This is one of my favorite local Churches, but its very hard to get a great shot because there is a hideous telephone pole with transformers just to the left and they are nearly impossible to avoid and the other tough part is the steeple is so high above the rest of the structure it requires a very wide shot which ends up with too much empty sky. I rarely cut a building like this but did so to keep the ginkgo visible.
I was headed out to do an event photo when I drove past this feed mill and thought to myself I need to try a shot there some day. Fast forward 45 minutes in time and I am heading back home as the sun was setting so I decide to grab a shot. Pretty sure they all felt like I did in the sense they all wanted to get home and relax after a hard days work.
What you see here is a sea of gold thanks to the beautiful Ginkgo tree. The Ginkgo is a very unique tree and it has been said to have the most synchronized leaf drop of any tree and I have witnessed this myself many times were the tree is completely golden one day and the next day all the leaves are on the ground. This tree was at Linden Hall in Lititz,Pa and I literally shot the tree in complete foliage on a Friday and it looked like this on Saturday. I literally got them at their best color long before any fading could occur. I will have a couple angles from this location this week. Unfortunately one thing I could do nothing about was the banner tied to the pillars. The light shining toward the camera was from a street light that I hid with a pillar.
Another image of one of my favorite properties in the area. This angle would be good in winter with a sleigh going by.
I took this image last week and all the leaves are gone now but there was a real chill in the air that hinted at Winter’s impending arrival. On this night,this solid old farmhouse with it’s thick walls and a warm fireplace crackling in the background would be a great place to just snuggle up with a book, the family dog, or your spouse perhaps? I suggest you stock up on your favorite tea, hot chocolate or cider now because old man Winter is chomping at the bit. If we are lucky, maybe it will be a brutally cold winter that kills all the stink bugs and lantern flies and their eggs.
In a world of ever increasing gadgets and technology, I find that there seems to be more and more of a disconnect between people and simply saying hello to your neighbors has now been replaced with mind numbing texts and social media postings about absolutely nothing of significance. The term social media is about as far from reality as you can get. Their are a lot in the latest generation that will grow older realizing they have wasted much of their life accomplishing nothing of any substance.
Todays post reminds me of when I was young and instead of wasting time on the phone, my grandpa would take me to the farm shown above and we would cut and load firewood together on weekends. I have heard it said that most people will not remember you for what you accomplished, but rather how you made them feel and I believe that is true. This image resonates simplicity and calm, and I fear the generation coming up will never have those personal interactions that create memories for a lifetime.
This group of trees provide a nice relaxing welcome home feeling for the homeowners who live at the end of this path. I imagine the cares of the day just melt away as they leave the main road and head back the lane to their little corner of paradise.
This is the old train station in Lititz, Pa which now serves as a visitors center. The large building in the back is the former Wilbur chocolate plant that closed and has been renovated into a very beautiful Restaurant, Hotel, select market shops and more. Little by little more rooms are lighting up as the project advances. This was a few days ago and I shot this in the middle of a steady blowing rain storm that was a real challenge to work in. One detail I like is the shadow that was cast toward the camera when I backlit the town clock. Because of the rain, I had very few people going into the park which made it nice to shoot.
Cold air moves in from the north as this combine unloads another corn harvest into an awaiting wagon. Those combines are very good at their respective tasks and make getting the job done a fairly simple procedure.
A view down main street in Lititz,Pa with fall foliage at its peak. I was somewhat surprised the street was as car free as it was which was perfect to get this shot.
This photo was taken last week as I was driving around in search of autumn images. This image was 30-50 feet off the road and what appears to be a large pond in the foreground is actually a 15 foot puddle of rain runoff. To further complicate things, there were two discarded orange traffic cones tossed in the middle of the “pond” that were impossible to reach without getting soaked. I decided it had enough potential to shoot and I would try to clone the cones out in photoshop if possible. Well it was easier than I envisioned and it turned out lovely, but without a keen eye and the ability to see the potential in a small puddle, it would never have come into being. Looking at your subject from different angles and heights, wether high or low can really bring an image to the next level.
Not much surprises me these days but being given the finger by this Amish boy who was hauling pumpkins with his younger sister made me do a double take. I was simply driving the backroads when I rounded this bend and saw a wagon of pumpkins headed my way. I pulled over to watch it pass and we each nodded to the other and I snapped a few frames as it climbed the hill. As I was ready to leave, in the rear view mirror I see another wagonload heading my way. Once again I waited and took a few shots of this crew heading up the hill,and all of a sudden he turns and flips me off. I wondered what pop on the first wagon might have thought about that. Times, they are a changing. Maybe its the new welcome to Lancaster,county gesture?
I took this image in the Lititz Springs park and I am not exactly sure if this is the main spring or an area that holds the water from the springs, but you could see it flowing up from a few places in the area. This was taken with my 17-35 zoom at almost its widest view and I am backed up to a wall that goes around the springs from the steps on each side. This was taken on a night that was supposed to have bad storms and winds were maybe 20mph but it stayed dry while I shot. Thankfully the leaves surrounding the water were sheltered by the wall but out past the wall they were being blown all over the place. The green in the water was algae on rocks and I was surprised how well it showed up.
Nights like this are great for having the place all to yourself but I did have a crazy situation arise that was a little sketchy. At one point across the park I could hear some teen girl swearing and it was about two or three minutes later I notice two black males around 17 to 20 years old sprinting from one end of the park to the other? It was getting much darker than my photo appears and I was taking all this activity in from the shadows wondering what was up? All of a sudden they see me standing in this area and come running full speed till they are literally three feet in front of me. The one guy immediately starts demanding to know if I just slapped his baby girl? I told them how long I had been there photographing and they said “some white dude just walked up and slapped his baby girl across the face” and the one was itching to whoop somebody and his most memorable comment to me was ” I believe I am about to get out of my character if I catch this dude” They kept asking me if I saw anybody run my direction, and I said no, but the funny thing is, I did have one shot in my series that actually had a guy in it that looked similar to what they described.
Donald Reese Photography 