This image is one of several from this past Sunday that I was blessed to have come across in my 12 hour fall foliage adventure. I started the day with yesterdays Sunrise image at French Creek state park and upon leaving there decided just to start driving back roads I had never been on before. I spent the rest of the morning and up until sunset keeping my eyes peeled for possibilities. This shot was taken later in the day and the pond was maybe a football field set back behind houses. A lane went back to a cul-de-sac, and the pond was just behind and brimming with color. I knocked and asked if this was their pond and could I take a couple shots? The gentleman said sure, just stay on the far side of a row of pines so his dogs would leave me alone. Well as it turns out the sun was horrendous from that side so I decided to see if I could move to the good side and not become lunch at the same time! Thankfully the wife was working in the garden and gave me her blessing to find a better spot and the dogs did approach but were on their best behavior. I used to frequent New England and this pond takes me right back to some great fall memories there. My one literal downfall was seeing a stunning red maple in the back right corner you cannot see that I wanted to get too. There was an area full of poison ivy, brambles and all manner of thorny, grabby plants that actually sent me to the ground twice in my struggle so I finally admitted defeat. Whatever the plant was, it had thorns that caught your pants and trying to muscle through them is what sent me crashing down. That and poison ivy that latched onto any shred of clothing you were wearing. This was one spot that offered a view of the water and is one of my favorites from my Autumn shooting. A special thanks to generous owners!

Started my day off yesterday with this calm lake sunrise!

I spent three hours Saturday morning out shooting foliage and then headed out again at 5am this morning shooting till dark for a full twelve hour whirlwind tour. I got a good number of shots I was pleased with which will have me posting till the middle of Winter! This shot was taken at Middle Creek as the last rays of sun skim across the lake.

This is my hometown park on one of those days when a light fog greets the sunrise. Granted this is well after sunrise and I was actually ready to leave when I noticed the rays of light piercing the fog. I usually try and include the sun in shots like this and by using the foliage as a way to filter the suns intensity you get this result!

This is another angle from the fenced in pasture. I don’t know how so much beauty can be contained within this fence but this property sure was full of color from one end to the other and had me reminiscing about the times I would head to New England in the fall and sleep in my truck. I had quite a cozy cushion setup under me and nice warm blankets no matter how cold it got. On more than one occasion I woke to the entire interior covered in frozen condensation.

I came across these tall Maples in a row right beside the road. After careful consideration I decided to lay low on the ground and hide the road completely with the grass across the street.

Some nice fall foliage, a nice fountain and a carpet of fallen leaves. What more do you need?

This property caught my eye last year with its beautiful fall foliage, so this year I decided to ask if I could have permission to wander around the area inside the fence to photograph the fall color. Thankfully the owners were willing to let me see what I could capture and I hope to go one more time before daylight savings ends this weekend. The white fence borders the pasture which slopes down into a small ravine where they have a couple highland cows roaming about. When the cattle first approach you to check you out, their horns can look intimidating but these guys are as sweet as can be. This is one of several I will be sharing as I get to them.

An Amish farm has a large garden of flowers for those who like to pick their own.

A nice assortment of Autumn color on display here!

I headed out this morning at 6:00 am to shoot fall foliage at a location I got permission to explore and it was a great spot that yielded several great images. Fast forward to a couple hours ago and I found myself again heading out to see if I could get one more shot captured before evening took hold. I checked on a favorite old farm I have captured numerous times and I noticed the neighbor had a beautiful maple tree ablaze so I knocked for permission to try and use it to frame the old barn buildings. The owners were kind enough to let me shoot so I shot this image capturing their home, a garden area and the neighbors barn I went to shoot as a thank you. This garden area is 2 feet from the road, so I literally had my tripod collapsed all the way to the ground and I got the shot with my tripod sitting in the lane of travel. I think 4 cars passed till I had the shot but no one gave me a hard time. Fall is my favorite time of year with crisp days and bountiful colors.

Been a while since posting, but fall is coming on strong and I hope to share quite a few. This is a small local farm stand that brings out this old truck as part of their fall display! The mums seemed behind a good bit with full blooming ones outnumbered by quite a bit. I had to keep an eye out for cars as I was standing on the edge of a busy road to get this shot!

Shot this set of images after a summer storm came through. You usually have to scramble to capture a fleeting Rainbow and the local park was very close so I was able to get the Rainbow and twenty minutes later I shot the opposite direction to get these clouds! It was actually a double Rainbow but the second one never got as bright as the main one.

Getting on my stomach to get a shot these days is pretty rare but I always liked this local church so I went for it. This shot was taken with the Nikon 14-24 which is a great lens.

This farm is very lovely and the coneflowers across the street were an added bonus!

Pardon my delay in posting things from last month but here is the small town of Lititz, Pa getting all decked out for the 4th of July. The day I decided to take a few shots the wind was fairly strong and even better it was consistent.

This set of three photos are from the Swiss Pioneers farm days in Lancaster County and they are demonstrating using a horse on a treadmill to power machines processing hay. They also had four horses walking in a large circle that was a variant of this idea. These horses have been part of this event for several years and they seem well taken care of and they seem more powerful in their musculature.

The three boys operating this half scale steam tractor seemed to have everything under control as they maneuvered around at Big Springs farm days. The youngest of the three had it easy riding in the wagon behind the tractor. The upper photo shows the big boy tractors in the background.

This Steam Tractor caught my eye because it seemed someone took very good care of it. I heard one man explain it is rated for 25 horsepower which seems like very little till he said it was able to pull as much as 25 work horses which is rather impressive.

This huge engine is located at the Rough and Tumble site and was removed from a natural gas supply station and completely brought back to working order by the men at Rough and Tumble. I think I heard them say it will run for 6 minutes on a twenty pound tank of propane.

Tractor games are part of Rough and Tumble’s Threshermen’s Reunion. These two are in line to compete on the main show track.

Today I thought I would share an image I captured last week at work. We had an old warehouse beside our main building that needed to come down for several reasons. I would go out every once in a while to capture the progression of the demolition. this was the second day and the interior of the building is already on the other side of that wall completely collapsed into the basement. So I go out and talk directly to the guy working the excavator who is basically down below where the wall is missing. I ask him are you going to pull that remaining wall down into the center of the debris and he says definitely in a few minutes. So I immediately walk uphill by the cedar tree on the left and proceed to walk to the right! So I am about where that high bouncing cinder block on the left is and I am looking at the wall and notice it start to oscillate so I start walking a little faster just in case and boom, it all comes crashing down toward me! I had a 14-24 wide angle on, had exposure set already and when I saw it coming I turned my camera toward it and fired a sequence hoping to capture something as I retreated. Since I was shooting wide angle I am pretty sure those blocks were even closer than they appear here. When the wall hit the ground it exploded with some decent energy, enough so several cinder blocks actually went about 8 feet inside an open garage to the left and I remember contemplating running in there when it all started. For me it was not one of those heart pounding adrenaline rush moments, but when I look at the force behind the flying blocks, I am pretty sure that could have been a life altering impact. My guess is the operator was trying to pull something off the other side and exerted a little more pressure than he intended. To top it off my boss was standing to the far right 40-50 yards away watching it all. She said you do anything for the shot?

This Chapel is one I always thought was so pretty and having the dogwood in bloom added a nice extra touch. Their is a hideous small structure that covers a set of stairs going to the basement near the front three windows that I could not let stand so I removed it. Whoever built this obnoxious addition should be run out of town as it has no visual appeal!

This is a farm I photographed months ago and the owners were very friendly and said stop back anytime! Well I happened past last week and noticed the flowering trees so I took a couple shots. I would prefer overcast for these but the sun did not want to relent for me.

This flowering tree has a very graceful flow to it!

This property used to be run down and neglected but a few years ago it was sold and the new owners have transformed it into a real gem within the community. The wife takes much pride and joy in decorating the porch for various times and events taking place through the year and her husband is right there to help insure things go as planned. The gorgeous flowering tree only added to the beauty.

A local funeral home had this lovely patch of tulips in bloom.

A red barn is framed by a patch of mustard and a flowering tree.

This is a small town Church that is somewhat of a challenge to get a decent shot of. I noticed this small patch of tulips across the street so I snapped a quick shot. There are about a million power lines that I removed to end up here. This is a very busy road as well so its hard to get a no car shot.

I have been a little busy this spring doing mulching and spring cleanup and subsequently I have not had time to look for spring scenes. This last week has been popping with color so I did manage to capture a few to share! This is a local cemetery where my Grandma is buried and last week her daughter, my Aunt was laid to rest here. I happened to glance at the cemetery while driving by and noticed this one section seemed to be alive with color. It is not my favorite view of the church but since this section was the only one with the spring display, I had no other option. For all I know these are all gone by now as I heard a mower somewhere on the back side of the hill.

This is the Square in Lititz, Pa after a fluffy coating of snow created a lovely scene.

Believe it or not this is actually a color photo taken after a fluffy snow covered everything in a picture perfect coating the night before. I shot this as I headed to work after being out for most of the night and being totally exhausted from lack of sleep.

This beautiful property is the home of a local therapeutic Horse riding Facility. I was given permission one bitter cold morning to go into this pasture to capture the sun coming up behind these magnificent trees. The Horses were all comfortable inside the stable while I was outside freezing to capture this shot. We had a nice coating of shimmering ice on top of the snow for a week or so and one warm day took the shine away slightly but this will do.

When you are the only one out at 3am you get the benefit of solitude in a Winter Wonderland!

This was the last little snowstorm we got and it stuck to everything quite nicely. I went to bed at 11:00pm, got up two hours later and looked out and just felt like I had to go out and shoot something. By 7am I felt like I was going to drop over from lack of sleep which reminded me I am no spring chicken anymore! This is Lititz, Pa which they hang these edison lights along the shopping district sometimes in the winter. They are tough to shoot because they are so bright and everything else is so dim. Waiting for the morning ambient light to climb helps but they always seem to have a glow around them that makes it tricky to use a different exposure to blend them in.