This is a spotted lantern fly that is an invasive species here. It showed up this summer in large numbers and has the fruit industry in a panic. It is a pretty insect but very destructive to fruit. check out this Youtube video to see how intense they can be. All I can say is thank goodness they don’t bite or sting.
I shot this a couple of months ago and finally got around to posting it. I used a long lens which helped but as soon as they knew it was picture time, they did an about-face and headed down the lane toward home. It was very cute because the girls had doll babies they had along for the ride.
Two different shots I took at the same location but a day or two apart. The bottom shot was when I first noticed the scene and the upper is the first chance I had to come back and shoot it in the evening. Rain and wind took them down pretty quickly but I like each shot for its own appeal.
I shot this image a couple of weeks ago of one of several murals done by high school students near the towns visitors center. I used my ladder and pole setup to get up about 12 feet off the ground to capture this.
I am including a link to the magazine where I mentioned my work was being used as part of a story on Lititz. Anyone not from my area can see the nice story they did along with my photos.
https://www.lancastercountymag.com/christmas-in-lititz/
Sunlight shines through a narrow opening between buildings illuminating this maple tree in Lititz
This is a second image I shot on this very rainy night. What caught my eye was the water puddling everywhere and the reflecting lights and fall foliage. I have never seen this much water collecting in this usually dry area so I felt I needed to tough out the miserable conditions to capture this.
This evening found me shooting in the pouring rain in the Lititz Springs Park and my determination was certainly put to the test under what was basically a non-stop downpour. The whole time I was shooting I only saw one other poor soul walking through with an umbrella. There is a magazine in my area called Lancaster County Magazine and they contacted me this year to be included in a story on Christmas in Lititz in their December issue. I just saw the magazine tonight and the article was wonderful and their printing was an exact match to my images.
My hometown park was looking its fall best this past week. Two days later the leaves were almost all on the ground.
I found this pretty scene at a local park during a rainy fall day. This spot is usually dry but heavy rain left some rather large puddles that reflected the birch and fall foliage nicely. Without the reflection I am not sure I would have shot this scene. I did hit the birch, bushes and fallen leaves with some light to help their reflections to be nice and clear.
Another rainy night finds me getting wet for a good cause in the local park. I like the lamp posts along this entrance to the park and the fall color made for a nice image.
Sometimes too much rain can actually help with photo opportunities and this shot is an example of that. There is a walking path that goes right beside these maples but thanks to heavy rain, the creek which is to the right was high and runoff was collecting in several low areas. The water provided a good reflection and the sunset contributed as well. I was wearing muck boots which are about a foot high and after I finished shooting I was walking on the path in about 8 inches of water when I must have ventured off the trail and found myself with water cascading into my boots.
We have been having more than our fair share of rain this year and thankfully I had a little glimmer of enthusiasm to go shoot something in the rain this week. To look at this scene, one would think it is along a quiet street but it’s not and I shot this at what was most likely the busiest time of the day. I had quite a few 2 to 8 second exposures that were ruined by cars whipping by, but there were a few rare moments when it was clear. If you look close you can see a road going between the two buildings and while I was over in that section lighting the large pine tree and the building, I was standing on the road and had to jump on the sidewalk more than once when a car would come turning off the main road in a hurry. One thing for photographers wanting to try shots like this is you must blast the subject with too much light if you want to get a decent reflection in the rainy street because even though the building is overexposed, the reflection is perfect. You simply shoot a separate exposure for the building with your flash dialed down. Also my camera was sitting just in front of my truck on a tripod with an umbrella over it and cars flying by three feet away so that had me a little worried.
This is not the first time I snapped a shot of this quaint home and it’s probably not the last either. This was the best angle to catch the fall foliage so even though I wish more of the house was showing , I still felt this was a good angle.
Donald Reese Photography 