Some very orange lamp posts contrast with some updated led lights along the street.

Almost took a tumble when I walked down the road to the far end of this barn to check it out. Road was part wet, part ice and of course I had my tripod on my shoulder. It got my heart beating as I scrambled to stay upright.

I shot this image at 12:43 am and seemingly forgot the meaning of getting some sleep. This shot is the result of lamp posts along a walkway that give off a very strong orange glow. The snow clinging to the fence details made a nice foreground element.

Everybody seems to cower in their cozy little homes on nights like this, but I enjoy the peaceful nature of having the entire street to myself.

Could hardly believe it when I made my way into our local park and no one had been there before me to track it all up. I thought I liked this view when it was in complete shade but when the sun broke through, it added another dimension with the shadows. One of the prettiest storms I have seen in a long time.

Another shot from the great snow storm we had.

This is a part of the rail trail that runs through my town and it looked very peaceful with the snow-covered trees. If you look at the light post you can see how heavy the snow was falling and I found that as long as I was shooting toward the shadows, it looked like it was a clear night. An umbrella is a key element on nights like this.

This old house sits along a busy thoroughfare in a town near me and in its heyday must have been pretty impressive. This was yet another stop on my snowstorm hike and the beauty of the snow on the old wrought iron fence caught my eye. I do not think it is occupied during the winter and the owners have not made any effort to stop the deterioration of the gorgeous wrap around porch that is a work of art unto itself. Seems some people have no clue and being lazy is something they are quite content with. Such a shame it is not in the hands of a family that would respect the work that was put into it.

Another shot from my 4 hour late night walk in the snowstorm. It wasn’t too long after I took this that a big plow came through and removed all the nice snow on the right.

I am still riding the depression train these days and unfortunately my medicine just seems to numb not only the negative thoughts, but most things I enjoy as well. I actually thought long and hard about bothering to go out looking for snow scenes after this recent storm and I must have looked out our windows at least half a dozen times trying to convince myself to make an effort. The best way to explain how I feel most days is with two words, who cares? That is not to say no one cares about me but instead how my mind interprets and processes things and its more of an internal dialog. Photography has been possibly one of my most rewarding endeavors and something that I view as a positive contribution to this world, no matter how small.My sense of worth is directly linked to my creative ability and when depression or the effects of medicine to deal with it dulls that down, it seems to fuel the fire so to speak.

I have read about a number of famous people including the lead singer of a band I like who have committed suicide just when their families say they seemed on top of the world? I can say I completely understand what they went through and their decisions are not real shocking to me. The brain is very complex and I have seen myself at my unbelievable best for a short time when I started my meds, and now its just this kind of day-to-day existence of trying to manage the weight of the world pushing down.

So if you bothered to read the above ramblings, let me now tell you about the photo. It was exactly 10 pm that I finally decided I was going to go out so I headed to a local town to look around. I found several shots in town and the next time I looked at my watch it was midnight and I was amazed how time flew by. I then got in my truck to head home and on the way got sidetracked by stopping at the above location. When I pulled in I knew there was potential and so the search for a great angle began, and this was complicated by a bright white light on the building on the right. I chose my angle carefully to use one of the lamp posts to act as a shield from the obnoxious light. The last thing I did was position my truck in the parking lot so I could turn my light bar on to help balance the high contrast scene. This storm was one of the clingiest I think I may have ever seen and even when the wind picked up,it still stayed put better than most times. I wish I could get back to more frequent posting but enjoy this beauty for now. One last thing, it was almost 2:30 am till I left for home and I am still tired.

Been quite a while since I posted anything new but we got a decent clinging snowstorm yesterday and I actually made the effort to find a shot. This farm is a place I have photographed many times over the years but it has new owners now and they have made a lot of improvements to bring this property back to its former glory and have really been incredible stewards of this place. When it was listed for sale, I was hopeful that it would end up with a family that appreciates its unique qualities and I honestly cannot imagine anyone caring more for it then the new owners. From fresh paint, to a new picket fence, to fixing the crumbling stone wall by the red barn, each improvement has been noticed by the dozens of cars that travel the road each day which bisects the main house and the barns. To travel the road today, one would wonder why on earth would they put a road right down the middle of the property, but I imagine back in the good old days this road only saw the occasional horse and buggy.

For folks that follow my work you certainly have heard me mention my depression before and how it has really put the brakes on my photography and many other things I enjoy. I think my medicine plays a big part in not only reigning in my negative thoughts but also hamstringing anything that I enjoy as well. My father passed away a few months ago and despite the fact that I literally only cried once, I seem to be struggling more since then, and coping with things that seem simple to others has become like an anchor around my neck. I constantly go online looking for anything that can help me make sense of why this is so relentless. I understand self diagnosis on the net is not a good thing but I recently took an online test to see if I might be suffering from one of the major recognized afflictions in the DSM handbook. I completed the test and the highest score range was 26-33 labeled as severe, and of course I had a 34 as my result. It was quite eye-opening to see certain behaviors listed and I could say that is me to a T.  While brain chemistry is a huge part of depression, the test talked a lot about things that I could relate too in my childhood and it seems that even though I feel like that’s ancient history, I am starting to wonder if stuff like that just sits in your periphery and gnaws at you in the sneakiest of ways?  I have had days where someone may make a seemingly insignificant comment to me and that leads to this cascade of really intense negative thinking that drives me to the very edge of life itself. Then within a couple of hours or the next day I find myself in a better state of mind and glad that I am still around. I still have a certain amount of guilt for not shooting and posting very often right now but no amount of will power overrides the subconscious thoughts for me. This morning I went back to bed three times in 30 minutes because my brain kept telling me it’s not worth the effort. Well I managed to go out and get a shot so there is a glimmer of hope. I hope those that enjoy my work can read the above and understand why I am so absent here right now. I hope to see an expert sometime soon who hopefully can offer some thoughts and confirm if my self diagnosis is on target or not.

The window at Cafe Chocolate was all decked out with tasty treats for Christmas this year.

This old farm-house has been lovingly cared for by the owners for as far back as I can remember and since I only grew up about two blocks from here I saw it pretty often. It is hard to tell that it sits on a hill but way back in my youth the Boro used to actually block off this street for us kids to sled down. I told the owners I would be doing a photo outside in the rain so they turned all kind of lights on for me. I finished up and went to say goodbye and they asked if I wanted to see their Christmas tree?  Well being the nostalgic old-timer I am, I took a look and decided I just had to try to capture the magic. Again they were very accommodating because I noticed the hardwood floor was very reflective but there was an area rug covering most of the nice wood, so we moved the rug out and got this great reflection across the floor. Imagine a snowy winter night outside and you are snuggled up on the chair with visions of candy canes dancing in your head.

One of my Christmas images from this year and it was almost my last too. The area where the tree is situated is an island in this small town and occasionally a car will make a loop around the island. I was facing toward the camera and was standing right beside the curb when a car blows by me no more than a foot away. I am positive they never saw me in my black sweatshirt, so someone was watching over me that evening.

Just flew in from my European photo trip and boy are my arms tired. I have been busy shooting scenes revolving around Christmas but have been too busy to post stuff so even though we are heading into the new year, plan on seeing my Christmas images for a little while. Many of you may know where this is.

I saw someone mention on Facebook that somebody had hung a set of Moravian stars in a local covered bridge for Christmas and I knew I had to check them out. I shot this at dusk with my tripod set right at the corner of the entrance and I also brought my candles along that resemble luminaries to give the shot a little more ambiance. They are led candles and there is no heat or danger involved which is so much better than trying a shot like this with anything involving a flame as should be pretty obvious in such a structure. The most difficult problem was the stars were hanging by thin wire and they would spin even in the lightest air movement. I tried two solutions, the first was watching the stars spin, then they would pause and spin the opposite way so if you timed it right, you could get them fairly blur free. The second way was to hit each star with a shot of flash which froze them no matter how they were moving. The bottom photo was taken at sunrise and they had no lights on inside them, but at dusk there were several that  lit up, so it almost seemed they had some kind of timer on them because it was dark in the morning just like at night.

Merry Christmas to all.

Always found this entrance to the eye Doctors office in Lititz to be very appealing, so I finally made an attempt to capture it. I set my flash on the sidewalk aiming straight up to get the nice contours of the woodwork to stand out.

One of my 2018 Lititz Christmas images featuring the Rolex clock located at the park entrance. This was taken using my ladder and pole setup which can put the camera anywhere from 7-20 feet up in the air to get shots like this. At this height I use live view on my tablet to get the camera framing just right by spinning and raising the pole till it is exactly where I want.

The Lititz Mutual Insurance building is situated on the square in the heart of Lititz and is such a wonderful building. I took advantage of the rainy evening to catch the shimmering reflection.

This sleigh greets visitors to the Poole forge Christmas event this year.

This image was taken at the bi-annual Christmas show at Poole Forge mansion. I always enjoy shooting this event which includes a variety of decorated trees and this display one was among my favorites this year. It was done by the owners of a local Ice cream shop named Lickity Split. I brought the two candles with me to the shoot to give it a nice added cozy touch.