This image was taken when it was 7 degrees a couple weeks ago and I took a chance by walking out to the middle of this creek for an icy reflection photo. The creek was not completely frozen but I tried to use my best judgement when to go no further. I will tell a little story about my childhood and why I still have a solid respect for the dangers of ice and falling in. When I was somewhere around 12 years old or so, me and my friends were sledding at a local park and at this park there was a pond. This pond was completely frozen except an area about 10 feet round where spring water kept it open at the edge. Being a stupid kid I took my friends sled and gave it a push downhill toward the pond while laughing about how he had to now go down the hill to retrieve it! Well despite the pond being 95 percent frozen, you can guess where the sled went, and you would be correct if you said in the open 10 foot hole. So it was getting late and we all headed home to warm up but if I knew what was coming I may have stayed at a friend’s instead. As I am sitting in my bedroom relaxing, my dad gets a call apprising him of the sled at the bottom of the pond situation. He informs me we are heading to the pond right now and I am going in to retrieve it! My dad was a Marine and when he said something you didn’t argue and so I knew I was in for a rough night! We arrived in the dark at the pond and with a flashlight we could see the sled on the bottom directly below the spot where water became ice which was maybe 4-5 feet deep. He said go get it and all I could think was I am going to get sucked under that ice never to come up again and I am balling my eyes out as I got a little over waist deep. Finally my dad yells get out, and then informs me we are now going to the store to buy a new sled that I am going to hand deliver to my friend’s house that night! So my friend got a new sled and I got a life lesson that is still fresh in my mind almost 50 years later! So every time I walk on ice, I am keenly aware of the dangers that exist. Kids nowadays have no clue how easy they have it compared to my generation and to be honest I am not sure I would want it any different. Sometimes life’s little challenges can make you stronger in the long run.

This morning started out very overcast as I headed to a meeting, but returning 30 minutes later this spot was coming alive with the sun’s rays piercing the clouds. I pulled off the road and took a shot, but I decided to wait a little and the clouds opened up more and more till I shot this image which was the peak. I did get a couple with the sun visible but it was higher than the top of this image and it simply didn’t add anything as high as it was.

I had an early morning shoot scheduled and on my way I happened upon this road lit up by the rising sun!

Bitter cold and water vapor coming off the creek came together to form Hoarfrost in this sunrise image.

Here is a quick example of how adding light to a shot can transform an image. Top image as shot and bottom image as shot with flash thrown in the mix. I enjoy being able to change an image by simply using light to bring out texture in one way or another. This is a very simple technique but it does require a few tools to pull off. First camera on a tripod, a wireless flash sender on camera and receiver on flash and a tablet and camranger to fire the camera and see the image on the tablet. So in sequence, my tablet triggers my camera, then the camera triggers the flash remote, then my flash receives the signal and fires and finally my camranger wifi mounted to the camera sends the image back to me on my tablet where i can analyze if i need to move the light, add power or whatever and there is no need to be at the camera so it opens up a whole set of creative possibilities.

Some side lighting brings out the texture in the various snow covered landscape features.

This row of trees sits along the driveway leading to the farm just over the crest of the hill. I was hoping a buggy would come out the lane for a little visual interest but my patience just could not wait on this pipe dream anymore.

This is another night of late night shooting after a snowstorm had passed. The normally busy road was all but devoid of traffic on this evening. I even shot several shots with my tripod set up in the middle of the road! This is one of my favorites from this winter. I can imagine family and friends on an old sleigh going down the road all the while sipping hot chocolate!

This sleigh just left the snow covered roadway as it heads across the field back to the farm. The two men in the distance are using a horse drawn plow to clear the driveway for the milk truck. You can see the old time bells around the horse on the left and they add such a pleasant sound as the sleigh approaches.

This buggy being pulled by two horses is not a very common sight in Lancaster county but occasionally I come across it. Images like this are the result of observation and awareness of your surroundings. I saw this buggy heading into town and quickly decided what might make a nice background. I drove ahead till I found my background and simply waited for them to come into the composition and rattled off a sequence which allows for me to have options. There was a car parked in the driveway that was noticeable in half the shots, but a select few were just right!

A local business has a lovely decorated window that looks out onto the town square helping to spread joy during the Christmas season for all who pass!

A little holiday decor welcomes visitors.

Yet another image from the farm. Light from the barn made a nice backlight for the clingy snow.

Another view from yesterday’s location. I think the owner built all the stone structures on the property.

This is another image from the light snow we got in late December. It is the research library at our local historical society. I noticed the lead research leader was working late and the warm light caught my attention. After I captured the basic shot I knocked and to my surprise she opened the door! We know each other and she kindly allow me to go upstairs to light up the one room and also blast my flash out the front window to create the light Ray’s on the snow!

This old truck has been placed at the entrance to a local park for the last few holiday seasons and serves as a photo spot to capture the season with family and friends. The snow was light but it clung to trees in an awesome show. This little dusting caught me off guard with it’s beauty and I set a new late night shooting record by staying out till three in the morning. To be honest I actually should have shot till the sun came up because there were tons of opportunities but I am not exactly the young stud I used to be!

I photograped this church that is celebrating it’s 275th anniversary. I captured this a week before the actual Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, which was most certainly even more beautiful than this!

A light snow provides a nice accent to this photo showing the local hometown bank decorated for the season.

Let me first say I have been trying to access my site for the last month and only now could do it on my tablet so my apologies!

Hopefully this method works for now! As I have in the past I went out on Christmas Eve to see if I could find any nice scenes despite no snow around. You might be thinking who does this on a night when you should be home celebrating with family? Well this time of year is when depression seems to rear it’s head and for me keeping busy distracts my mind from dwelling on negative things! So now we can move on to this lovely porch scene. This was a scene I noticed in the quaint small town of LItitz, Pa as I was heading home and I simply decided to stop and knock. It was getting late but I was pleasantly surprised when the owner answered the door and gave me her blessing. For the next 45 minutes I lit the scene to capture it in all it’s beautifully decorated style. Hopefully I will be able to share more of my seasonal images despite the login troubles.