Category Archives: Spring

Down in the Meadow

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amish-kids-watch-dad amish-kid-in-wheelbarrow

I had to post these two images to help tell the story. I was driving around looking for images and although you would never know it by the appearance of these, it was very late and very dark. I was using an 80-400 and was at 300mm or so and a shutter speed of a 350th second. That is too slow for this lens,but I braced myself on my truck window and snapped a few shots. All four siblings were near the wheelbarrow and the little one in the wheelbarrow with grass clippings piled on her had me in stitches. The father came pulling up with the team of horses and their attention focused on him. I really like the top image but if the little one in the wheelbarrow would be visible in that image,it would be priceless.All I needed was for the older boy to step to his right and she would have been in the image.

Life in the Slow Lane

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amish-brothers-buggy-trio

This image turned out pretty well considering it was shot through my truck windshield. I had snapped a few frames from the side of the road and the boys saw me ,so they looked away. I drove around a little while and found them again,so I tried shooting through the windshield as they paused at a stop sign and sure enough,it was sharp. The whole family was dressed in the same color and the little girl looking out the back window and the mom smiling at her were added touches.

 

Spring Palette

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wisteria-gardenSpring is advancing rapidly and this most special time of year will soon fade away. I photographed this lovely garden scene that is located within an easy walk from my home and this was shot with winds in the 5-10 mph range, and for this type of work,that’s a little strong. The owners were not home,so I had to light everything from the sidewalk,and wish I had been able to get in different angles with my flash,but this turned out nicely despite that. The scene  was shot with a 70-200 mounted on a tripod and linked to my laptop. I used radio poppers to fire the wireless flash,and a wireless transmitter to fire the camera. I shot about 50 frames,lighting the plants as needed and then brought the pieces together for the result. The owner takes great pride in the property and has a wide variety of unique plants throughout the season. The Wisteria was my main objective,and its fragrant blooms were a delight to see and smell.

Sign,Sign,everywhere a Sign

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This is what I consider to be a very ideal location with the covered bridge, the farm, and the family heading down the road together in the wagon. What drives me crazy are the signs that are needed to warn every idiot that has no common sense. We have weight limit signs, one lane bridge signs,and most recently the addition of the wooden beam that hangs at the entrance to alert trucks not to go through. Most people would say no truck would ever try to go through such a structure, but right here in our county a month ago, some idiot actually drove a tractor-trailer through a covered bridge and got stuck going out the other end because the road went down slightly and his trailer jammed against the roof trusses. As I recall from the news, he blamed his GPS for sending him on a back road. Picture yourself in a big rig at the entrance here and thinking to yourself, I am sure I can fit.

Every time I look at this image,all I hear is the old classic tune from the Five man electric band, Sign,Sign,everywhere a sign,blocking up the scenery,breaking my mind. I found it too exhausting to even try cloning out the signs in Photoshop,so I left them. Too much wood detail to bother trying.Interestingly enough, the weekly newspaper just ran a story about the wooden beam hanging down, and called them headache bars.The intended purpose is to give truck drivers a loud smack to hopefully warn them not to proceed any further.

An exercise in frustration

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Yesterday we passed the 100 degree mark and as evening approached a bit of relief came through in the form of a storm front. I heard the thunder in the distance, so I grabbed my camera and made a dash for the countryside. I found an excellent location that was right on the fringe of the storm,and was rain free but I have never been so afraid to get out of my truck to try and set up my tripod.Lightning was flickering on three sides of my location and was literally within a few hundred yards as it repeatedly blasted down every few seconds.I watched some amazing bolts fire off right behind the farm I was at, but it was too close to even try setting up. I decided to try and get ahead of the storm and wait somewhere else,but it kept up with me,so I ended up hand holding the camera out my window for this image.

This shot is the only image I managed to capture a bolt on despite shooting 146 frames. I saw some really great bolts here as well, but I already knew trying to capture lightning this way was going to be an exercise in frustration. There were several times I had the camera on multiple frames and saw lightning hit repeatedly in one spot,but never captured a thing. Usually I try to shoot lightning when it’s just getting slightly dark and exposures range from 10-30seconds, so you have that window of time that the shutter is open to catch a bolt. trying to watch and capture a bolt at a 250th of a second in daylight is maddening. A lightning trigger would be great but they run several hundred dollars.This bolt was among the weakest all night, but it is the only one I got.

Hold fast, help is on the way.

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This was the scene the other day as temps hit the 90 degree mark with stifling humidity. Local farmers were hard at it harvesting wheat the old-fashioned way with hay forks and an honest days effort. Wagons are loaded full and then taken to threshing machines to separate the various components.The men use two prong pitchforks and they basically guide it to the men on top of the pile. To me it looks like you better be on your toes if your on the receiving end of the pitchfork,which comes within inches of face and hands at times. The bottom image shows how high the stacking can go, and both images were taken from the same vantage point looking different directions,all the while  shooting from my truck with the air conditioner running.These were shot with a 400mm telephoto from about a hundred yards or so away. These men are essentially doing the same task as the modern machine Shot from my june 28th post.

Mansion in bloom

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As promised, here is another image taken at the Watt Mansion featuring hydrangea in bloom.Recent severe hot weather has taken its toll on these lovely plants and we are in need of a good soaking rain again. A few flash pops helped light the shaded blooms.

Sorry for the error on calling these hyacinth in my original post. Thankfully a friend pointed out my brain freeze.

My Deer, Can you spare a Buck?

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Antlers are covered in velvet as these buck sit face to face in a field.  Velvet provides nutrition and growth to deer antlers.This special tissue is a type of skin, loaded with blood vessels and nerves, that regenerates every year. Because deer shed their antlers annually, they need dense and rapid growth of their antlers to occur every year. Antlers are important in distinguishing the strongest and most viable bucks, who will end up mating and passing on their genes.

Simplicity

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This is a location I have driven by numerous times and never really gave it much consideration. This evening I turned onto the road and saw the late evening sun hitting the one room school and hilltop farm, and decided to set up and see what develops. Once again I sat for close to an hour as countless buggies went zipping by on the road behind me, each time raising my anticipation and then never turning onto my road. Several times I set a time to leave, and several times extended it because I knew as soon as I moved a convoy would start coming by. My patience paid off as these two buggies came by. I like this scene because it has the one room school, a farm and the locals all in one shot.I utilized my rooftop setup and laptop to operate the camera. The scary thing is several times in recent weeks, I have found the images I am capturing are somehow not downloading to the laptop and are gone forever. I hear my camera firing and then no download, so when you wait an hour for one chance, you pray everything functions as expected and this time it did.

Why on earth did we use Mapquest?

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I was out in search of landscape photos when I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. When you are in the heart of Amish country, you expect cows,sheep,horses and so on, but camels?  Not only did I see half a dozen of these creatures in a farm field, but they were eating thistles. Have you ever grabbed a thistle plant?  These creatures were gobbling these thorny plants up like they were the most enjoyable delicacy they have ever come across,even though there are fields of delicious sweet corn right behind them. The one on the left can be seen with a thistle plant sticking out of his mouth. I guess when you are used to getting baked by desert sun on a daily basis, eating a thorny thistle is a walk in the park. Temperatures around here are going to hit 90 in the next few days, so they should feel very comfortable. Hopefully they will get to try sweet corn with melted butter and salt before too long.

Mechanized Marvels

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I was out looking for scenes of local farm activity and came across this crew doing custom harvesting. The farm owner graciously allowed me to wander around shooting various angles of these mechanized marvels that help make short work of what seems like daunting tasks at times. The crews are hired independently to come in and do the work, which saves the farmer having to buy extremely expensive equipment and is a win-win situation for everyone. The first shot was taken from the roof of my truck and was taken while the harvester off loaded his collecting bin into the waiting tractor,and the second shot is from ground level. Thanks to Groffdale custom harvesting for taking a few minutes to let me get the shots. While watching them work the fields, I saw numerous rabbits bolt, and amazingly enough a fox as well. I need to check my files,but I think he was out of the frame when He made a dash for it.

I did actually get the fox leaving the wheat field. He is a tiny speck on the photo,but here he is.

Arriving for Church

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This is a quick snapshot from the road of an Amish family arriving together for Church at a farm in their district. I do not know how they decide which farm they are going to each week, but they do alternate. Sometimes you see buggies headed in every direction on a sunday, so it’s all a mystery to me.

All or nothing

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This is an old roller mill that I came across while wandering the back roads this past weekend. I started the afternoon off heading to play volleyball but I took my camera gear along in case no one showed. Well no one showed, so I cruised around and came across this locale. I was all excited as Amish buggies, open carts etc were all around the area. I pull in here and realize my tripod is 15 miles away at home.So I head home disgusted with myself and decide to return in the evening. Four hours later I come back and set my gear up on my truck roof to get a better view and I wait almost an hour till these three buggies come by. After they passed, I sat there till dark and not one more buggy came by. If I could somehow get up another 8 ft or so, you could see the entire covered bridge,which is just in sight on the edge of the right side. This evening was a real feast or famine night for shooting, and since I am not the most patient individual, it was driving me crazy missing other opportunities. The late evening light was skimming in nicely, so maybe the delay was worth it. the thumbnail shows my roof setup and laptop inside and it all depends how much height I need, and in this case just a little.

Enchanted Storytime

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As promised, here is another view from the Watt mansion property.All one needs is a soft pillow and cushion,  a favorite book, a bit of imagination, and your all set to get lost in your own enchanted fairy tale world. I added some flash to accent the ivy covered tree and bench.

Old World Charm

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My photo for today features a home that has been lovingly restored by current owners Steve and Kathy, and they have done an outstanding job both inside and out. The exterior features a gorgeous wrap around porch that has been painted in subtle shades of green and burgundy, and is a great place to sit and enjoy fresh lemonade while relaxing on one of several rocking chairs. The stunning hydrangea in shades of blue and lavender provide a visual feast for the eyes and were the reason I stopped to photograph this spot. I light painted much of the scene to help show the details,and despite picking the worst breezy night to try this, I managed to get most of the plants still. According to online resources, hydrangea color is affected primarily by the presence or absence of aluminum compounds in the flowers. Adjusting soil ph will yield blue to pink possibilities.

Heritage days celebration

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This is not something you see in Amish country very often, but this past weekend was heritage days in a small town named Intercourse. How the town came to be named as such is not exactly known, but there are several possible suggestions if one searches the net. The Fireworks display ended a day long celebration of the areas heritage, and featured live music,volleyball,good food and much more. This image was captured from a vista across the fields with about a 200mm lens and my first or base image was captured while it was still light enough to see the farms,and then after it was pitch black, I recorded the fireworks explosions from the same tripod mounted angle, and then simply brought those layers on top of the first, and put them on lighten mode, which allows the fireworks to show up against my blue sky instead of black nothingness. When I first set up, there was an Amish family having a picnic across the street, I asked what time the fireworks launch, and he says sometime between 9 and midnight. Did not expect the bit of humor but with fireworks you never quite know.

I never do this, but I am adding the two smaller pictures of some kids getting a wagon ride. Not sure if the Amish guy is a neighbor or what,but the riders were dressed in regular clothing. they might have been going to heritage days up the road. neither shot is super sharp, which irritates me.Hope they dont have to stop fast, because they are all bare foot.

The long road home

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Some of the images that I capture in my photographic endeavors excite me more than others, and this image is one of those. This location is about twenty miles or more from my home, so I must commit a certain amount of time and effort to go there and then hope something happens while I am there. I have been there many times and never seem to get any local activity on the road, partly because it’s a big hill, and secondly because there are many connecting roads that are easier to navigate , so many people simply bypass this hill. I decided to go this past sunday, and I arrived shortly after sunrise to pick my angle and wait. Almost an hour went by with no traffic of any kind passing by, and just as I was considering leaving I saw the closest two buggies coming out from the farm in the distance. I sat in my truck waiting for the buggies to be in the best spot and then simply activated my wireless remote to fire the camera. Because the hill is so steep and long, a third buggy had slowly been catching up in the distance. To capture this image, I mounted my tripod with camera attached on my truck roof, hooked my laptop to it to remotely adjust camera settings as needed from my driver’s seat and then used my wireless remote to fire the camera. Pre-focusing on a spot in the foreground allowed the closest buggy to be sharp as it reached my predetermined spot. Between the red barns,the winding road and the buggies, I am very pleased with my end result on this shot. If you notice the first buggy is going around me on the right because the horse was not happy about my rooftop tripod, but the next horse went right by my truck without hesitation. An Amish man told me once that horses don’t like anything higher than themselves, but for the life of me I cannot understand why trees or buildings or even large trucks don’t seem to bother them. My tripod was even set up at its shortest height with no leg extension, so maybe I should try a blanket over it to camouflage it? This would make an awesome sledding hill in winter,so lets hope the local Amish kids are feeling adventurous.

The tree lined lane

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This tree-lined lane is the entrance to a lovely property located along a rural road in Eastern Pennsylvania. The property has an iron gate at the entrance, but I got lucky, as the owner noticed I had stopped to look at it while he was mowing. He pulled up and asked if I wanted to walk in through the gate and shoot a few photos in exchange for a print. Obviously I jumped at the offer and hope to revisit it in the fall or winter perhaps. I could see an old classic car or perhaps a horse-drawn carriage coming up the lane.