By looking at these photos you would never guess the front door is about twenty feet from a heavily traveled road. There is a small bookstore across the street that I had stopped in when I noticed the pretty spring color around the house. My mind immediately started imagining what the possibilities could be and how fleeting the shot might be because spring blooms can fade fast depending on the weather. I waited a day because I saw rain was forecast and I pre-visualized the image I was going to try for!

There is a small pizza shop to the left and anyone getting pizza must have thought what a nut job I was shooting in the rain with an umbrella mounted to the tripod. The owners could not have been more welcoming in allowing me to do this series, and they were more than happy to turn on every light on the property if thats what I needed done to get a great shot.

The closed bookstore parking lot provided a great rainy reflection of the home in all its illuminated glory and I am very happy with the result, but one lone parking lot light that was seemingly as bright as the sun came on at exactly the time it was really getting balanced but I was fairly certain I had it in the bag already. The second image is the side yard and the owners have created a beautiful place to relax with friends and family. The third photo features the opposite side of the house where the driveway comes in between the house and the stunning barn that was added fairly recently. The bottom image is the backyard view and includes a beautiful pink dogwood that provided the perfect compliment to the cozy backyard space. I got a small tour inside and the front doors were just beautiful as was the entire space.

The parking lot in the top image did have white parking space lines, a couple orange cones and 2 concrete blocks that I gladly cloned out!

I shot this same location several years ago but I don’t remember the pink dogwood blooming at the same time as the beautiful purple Iris . As usual I requested some light inside and the owner happily obliged. This spot is not as relaxing as it may at first seem because about a foot to my right is a busy road with cars whizzing by. My one tripod leg is literally in the gravel just off the blacktop. I chose to put a few led road flares on my tripod and along the edge of the road so hopefully my camera was not going to get obliterated by someone not watching the road. I fired my camera using my tablet from both across the road in my truck and from the yard when adding flash.

I have been photographing Lancaster County scenes for 40 years and have many great memories of capturing the local Amish and Mennonite communities. Their traditional simple attire always made for great images of a way of life not everyone has the opportunity to experience. A few years ago someone somehow associated with Penn State and its various community off shoots came up with the brilliant Idea to provide these obnoxious orange vests to all one room school kids. The obvious goal was to increase visibility and safety, which no one can argue with, but after seeing a group [the Amish] that tries to downplay attention, it just amazed me they accepted this to the degree they did? Personally I was never aware that any problem existed and quite honestly it would not matter what color you were wearing if someone is looking at their phone while driving. So now you know my stance on obnoxious orange vests and this photo is a rarity for me to shoot but they did coordinate with the vibrant azalea!

This property has what I think is a pretty porch and also a barn/garage on the left. I am standing in the middle of a two lane highway to shoot this but since practically no one else wanted to go out for a drive in this snowstorm, I had almost the entire road to myself to meander about. On a regular day this would be a real undertaking to achieve.

A little wider view of the Historical Society research library. This was a private home years ago and the owners saw my photo here and dropped me a line. They mentioned it was built in 1929, so it’s 100 year milestone is only a few short years away. I hope I look this good at 95 but since I will be below ground at that point its not likely!

This is the research library for our local Historical Society. The flurries were blowing pretty hard and just about every 5 frames or so I had to clean my lens. The Museum is next door and that is where I walked by a room that had a mannequin dressed that no one told me about. This was during an evening shoot there and my mind was already imagining the possibilities! The big clock on the left used to be just up the street at a bank.

We have only had a couple snowstorms this Winter but the ones we were blessed to get have been the clingy pretty type. This Gazebo actually has a copper roof but covered or not this serene scene has lots of appeal. I would have loved to get this at dusk with those lamp posts lit up but this is more than satisfactory I feel!

Large roses in a store window declare Valentine’s day has arrived in downtown Lititz, Pa

I was walking one evening around Christmas when I happened upon this festive porch that had what I thought was a pretty nice doorway entrance. I knocked and they obliged and here you go.

I finally got to give this new found angle a try at this old homestead. I mentioned this in the past but there is a main road just behind the stone wall, but thankfully the property owner I am shooting from is related to the house in my photo so I got a nice clean view without the ugly road!

This local Chapel is so pretty and makes for a good subject almost anytime. We have not exactly been overwhelmed with snow this year but I made the extra effort to capture some scenes while it hung around. The lamp posts came on as soon as the sun set but at that point the ambient light was way too bright yet. So with that being the case all I could do was keep waiting for the light to drop and of course this foreground light kept intensifying by the minute. It got so bad when everything else was perfect that I ended up using my pole with a square piece of foamcore attached to block the horrendous flare this thing was putting on my lens. Pretty much all the light you see on the vegetation and snow was done by me with my flash. When I got here the sun was maybe ten minutes from setting but since I could not decide my angle, I missed that. The thing I did notice was the suns rays were skimming across the snow and plants and although I missed capturing it, I gave my best attempt at recreating what I saw! If it wasn’t for that light skimming across the snow you may never have even noticed there was a path going through the scene.

Here is another room from the Christmas tree event.

A local visitors center all decked out for Christmas!

This looks like a good spot to enjoy a relaxing night with friends, but you may want to bring a set of warm clothes and some blankets! This is at the Lititz Springs inn, which was formerly known as the General Sutter.

Poole Forge is an old iron making site located in Eastern Lancaster County. The township now owns the property and it has been lovingly restored over many years. The old Iron masters Mansion there hosts a Christmas tree decorating event every two years and this year was the on year. This room had two participants trees on display with one being a peacock theme and the other focused on a wedding theme. I am graciously given a key and have been allowed to come in the pre-dawn hours to shoot any that I find appealing. Various stories about the place being haunted have circulated over time, so being there alone gets my overactive imagination set in motion. Years ago I arrived early one morning and I went room to room to decide what I liked, and as I rounded the corner to check out the last room I gazed upon a large decorated tree that was laying on it’s side with decorations strewn all over the floor! First thought was some mischievous spirit had been at work, then that changed to oh crap they are going to think I knocked it over! Thankfully I got the organizer to stop by and after some analysis we noticed the tree stand screws were barely turned into the trunk and that was the cause!

This barn was one of several I was asked to shoot for a historical society barn book driving tour. The owner is an accomplished artist who does beautiful work and as soon as I saw the barn in the distance I knew it would be an awesome subject in the snow! The owners were extremely nice and said I could come back anytime to capture its beauty. Well the finished barn book did not impress me in the slightest, because I spent hours shooting various angles at a bunch of barns only to have them use a single shot sometimes. I guess the positive side was getting to meet the owners of some barns I had never come across before and being given the opportunity to revisit them. I talk about what it takes for some of my images but until you actually see it visually you might not grasp it. The top image is my final result and in the lower shot you can see me with both arms raised over my head and that big square over my head is the barn window,not my gear! I am holding things high to hopefully help the signal from the tablet in my right hand reach my camera which is a hundred yards away and that in turn sends the signal back to fire the flash that is in my left hand as I pray that it works! Sometimes I get no response, sometimes the camera fires and not the flash etc etc.

The bottom image is my first exposure as I try to get my flash to light up the snow on the roof to give it some dimension. So basically I move around lighting things I want to bring out more. In this image you can see how little detail the flat evening light reveals but by pointing my flash toward my camera with a big blast, I now have contours showing in the landscape giving it dimension! I often mention how I like a cold snowy landscape with a warm inviting structure that suggests refuge from the elements. When I arrived here the first thing I did was knock to say hi and it appeared to me as if they were home but there was no answer so I assumed they were enjoying dinner. I then went about finding a good view and started shooting as it got darker. I kept thinking how great lights on in the barn would be but hated to bother them again. I had been in the barn once for the book and knew the light switch was right inside the door! I noticed the barn door was hanging wide open so I simply hit the light switch on and that warm interior illumination transformed the shot completely in my opinion. hopefully that helps explain a little of the technique I use

A former local train station decorated for Christmas.

A recent foggy evening provided the opportunity to have fun in the fog. I blasted my flash up into the gazebo to get the light rays both on the ground and through the foggy air!

Yet another shot from the farm.

Same farm but now looking back down the lane!

Another and perhaps my personal favorite shot from the farm visit. This is now going up the lane above the bridge and stream. The conditions were perfect with the thick fog starting to relinquish it’s hold and at the same time the sun was slowly starting to break through. It was basically illuminating this one tree so it stood out in brilliant color.

Continuing with this location, here is the stream that leads to the stone bridge. The tree on the left had literally dropped the majority of it’s leaves the day before but I still like the various progression of trees and leaves changing.

This is the same location as yesterday and this is at the bottom of that image and you can now see the lane heading toward the other connecting farm. I thought the bridge was kind of impressive being that it is on private property.

This particular location is actually down a long farm lane owned by an Amish family. Eons ago I drove through here from a second farm that the lane connects to and I stopped and asked if I may take a photo. They said sure, I got a shot, they got a print and everyone was happy. Fast forward 10-15 years and I could see off in the distance what appeared to be fall foliage from the main road so I stopped to ask again and to my surprise they actually remembered me coming and giving them a print all those years ago! The lane on the left goes over a small stream down at the bottom and then heads up to the right where those trees are. I think I was here from like 5:30 am till almost noon shooting this fall foliage spot and will sprinkle those in as the calendar moves on. This is one of the first I captured as a good layer of frost and somewhat dense fog combined for a great morning. It took a little waiting till the sun finally broke through but it was worth the wait!

I got a little lazy last week so I missed posting. Anyway I shot this old mill a week or two ago and it took some work and co-operation from a couple people to pull off. I noticed this place while driving past in the morning and decided I was coming back in the evening. Now for starters the foreground area was littered with those huge ugly brown Sycamore leaves that are the size of your head, so my solution was simply bring my own! So I gathered up leaves from my front yard and brought them along for their moment in the spotlight. After dispersing my leaf collection I noticed the farmer heading my way to see what all the commotion was about? I told him my goal and asked if he wanted to help with the cause, which for his part was simply turning on his house lights because you all know I love illumination!

So part of my lights request was turning on lights in the mill, which I was told was impossible because all the wiring had been removed. Well not to deterred by this little glitch, I asked if we can go inside the mill and I will add light with my flash to bring it to life? He said sure and we moved from window to window as I blasted the interior with light. The big window on the right was not accessible, so he asked the tenant to turn that rooms lights on which he kindly did. This spot is one I am pondering if we get some snow this year. There is also an old covered bridge right behind my camera but its not used anymore and is not that photogenic. Oh and after I was inside the lower level to light the window, he mentions that skunks are fairly regular guests down there, so one flash and out I came!