Category Archives: Landscape

Foggy Morning Travels

Posted by reesephoto on

A morning dominated by fog and low light created a tough set of circumstances for shooting anything that was moving. I had been searching for something to shoot on this sunday morning and had no luck,so I decided I was just going to compose a shot and hope something would come by to finish off the image. The Amish head to church at each others farms on sunday mornings from about 7am up till just before 9am,when the service seems to start,so after 9am there is no more activity on the roads. I set up on this back road at 815 and decided at exactly 9am I would call it a wrap.For 45 minutes there was not one single car,buggy or anything else on this road,and I was sure it was one of those mornings that nothing was going to pan out. I was watching the laptop clock and 3 minutes before pack up,I heard the sound of horse hooves coming. Buggies never travel this late in the morning,but here came two late ones,which allowed me one chance to get this shot,which thankfully I did. I think there was a little set of eyes peeking out the back as a hand pulls the canvas back a bit.Shot from my truck roof and connected to the laptop.

The Rio Grand Caboose lodge

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These old cars were part of a car club that was out touring the farm country,and I happened to spot them parked at a motel that is totally comprised of train cabooses. Each guest spends the night in his very own caboose, which come in every color under the sun. The evening was basically pouring rain,but after shooting under an umbrella for 30 minutes,the rain stopped and I began lighting the scene with flash. I thought the two modes of transportation complemented each other and harkened back to a simpler time.The yellow caboose is the Rio Grand.

Till The Cows Come Home

Posted by reesephoto on

This is a little different from the type of image I usually post,but something about all these cows spread all over the hillside caught my attention. My wife knows when I go out shooting,I might be out till the cows come home, which if you have never heard that phrase before,it basically means, for a long but indefinite time.

Morning Chores Begin

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A new day begins on an Amish farm as the sky overhead begins to light up from the rising sun. A light in the barn signals the beginning of the first cow milking session,which must be done more than once a day.The field in the foreground was filled with corn last week,but as fall approaches,the harvesting becomes more frequent across the landscape.

 

Fun with Friends

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When the temperatures turn cooler and you have your best friends around, can you think of anything better than a ride in your custom horse-drawn wagon? Complete with springs on the seats,a flag and four hoof drive, this is a sure-fire good time, and can you believe it,they are having fun without a cell phone or the need for text messaging.

 

The Blue Moon

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This is last evenings blue moon as it began to rise behind this local farm. From what I understand the term refers to the second full moon in the same month. I decided on this location after conferring with the photographers ephemeris, which shows sun/moon rise and set for photographers planning shoot locations. By moving to camera right about 40 feet,the moon was coming up right between the house and barn,but the tree on the right was blocking the barn,so I had to go with this instead.Shot from my truck roof,which had the Amish wondering who this nut was on top of his truck.

 

The Food Chain

Posted by reesephoto on

Have you ever seen so many cobwebs,you thought you were on the set of some science fiction thriller? Well this was the case as both myself and a fellow photographer spent an evening shooting in a local feed mill. I walked around looking for a shot and came across this corner of the mill that seemed lost in time. It’s no wonder spiders have laid claim to this place as flies were a real nuisance while we shot. I light painted this with an off camera flash trying to bring out the webs and dust and dirt as best I could. At least no mice ran by me on this visit. I have no idea what the machine does but it must not get used very often.

Tobacco Rows

Posted by reesephoto on

Went out sunday morning because the weather was unsettled and I was hoping to find something interesting. After a bit of driving,I came upon this partially harvested tobacco field which had nice curved lines leading your eye to the farm. Started out at ground level but decided the higher perspective from my truck roof might be beneficial,and in fact it was.The sun popped out briefly,adding a touch of sidelight to the scene as an added bonus.The green area on the left is uncut tobacco

Beyond Thunderdome

Posted by reesephoto on

Call me crazy, but this reminds me of some wild set of wheels from the movie Thunderdome. If you look closely in the middle underneath you can see a machine gun mounted,or maybe its just a muffler? Put some muscle-bound maniac on top going down the road at 100 mph and you have your own futuristic movie in the making. Shot this at the rough and tumble event, which showcased old farm equipment.

Tobacco Harvest

Posted by reesephoto on

The end of summer is rapidly approaching and farmers are busy beginning to harvest everything from corn to tobacco. This Amish family was busy putting freshly cut tobacco onto lathe, which then gets hung on the wagon and then it will move to the barn for drying. This scene includes at least three generations carrying on the tradition.

Rough and Tumble

Posted by reesephoto on

Here is another image from the thresher reunion at rough and tumble.For this image I mounted the camera on my tripod and shot several exposures utilizing a hand-held flash off camera. There is no way to get a result like this on one shot,unless you set up a bank of flashes  to fire simultaneously. The exposure for the setting sun put everything in silhouette,so after capturing that piece of the puzzle, I moved to illuminating the tractor. As you can see from the smaller images, The starting shot with the sun was where I started and then lit each area as the example of lighting the front shows. A small detail worth mentioning is the use of a wireless remote to fire the camera from anywhere I need,so I can position the flash at the proper angle and then fire when ready.

Steam Powered Past

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Machines from the past fascinate me, and these old steam-powered contraptions are no exception. Rough and Tumble located in scenic Lancaster county held their 64th annual threshermans reunion last week, and the event included all kinds of steam,gas and kerosene powered machines. This old steam roller with its massive iron wheels was one of many unique pieces I saw at this event.

 

Steel Wool Spectacle

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I finally gave my steel wool spinner device a test run this past weekend, and it was more impressive than I expected. After a rainy friday and a quick shot from the garden hose before I did it, the yard was ready to handle the flaming steel wool. To accomplish this effect, I set up my tripod and waited till the ambient light dropped and my exposure was around 8 to 15 seconds at f11.At that point, I put on long pants,a long sleeve shirt,a hat, a face shield,and gloves and grabbed the steel wool device. This is nothing more than a steel kitchen whisk with steel wool stuffed inside, connected to a steel cable on a handle and then it gets lit and rapidly spun. You light the steel wool by touching a 9-volt battery to it and then spin it quickly to give the burning steel wool as much oxygen as possible.

The top image features me spinning the contraption all around me and you can see the steel wool even bounced on the grass a bit,and the bottom image was spun in just a circle,but the bright area shooting up to the right is actually a piece of steel wool that broke loose and landed in our tree.If you are brave enough to try this, do it in a safe setting,keep water nearby and protect yourself and camera.There was a fellow on the internet that had a flaming ember land on his eighteen hundred-dollar lens and fuse fast to the front element,which would not be good. Each ball of steel wool burns about 30-60 seconds and then you load a new piece. Also the real fine stuff works better than coarse steel wool.