Category Archives: Landscape

Milmore Sphynx

Posted by reesephoto on

mount-auburn-cemetery4This sphinx is a bit out-of-place in a cemetery but it still is quite impressive and I shot this image in infrared. This is Martin Milmore’s Sphinx commissioned by Jacob Bigelow in commemoration of the preservation of the Union and the end of slavery. It sits facing the Bigelow chapel in mount auburn cemetery and was carved at this site from a single block of granite from Maine, it was completed in July 1872.

The inscription on the monument:
American Union preserved
African slavery destroyed
by the uprising of a great people
by the blood of fallen heroes

Beauty in a Window

Posted by reesephoto on

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As we drove down the street in Rockport Massachusetts, an art gallery caught my eye because of the warm light inside and the cool light of dusk outside. The owner was getting ready to close for the day so I was only able to get four exposures taken before the lights went out. The title of my image refers not only to the window overall but the lovely portrait showcased in the center. This is the gallery featuring the art of Luisa F.V. Cleaves, a contemporary artist and painter from this coastal town. Next time we pass this way, I will try to slow down and visit the many quaint shops in town. My friend says I get tunnel vision when I am photographing and I know this to be true, because when I was here 10 years ago with my wife, I never stopped to even realize they had shops. We got the absolute best croissants in this town from a place called Helmut’s Strudel shop. If you are ever in Rockport,take some time to visit this talented artists gallery and the many unique shops located along main street in town.

Stately Trees

Posted by reesephoto on

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Mount Auburn cemetery is as much a cemetery as it is a garden and park and this view down one of the avenues reflects its beauty. Graceful old trees and plantings are done in a way that inspire the visitor to linger and enjoy the scenery. Mount Auburn is considered the pioneer in garden cemeteries and inspirational views are around every corner. Fall color begins to emerge in this image captured under my umbrella in a rainy moment.

Bigelow Chapel

Posted by reesephoto on

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I just returned from a four-day trip to shoot fall foliage in new england and this is the first image I am sharing. The foliage was a disaster but my friend  Morrie and I took a day to shoot in Mount Auburn cemetery in Massachusetts. The place did not disappoint and this image features the Bigelow Chapel,which is a centerpiece of the cemetery.Originally built in 1846 in a Gothic Revival style, Bigelow Chapel is a central structure illustrating the Mount Auburn Cemetery’s importance of linking a network of building landmarks to the landscape.  The Chapel, constructed of Quincy granite, has served as a non sectarian chapel for funeral and memorial services. The building has had a full history of renovations, beginning with a complete dismantling and rebuilding just nine years following construction due to structural problems, a complete interior remodeling in 1923, and the addition of a crematory annex in 1970.  The only regret I had was not being able to see the place lit inside to show off the stained glass. I light painted the scene with about ten pops of the flash. This cemetery is very large and well maintained,and while we were there a maintenance crew carefully raked the stone walkways free of debris,which surely must be done everyday in the fall. We were also told not to park on the grass at the road edge because they are very particular about keeping things perfect.

 

Autumn Arrives

Posted by reesephoto on

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This small roadside stand is packed with a variety of items for decorating the home. From colorful mums, to gourds and pumpkins. to corn shocks, and even hay bales,there is something for every decor. My current favorite is the cinderella variety perched on the hay bales. Sitting in the lower left corner are apples and pears that have the most appealing scent.

Dawn At The Farm Stand

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I actually got out of bed to shoot a local farm stand before sunrise. I had been counting on a colorful sunrise but never expected the sun to rise exactly in the spot it did and for a layer of fog to spice up the shot. The hardest part was trying to focus in the dark before hand.

 

 

Soybean Harvest

Posted by reesephoto on

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I passed this field yesterday as they were harvesting soybeans and asked if I could climb on top of the tractor-trailer as it was being loaded. The machine that off loads to the truck, empties at an incredible rate and then heads to the combine in the field for the next load. The crew is what are referred to as custom harvesters,which are professional hired hands who earn their living helping farmers harvest their fields. This crew is Groffdale custom harvesters and they are the picture of efficiency. The owner of the farm is seen on his little John Deere tractor in the middle of the field as he oversees the operation.

Honest Days Work

Posted by reesephoto on

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This Amish family is hard at work on a warm september day harvesting their corn crop. One wagon moves along to catch the freshly cut stalks until it is full, and the next empty wagon is heading up the field to take its place when needed. This year has been a banner year for corn and fields will be a buzz with activity in the coming weeks.

Autumn Flowers Await

Posted by reesephoto on

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Each year around this time I find myself scanning the landscape for fall displays to photograph. I passed this farm stand on my travels and stopped to get permission to try a shot. The owner was more than willing to allow the endeavor and said to stop anytime. I decided to try a shot before sunrise this past weekend and assumed I would be there in the dark all by myself for a while, but to my surprise and delight,work was already under way in preparation for customers when I arrived. The owner was washing the driveway down,and to be honest I was originally going to crop the building on the right off my shot,but when the wet surface reflected the stand light,it seemed time to change my plan. So with sunrise still an hour away,I began to compose and fine tune things before the light got good.

The gorgeous sky lit up first and lasted maybe 5 minutes,but that was more than enough time to capture it and the expanse of mums that stretch toward the barn. While I was waiting for the light to begin shooting, the owner pulled up with a large produce wagon pulled by two horses and he backed that wagon into the second door as easily as driving a car,which really impressed me. Between the sky,the reflection, and the mums,I was very happy with my result. The bottom image is the angle I originally wanted to shoot for comparison and you can see the horse and wagon sitting in the field on the left.

Heading Home

Posted by reesephoto on

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A long lens helps compress this farm country scene, which includes a one room school down the hill on the right and two Amish farms in the distance. Sheer luck found me passing this spot at the end of the school day as the kids and their teachers headed for home. I never really stop and consciously think about composition at this point in my career, but the old rule of thirds can be seen in this shot and that helps create a pleasing arrangement for the eye to move around the image.

Past Their Prime

Posted by reesephoto on

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The two large trees on the right are destined for the chain saw,so I decided to record them before they fall in the next few weeks. I am sorry to see them go,but they are supposedly on their last leg and the time has come to remove them. Light painting with my flash at dusk helped reveal the details.

There She Stands

Posted by reesephoto on

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Today marks the twelfth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our country on september eleventh of 2001. For me, like countless others, this day is permanently etched into my mind and like most I remember the exact moment it unfolded. For me it was a crystal clear fall day out in the country photographing blue morning glories on a farm, when the radio began to crackle with hints of something unspeakable. I recall driving as fast as I could to get to a television and being glued to it for days. Take a moment today to think of and pray for those who were lost that day, and especially their families who were left to cope with such heartbreak.

Every anniversary of this event, I find myself watching the documentaries on television and each and every time I am instantly taken back to that moment and overcome with a sense of deep despair, and I can’t begin to imagine the heartache for those who never got the chance to hold their loved ones again. I have never been to the twin towers memorial, but I have been to the Shanksville crash site in Pennsylvania and while it is not an over the top memorial, I can definitely say it is a place of quiet reflection that really hits you. I felt this Angel statue from a cemetery in New York was a fitting image for today. It is among my favorite infrared images that I have shot. If you have a moment and care to hear Michael W. Smiths tribute song  to 9-11 called ”There she stands”, I posted a link here.

Michael W. Smith – There She Stands – YouTube

Family Trek

Posted by reesephoto on

 

open-buggy-rideThis image was taken at the same location as yesterdays harvest shot. I noticed the family heading toward me on a crisp autumn day, so I leaned against a telephone pole,pre-focused the camera and snapped a frame as they passed. They were laughing and talking as the made their way up the road,and if you can believe it,not one person was talking,texting or otherwise wasting their precious time on the latest gadget designed to drain our wallets and minds.

 

Seasonal Sign

Posted by reesephoto on

amish-fall-corn-cuttingThis is one time of the year I find very enjoyable for a variety of reasons. First,you can feel a change in the air and you know fall color is getting closer and the cold winds of the north will soon be bringing snow. It’s also a time to reflect on the summer gone by and watch local farmers harvesting their crops in the fields. As I have mentioned in the past,I like to find images of harvesting in which the workers are shown against a backdrop of farms to help tell a complete story. It’s a lot harder to find these scenarios but worth the effort in my opinion. Shown are Amish farmers cutting field corn to feed their cows over winter.

Impending Storm

Posted by reesephoto on

 

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This home was once owned by Jacob Konigmacher, a prominent member of the German Seventh Day Baptist congregation in Ephrata.The land on which the Konigmacher House rests was once part of a 180-acre tract deeded by William Penn’s sons to John Miley in 1739. The existing house was built by Heinrich Miller sometime before his death in 1778. It is now owned by a real estate company and it is one stop on a driving tour of eighteenth century homes. I light painted the home as it was getting dark, and I was interrupted by a nasty storm that quickly blew through. Holding an aluminum pole ten feet in the air with a flash attached while it is lightning is not something I like to do,so I used what I had up to this point to produce this result.

 

The Stroke Of Midnight

Posted by reesephoto on

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I passed this display on my travels and just had to return and shoot it. This is the result of many pops of my flash,and several ambient exposures. The main ball on the carriage is covered in plastic, which at first kind of made me wish it was off,but after dusk,the plastic helped with the glowing effect,so it all worked out. The owner told me this setup cost $17,000, and they are going to do tourist rides and weddings, using a real horse of course. It supposedly was in a popular TV series based in New York City. I am sure many cinderella’s will be drawn to take a ride.

Steam Power

Posted by reesephoto on

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While this looks like two steam tractors racing,it actually is a competition to back up and hook up to something. This was shot at the rough and tumble reunion in Pennsylvania and the event includes all kinds of powerful machines from the past. You should see the drivers work the steering mechanism on these things,as it’s a real workout.

Coming in Hot

Posted by reesephoto on

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This might be the last pair of images from this subject unless I  come up with something more imaginative. To be honest,I was somewhat disappointed with my burning steel wool result and perhaps that’s because the rusty subject gets lost in the burning embers? I only tried about five steel wool spins due the fact that I was right by a busy highway and I didn’t want the cops harassing me. The bottom image is the same as the top except for sparks,and that was light painted using my flash.

For those not familiar with burning steel wool, you need fine grade steel wool,which burns better than coarse,and a device to spin it. I took a steel kitchen whisk, which holds the steel wool inside and then I took a wooden handle and mounted a pulley with a screw that allows the pulley to freely spin and then attached a steel cable to the pulley and whisk. I simply load the whisk with steel wool,light it and then start spinning the thing rapidly. As the air hits the wool,it becomes a raging flame thrower, so wear protective clothes,eye protection etc. Always have a fire extinguisher handy and do it when its damp outside at your own risk. One steel wool pad burns about 30 seconds or so and you should also keep your camera out of the ember zone.One guy on the net had a Nikon 14-24mm lens get messed up when an ember fused on his front element.

Meet Miss Virginia

Posted by reesephoto on

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This was my third subject to light paint on the evening I was allowed to shoot at the air show. It is a lovingly restored and highly polished  C-47 named Miss Virginia. A moon rising in the background added an extra detail to the shot. According to web sources,this restoration took over 7000 hours and the aircraft was named Miss Virginia to honor both the military and the state of Virginia. Miss Virginia was the name of the P-38 lightning that shot down Japanese Admiral Yamamoto in 1943.


			

	
	



				
					


	

		
Air Show Beauty


				

			Posted by reesephoto on 					

			


		

		
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Unfortunately I do not have any info on this plane from the air show, but I gave it my best attempt to show it off in a good light so to speak. I use a wireless flash setup on a pole to reach higher than my arm can reach. In this case it allowed me to position the flash high enough to throw light into the interior of the plane to give it an appearance of being ready to take off with a crew on board.


A quick addition thanks to friend Dan at the airport, this is the collings foundation B-17G “Nine o Nine”

			

	
	



				
					


	

		
Wings of Glory


				

			Posted by reesephoto on 					

			


		

		
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Our local airport was the sight for a community event showcasing numerous airplanes and flying machines in a celebration of flight this past weekend. I am not a big fan of plane photos with a ton of people standing around,so I inquired whether there was any chance to come out after the show closed and do some light painting images of planes on the tarmac. Thankfully,I spoke to one of the gentlemen in charge and he was willing to trust me and allow me to give it a whirl. I returned later than I had hoped to,and that forced me to make quick decisions about what I could shoot in a short time frame till it was pitch dark out. The sunset was a huge disappointment for my background,but I lit the plane with about twelve pops of the flash at various angles and this was the result. Special thanks to Austin for the opportunity to shoot these special vehicles.


The plane shown above is the only restored flying B-24j in the world and is owned by the Collings foundation. Read more about it at http://www.collingsfoundation.org

			

	
	



				
					


	

		
The Last Airbender


				

			Posted by reesephoto on 					

			


		

		
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Well I found out a tiny bit more about this machine since yesterdays post. It supposedly is built around a real Tucker SnoCat from years ago,actually moves and was a prop in the movie The Last Airbender. I never saw the movie but my wife claims to have seen it,and yet most of what I find on the net shows an animated movie and she claims it was a regular movie. Anyway it is supposedly a part of the fire nation military in that movie, and if you want to buy it, I can hook you up with the owner who is currently asking $13,000. This image was shot in infrared to add a little extra drama. It would make a cool lawn decoration if you had a huge estate. The owner told me he has more neat stuff of a similar nature if I want to check them out sometime,which I hope will happen.