. (With permission! Trespassing charges are no fun!)

[CautiousAmber]

Another Missouri Location:
There's going to be a cosplay photoshoot event happening next summer on June 27 at the Carnahan Memorial Garden in Jefferson City. It's a GORGEOUS location right next to the Governor's Mansion, and has great stone arches and fountains etc.
http://www.facebook.com/events/496104817074886/

[Buddycat]

I"m surprised no one from Missouri has mentioned the National Museum of Transportation. http://www.transportmuseumassociation.org/ It's a great place for your Steampunk anime character. Check out our "Sartoraeus Chronicles" photo shoot from a few years ago: http://www.costume.org/gallery2/main...2_itemId=16233