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.

Started looking for Christmas images in the town of Lititz, Pa and this Harley parked in a shop window was the first to catch my eye.

Another rainy fall day.

This is a spotted lantern fly that is an invasive species here. It showed up this summer in large numbers and has the fruit industry in a panic. It is a pretty insect but very destructive to fruit. check out this Youtube video to see how intense they can be. All I can say is thank goodness they don’t bite or sting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz8hMpWw66s

I shot this a couple of months ago and finally got around to posting it. I used a long lens which helped but as soon as they knew it was picture time, they did an about-face and headed down the lane toward home. It was very cute because the girls had doll babies they had along for the ride.

Two different shots I took at the same location but a day or two apart. The bottom shot was when I first noticed the scene and the upper is the first chance I had to come back and shoot it in the evening. Rain and wind took them down pretty quickly but I like each shot for its own appeal.

I shot this image a couple of weeks ago of one of several murals done by high school students near the towns visitors center. I used my ladder and pole setup to get up about 12 feet off the ground to capture this.

I am including a link to the magazine where I mentioned my work was being used as part of a story on Lititz. Anyone not from my area can see the nice story they did along with my photos.

https://www.lancastercountymag.com/christmas-in-lititz/

Sunlight shines through a narrow opening between buildings illuminating this maple tree in Lititz

This is a second image I shot on this very rainy night. What caught my eye was the water puddling everywhere and the reflecting lights and fall foliage. I have never seen this much water collecting in this usually dry area so I felt I needed to tough out the miserable conditions to capture this.

This evening found me shooting in the pouring rain in the Lititz Springs Park and my determination was certainly put to the test under what was basically a non-stop downpour. The whole time I was shooting I only saw one other poor soul walking through with an umbrella. There is a magazine in my area called Lancaster County Magazine and they contacted me this year to be included in a story on Christmas in Lititz in their December issue. I just saw the magazine tonight and the article was wonderful and their printing was an exact match to my images.

My hometown park was looking its fall best this past week. Two days later the leaves were almost all on the ground.

I found this pretty scene at a local park during a rainy fall day. This spot is usually dry but heavy rain left some rather large puddles that reflected the birch and fall foliage nicely. Without the reflection I am not sure I would have shot this scene. I did hit the birch, bushes and fallen leaves with some light to help their reflections to be nice and clear.

Another rainy night finds me getting wet for a good cause in the local park. I like the lamp posts along this entrance to the park and the fall color made for a nice image.