Cafe Chocolate

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Steamed up windows add to the dreamy feel in this image from downtown Lititz featuring Cafe Chocolate. I wanted to ask for two steaming mugs of hot chocolate to put on the table out front but I chickened out.I think that would have been a nice extra touch.

Santa, is that you?

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Will the real Santa Claus please step forward?  The town of Manheim hosted the first annual jingle bell five-mile run recently and each entrant was given his or her very own santa suit for the event. The occasional reindeer, fairy and elf were also seen as well as the Grinch in the front. I shot this a few minutes before the race started and it was a sight that was quite unique.

Rooster Street Butcher

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A rainy evening provides an extra touch of beauty to this photo of a local business. The stars in the windows were particularly difficult to capture during this shoot. Whenever it is rainy and misty,my camranger device experiences problems sending the signal from my camera to the tablet,so while I was across the street lighting this,the equipment kept dropping the signal.The other problems I had were whenever I went into the shop to blast a flash out the window,it would fire one out of ten times because the signal was not reaching inside very well,and the glass seemed extra thick because it was causing glare at almost any angle I used the flash at. I tried high,low,and everything in between and the majority had flare on the glass. Add a non stop stream of cars going by on the road and you get a feel for how tricky it is to pull a shot like this off when some of your exposures are 4-8 seconds and you are standing in the rain with no umbrella. My camera had an umbrella over it but not me.

Worth the Effort

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This Christmas window was taken in the small town of Marietta,Pa.  I headed over to look for scenes because they had a home tour last weekend and I came across this business adorned in fine decor.Music was emanating from the entrance the entire time I was shooting this,making for a nostalgic shoot. The folks who decorated this put their heart into it and it was worth all the effort in my opinion.

Window Detail

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This is one small section of a very lovely Christmas window in downtown Lititz,Pa. Whoever decorates this window has an incredible talent for layering items from front to back and utilizes different heights and spacing. It looks very cohesive but I am sure it is very difficult to make it so beautiful.

One Sweet Snoopy

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This is an image from my Christmas series on shop windows in downtown Lititz. The owner hand painted the Snoopy scene on the window,which will certainly catch the attention of children looking for their favorite sweet treat inside of this store called Candyology. I lit the rubber balls that are made to look like Christmas ornaments from inside the store to give them a little glow and then light painted everything else outside.

The Grinch is at it Again

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Well we are slowly getting into the Christmas season and there is no better place to enjoy the sights and sounds of the season than in the town of Lititz,Pa. Shop windows get decorated in a variety of ways and each one has its own unique beauty that keeps me returning year after year to capture them. I light all the parts of the scene in a rather complicated undertaking but folks really seem to enjoy the feel I impart in my shots.

The Maintenance Shed

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In the quaint town of Lititz,Pa, even the park maintenance building looks attractive contrasting with the fall color.Yesterdays post included the crew cleaning up this area just one day after this was shot.They have their hands full keeping up with that task.

A Ray of Sunshine

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These hard-working men help clean up the local community parks fallen leaves using blowers on wheels. The tree on the right will actually be included in my post tomorrow showing this scene just the day before they cleaned up. Thank goodness I got my shot a day earlier. The dust kicked up helped catch the sunlight for this very cool result.

A Divine Evening

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This scene is located in the quaint town of Lititz ,Pa and features a home that used to be a church. The autumn leaves were simply stunning as they covered the sidewalk and steps and the addition of lanterns really rounded out the shot.The owners were very gracious in letting me shoot this image and gladly turned on the light inside the stained glass area to help illuminate it.I saw this shot in the morning and could not stop worrying that the leaves were going to get cleaned up before I returned at dusk. I actually had two tripods set up,with one holding an umbrella over my camera while I lit the scene in the rain. The nice thing with the rain was the leaves were full of rich color from being soaked. of special note,the blue on the right is the sky,while the blue on the left is the roof reflecting night sky color