Autumn at the Farm

Autumn color will soon be a distant memory and even though it was not a banner year for color here in Lancaster county, there were pockets of nice color sprinkled around the area. This farm is one I have noticed the last three fall seasons and every time I waited a bit to long and mother nature would throw a curve ball. This year I noticed it transforming, then forgot about it for a couple days and when I checked it was already dropping! I left work this day with no intention of going here but as I headed home the sky started to light up and off I went. When I got there the sun was a perfect ball with some time left till it would hit the horizon. If you look at the first image, just off to the left behind the white fence is a pond and the sun was a perfect reflection in the pond! Trouble is To see the reflection you had to back up until you were at a neighboring house to see it. Well I rang the doorbell and of course no one was home so I had to concede the shot wasn’t happening! So the sun went down, the sky got decent but I really wondered what the view from down at the pond was like? I knocked and prepared for the worst but the Husband and wife couldn’t have been more welcoming. They basically said have at it, and as the light faded I managed to get two images with the third being taken a little earlier. The ironic part of my adventure was the owner told me the house I wanted to shoot from was his sons! hopefully one day I can pull that shot off.

Howdy Neighbor

I saw this family headed down the back road and went ahead to Find a more uncluttered background. As they rounded the turn past where I was waiting, a guy on a bike came by and gave them a little wave. These are Mennonites which have a strong population here in Lancaster county.We also have a large contingent of Amish population here as well.

A True Gentleman

I passed this family on a rainy day and went up ahead to wait for them to pass because they had a nice photogenic formation when I saw them. As they approached my chosen spot, all of a sudden the wind picked up and we quickly had an umbrella situation which brought everything to an abrupt halt. There were a couple young girls sitting in the back who needed some brotherly assistance with the inverted umbrella which gave me enough time to capture this moment.

Sunny and Stormy

I spotted this small patch of Sunflowers a short distance from an old feed mill. Got permission to take a look and shot this one shot. The tricky thing was the high structure which I thought should be included but I was hoping for more.

Fields of Color

This is the same location as yesterdays pumpkin scene but it is farther back in the property which I noticed the color in the distance. It is an Amish family living here and they gladly left me wander the variety of blooming flowers. I asked if it is pick your own but was told they provide fresh flowers to a variety of other local farm stands. I joked with the father about tearing down the ugly plastic greenhouse on the left but deep down I wanted it gone. It would be so nice seeing the entire barn but you can’t have it all!

Fall Flower Spectacle

This is a shot I did last week and another example of hiding the road with a lower angle. The barn is on the opposite side of the road but the flower side was sort of going downhill so it worked perfectly. It seems I see more farms doing pick your own flowers this year than I have in the past.

Pick Your Own

Well it is Autumn in Lancaster county and the Beautiful colors of fall are popping up at farm stands across the county. This particular stand is located along RT322 near Blue Ball and is called Ever Fresh produce. They have row upon row of flowers available for pick your own including this patch of bold colors. the only thing that frustrates me here is their barn is hidden by the produce stand which I like to include in a shot like this. The barn shown is actually across the main highway which I strategically hid using the flowers.

It actually Happened!

Hello again, I finally captured a few new photos to share. I had a scheduled evening photo shoot at a township park here in Lancaster county and I had just completed the shoot. As I got to my vehicle, a van pulled in beside me and out climbed 6 exuberant young Amish girls who headed toward the back of the park. Now out pops the driver, who is an older gentleman carrying a camera headed where they were last seen. I can’t remember in all my time in Lancaster county ever seeing Amish having what appeared to be a photo session? I watched from a distance as they each posed for photos in several locations.

My wheels were turning wondering if it’s possible they may head to the opposite side of the park where there is a nice covered bridge? I decided I was going to go there and wait and see if I might get lucky. I had envisioned getting brave and asking them to walk holding hands through the bridge and perhaps do a simple silhouette of them if they ever came to the bridge? I grabbed my camera and went and sat on the concrete abutment at the entrance to the bridge. Fifteen minutes went by and I started thinking this isn’t happening when all of a sudden I hear voices from the other end of the bridge. They could not see me sitting there but Trust me this next part blew my mind! There was some giggling and chit chat when all of a sudden I hear one say “why don’t we hold hands and walk side by side to the other end? Tell me what the odds are that they literally spoke my idea into existence as I was sitting there? I made up my mind I was going to wait out of sight till they were in the middle of the bridge and then pop out and get the shot I wanted! Well of course my camera decided to miss focus and every single one was fuzzy!

So they hung around deciding what to do next so I said any chance you will repeat the walk? They hesitated but said sure and I got them walking, then they came back to the photographer and an impromptu piggy back session started which I also captured! The only thing I could think of was maybe it was Rumspringa time which as I understand it is a time of seeing what the world has to offer with little restraint from the elders. Years ago I watched beer cans get tossed by the dozens out of a buggy and that I know was Rumspringa time.

Lancaster County Traffic Jam!

Lancaster County has a long history of farming and a long list of producing savory fruits and vegetables. Driving the backroads one can come across a wide variety of scenes that play out on a regular basis. This particular day I was heading home and as I approached this S-curve in the road I pulled over to figure out what was coming up the road in the distance. As you can see it was an Amish buggy that was dictating the pace for this harvesting team consisting of a large tractor that was pulling a large grain bin and behind that was a Combine and they both were headed to their next job. I was hoping they were going to pass the buggy and I could get the small buggy right beside the massive machines but they were taking it easy, probably because they saw the camera ahead. Harvesting has certainly changed a bit around here and what used to be a family affair out on the wagons has switched to hiring these crews that come in and harvest huge fields in very little time compared to the old way.

School and Barn

This one room school recently became neighbors to a newly renovated red barn. There is a road running right in front of them but I chose to shoot the image from a business located across the field. The bonus was as I arrived I noticed the one room school had lights on inside which I cant say I have ever noticed before but I will take it!

A Sunset Spectacle

This particular evening had a lot of clouds along with an open horizon which hinted this may be a good sunset evening. I took a chance and found a spot to set the tripod up and sat and waited. It kept getting worse until finally I started seeing clouds starting to light up with color. It looked pretty good for about twenty minutes and then quickly faded out.

Photographer Takes a Knee!

This is the same home from a couple days ago except I am downstream looking back. I prefer this angle but both offer decent views! This ice was a couple solid inches and it was maybe 18 inches deep if I were to break through. I placed my tripod and walked around looking for the best reflection and settled on this. I walked all around the ice with no mishaps UNTIL I was on my last two steps to get onto the snow and failed to notice the ice curved upward at the edge and just like that my foot shot out under me and my knee went straight down on the ice before I knew what happened. I laid there in the snow for a few minutes until I finally tried to see if I could walk. One good thing is I had my phone on me which my family knows is something I do not place high value on. Usually its in my Jeep, or muted in my pocket and I see messages days later sometimes. Remember when phones had cords and we were actually free.

Bitter but Beautiful

I will be sharing several different images from this local Covered Bridge I shot during the bitter cold snap. This particular morning Hoar Frost had formed on the pine needles of this stream side Pine Tree. The sun had just risen and was casting the first warm rays on the scene.