I took this in the middle of summer in a local town called Terre Hill. I find the Church and parsonage to be very appealing and the home directly across the street is a lovely B&B called The Artists Inn. The owner takes pride in her gardens which obviously compliment the Church scene and the gardens were in perfect form the day I snapped this.
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.
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.
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.
There is a road you can barely see that runs between this old farmhouse and the barn in the distance. I stopped to ask if I could snap a photo and after some evaluation I came up with this angle which I thought worked nicely.
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.
This is one of my favorites this Winter and every time I Iook at it I am instantly transported back to the entire experience from being here alone in the brisk night air to snow falling on me from the trees overhead to barely anyone out driving on the roads!
This misty morning was captured when temperatures were 7 degrees. I wish I had been there 45 minutes earlier when the sun would have been rising right in the middle of the shot.
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!
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.
This is what is left of Wilbur Chocolate in Lititz, Pa. A small retail store selling the famous Wilbur Buds among other tasty chocolate delights. The original plant is across the street and has been converted into luxury condos.
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.
If you look closely at the ice reflecting the sunlit tree you can see there is a frozen area that looks like cogs on a gear or a serrated knife. Another brisk 7 degree morning providing more memories of freezing fingers.
This lovely home is nestled right along the creek which has frozen into a great reflective surface for the warm inviting home.
A fresh layer of snow creates a calm Train Station scene.
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.
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 image started out with the goal of getting the sun setting behind these trees along with a cool sunset. Well I got the sun setting but it was very intense even up until it dropped below the horizon. Not too long after the sun went down my mind started wondering if there was any chance a buggy might come by to balance out the composition. The thought no sooner entered my mind and I suddenly heard a buggy not too far away. My camera was locked on the tripod pointing the opposite direction, so the bottom image shows all I could do to renegotiate before the buggy trotted by! So I had to ponder what my chances of a second buggy coming by were? I composed my shot with enough space on the right to fit a buggy and decided I would wait a maximum of forty five minutes. I think I had about ten minutes left when I heard the clip clop clip clop headed my way. I shoot manual most of the time so in a situation like this I would adjust exposure as the light level drops, so when the opportunity arises all I need to do is fire the shutter when the horse and buggy reaches the spot. For this image I probably blasted a series of maybe 14 shots starting when the buggy is almost past the tree until it leaves the frame. even doing that I had maybe three shots where the horse looked good and it was in the right spot. You can get an idea how intense the sun was, even while being partially blocked by the tree!
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!
Donald Reese Photography 