This is an early morning shot I did in Bethlehem,Pa and because we stayed at the hotel on the left,I could sleep a tad bit longer than usual. I did a shot the night before here in this spot but it was non-stop traffic,so the lesson here is get up early and miss the crowd. For this precise angle,I actually moved my truck from the hotel lot to this spot on the street so I could guarantee the view was unencumbered by other vehicles and I shot from my truck roof to get the slightly elevated perspective. The hotel was gorgeous inside and we really enjoyed our short stay here, and the old street lights added a wonderful ambiance. As we ate breakfast in the hotel, we enjoyed looking at all the celebrity photos on the wall that had stayed here, and they included everyone from John F. Kennedy to Bob Hope to Frank Sinatra. I joked to my daughter that I was going to buy a frame like they had on all the photos and next time we visit,I was going to exchange a photo of me with one of the framed celebrities and see how long it takes for anyone to notice.

I spent a day in Bethlehem, PA recently and went wandering around looking for photos. I decided to head up the hill because I noticed a few church steeples and low and behold I come across this stunning church. It was built in 1885 and was donated to Lehigh university by Mary Packer in memory of her father Asa Packer. Asa was a pioneer in railroad construction and founded the university. There is so much detail in this place,and it is stunning in my estimation.

This beautiful antique Russian sleigh was generously loaned for display at the Ironmasters Christmas event which is held every two years. I have been blessed to be given access to shoot different displays at this mansion event over the years and when I saw this sleigh, I could not stop thinking about trying to capture it somehow. This Russian sleigh is one of a kind and obviously the owners are very protective of it and that is why it was displayed inside the one building which made it next to impossible to capture, but after reassuring the owners it will remain anonymous they agreed to let me try to photograph it after the show was over and they were ready to load it up. It seems as I get older I have come to appreciate things that I consider works of art that were made by skilled craftsmen and when I compare what we do today to those of olden times, we fall miserably short for the most part.

The sleigh was made by Brewster and Company of New York in 1893 and was made specifically as an exhibition piece to showcase the company’s skill at the Worlds fair in Chicago that same year. The Brewster company had an international reputation for making some of the finest horse-drawn vehicles and were in the London exhibition in 1862 and the Paris exhibition in 1878 as well. This particular sleigh was made for the Columbian exhibition in 1893 and was awarded a prize. It was later purchased by Albert Moore of Philadelphia for $2,500 dollars and it weighed 515 pounds and was trimmed in pale green silk plush. Old archives also list it as having arctic fox foot rugs, bear fur edges and carved dolphins,which to me look like dragons,but it was explained to me that was their perception of dolphins back then.

The entire body is carved to resemble a shell with cattails and it took 6 months to build,with the carving taking five months alone.If I recall my conversation with the owner correctly,I believe he related to me this sleigh was found in an outside garden basically being consumed by mother nature. It was meticulously restored to its original state and is once again a true one of a kind work of art. I wish it could have been captured without its rug base but that is permanently attached to facilitate easy moving. If you notice there is a screen material to see out the front and there was a driver who sat behind the royalty or distinguished passengers at the back of the shell area. I can picture this coming down some snowy wooded lane outside St Petersburg as the castle reveals itself in the distance. I am sure this could be created today,much like it was back then, but then folks would have to put down their all important smart phones and stop relaying every nuance of their self-absorbed lives on Facebook,so for now I guess we will just have to appreciate what is possible by seeing what people from the past did when they committed time to their God-given abilities and devoted their efforts to something of value. I know I am getting old when I rant about technology and its effect on our society.

For the image,I blasted my flash out the window to get the light on the ground and then used my deer spotlight to light paint the sleigh. This building is where the sleigh was displayed and this was shot just before it got loaded on the trailer,and the owners were very understanding of my passion to shoot this thing and gave me ample time to accomplish my goal.

RlPS architects did another stunning gingerbread display this year again. this subway scene was below the street scene above.

This is the Historic Ephrata Cloister, and every year around Christmas they offer lantern tours of the site. I stopped by to see if they would consider letting me do a shot with the lanterns sometime and because it was at least an hour till the tour was starting,they said I could do a shot right away if I wanted. I was under the gun to quickly get set up because the sun had already set and it was getting dark quickly. All the lanterns were sitting by the visitors center so I had to position them along the path and light them as well in a few minutes time. I set my camera up, and decided to use my tablet to operate the camera on what is called live view, where it opens the shutter and gives me a live shot of the scene,so I just looked at my tablet and positioned the lanterns where I thought they looked good from the camera position. Anytime you have light like this,you have to shoot at the right time so you can hold detail in the bright flame and match the ambient light. There is a period of time that lasts maybe five minutes where everything is balanced,but it does not last long. Would love to do this shot in the snow sometime,but there was just enough moisture on the walkway to give a little reflection of the warm lanterns to give a nice result without snow. The two lamp posts were also dark because they have some sort of electrical problem and the grounds keeper said they have no idea where the problem is, so all the old posts are out right now. I lit the posts with flash to bring them to life and save the day.

Another one of my store Christmas window shots from this year.

A simple entranceway offers a warm inviting view in downtown Lititz.

This nativity welcomes patrons to the local eye doctors office.The folks here were nice enough to let me inside to blast my flash out the window to get the light rays on the ground.

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Santa pulled his sleigh right up on the porch at this home,which was all decorated for the Christmas season. Santa had the sleigh loaded up with presents and children were nestled in their beds dreaming of their stockings filled to overflowing.

Nice light,gorgeous woodwork and Christmas lights downtown are all the ingredients for a picture perfect shot. This is a local bake shop,hence my title.

These three trees were part of the mansion event and the wood floors were reflecting the colors nicely. I went outside and used my flash to cast the shadows up on the ceiling from the windows

This looks like a great place to cozy up by the fireplace as the cold winter winds blow outside. A toboggan ride down the local hill, some hot chocolate and then a warm blanket to take a nap and you are all set. This is one of the displays at the mansion event I shoot every two years.

there was more than diamonds shimmering on this December night at the jewelry store. The colored balls were shining brightly and just had to be captured.

This little shop window was decorated with a musical theme.You had Elvis,the Beatles and more. I lit this with my deer spotlight.

This store window has been lovingly decorated for the Christmas season. It is a challenge shooting through a huge piece of glass that wants to reflect everything around it, but a little effort and you got it.

Several buggies make their way through town on a Sunday morning as the Christmas decor provides a welcoming atmosphere.

This is a small town nearby and I shot it on a sunday evening to get the traffic free road. I lit everything with wireless flash.The building across the street was an old hardware store for decades and now has been lovingly taken over by a family that decorates all three floors windows for passersby to enjoy. It is no longer a hardware store though.

Same tree as yesterday but from the opposite side.Now if I could just get someone silhouetted in the window?

An Amish buggy heads down a country road as it passes under the outstretched limbs of a giant old tree. They do not come much larger around here and this one dominates the landscape along this stretch of road.

This is the third image from the mansion Christmas tree event.It features the local doll club display which is always a favorite of mine. A friend always said they creep him out,but I always get a feeling of nostalgia when I see the scene the club creates.You have to see this in person to see the level of detail they put into the layout.I lit this scene entirely with my deer spotlight with a diffuser on it.

One interesting note on this image is I am given a key to get in this place to shoot and I always come around 5 am when it is dark so I can set up my gear and start shooting before the window light overpowers the shot. I arrived this saturday and decided to use the restroom first,which is located down the hall from the doll display. As I rounded the corner here, I saw the huge live tree with all its decorations laying on its side on the floor and all the decorations were scattered everywhere. There is a running joke here about ghosts in the mansion and I have heard a few strange sounds over the years but nothing to make me high tail it,and yet that’s the first thing that crossed my mind. I knew they turn off all the trees before closing up so everything was in order the night before.

I thought to myself there is no way on this earth they are going to believe this tree just fell over on its own and I thought they will think I did it and they will never let me in again. I called the lady who runs everything and she was extremely nice about it and asked if I would stay and help her right the thing. Well as it turns out, we stood the tree up in the stand and I started turning the bolts in the base and the bolt in the front kept turning forever until I realized it was totally stripped. All I can say is thank goodness I could show her that,and more amazing was the fact that the tree fell in the very best possible direction,missing the entire gingerbread area and only lightly hitting the two dolls on the left. I returned the following morning to shoot the now fixed doll display and would you believe the bathroom light and fan were running as I got to the back of the mansion. It was a little weird but it’s just one of those stories from the mansion.

This was a spur of the moment shot I decided to do on a miserable rainy night this week. It features a beautiful mural done by a local artist on the local VFW building. I lit the house on the corner with flash to get the cool reflection in the wet road.This is another road that is hard to capture without traffic getting in the shot.

I got a call from someone I know who always has something nice to say about my work and she had a request to capture a shot of her hometown main street Christmas decorations. I knew the street was super busy most of the time and the street lights are very bright,so they tend to become way too bright before the rest of the scene settles in. I told her I would think about it, and then because I tend to be the type of person that likes to get things done, I went the same night and tried to find an angle. I picked an angle up the hill behind me and twenty minutes into the shot,I noticed this better angle and so I started over here. This image is comprised of maybe 8 to 12 individual shots to get everything right. One shot was just of the sky and the bright lights at the right exposure and then I shot a series of images capturing most of the street without cars and their headlights in each area of the street. The hardest piece was the area on the near left that is a post office and it had two cars parked there for nearly 45 minutes. They finally left and I could capture that area without ugly vehicles there. I had an umbrella on a pole over the tripod the whole time but it was a very raw and wet night,but in reality I was glad I made the effort and it turned out to be a great photo thanks to the shimmering road and the festive lights.