The shops in downtown Lititz get all decked out for the Christmas season creating a nice environment. I was just about done capturing this store image when this couple came walking by and I blurted out “any chance you two would pose in my shot”? Surprisingly they did agree so I snapped three quick frames because it was raining and they were on their way. I lit them from behind with my flash to silhouette them and you can see that helped illuminate the rain drops coming down.
Poole Forge is an old iron making site located in Eastern Lancaster County. The township now owns the property and it has been lovingly restored over many years. The old Iron masters Mansion there hosts a Christmas tree decorating event every two years and this year was the on year. This room had two participants trees on display with one being a peacock theme and the other focused on a wedding theme. I am graciously given a key and have been allowed to come in the pre-dawn hours to shoot any that I find appealing. Various stories about the place being haunted have circulated over time, so being there alone gets my overactive imagination set in motion. Years ago I arrived early one morning and I went room to room to decide what I liked, and as I rounded the corner to check out the last room I gazed upon a large decorated tree that was laying on it’s side with decorations strewn all over the floor! First thought was some mischievous spirit had been at work, then that changed to oh crap they are going to think I knocked it over! Thankfully I got the organizer to stop by and after some analysis we noticed the tree stand screws were barely turned into the trunk and that was the cause!
This barn was one of several I was asked to shoot for a historical society barn book driving tour. The owner is an accomplished artist who does beautiful work and as soon as I saw the barn in the distance I knew it would be an awesome subject in the snow! The owners were extremely nice and said I could come back anytime to capture its beauty. Well the finished barn book did not impress me in the slightest, because I spent hours shooting various angles at a bunch of barns only to have them use a single shot sometimes. I guess the positive side was getting to meet the owners of some barns I had never come across before and being given the opportunity to revisit them. I talk about what it takes for some of my images but until you actually see it visually you might not grasp it. The top image is my final result and in the lower shot you can see me with both arms raised over my head and that big square over my head is the barn window,not my gear! I am holding things high to hopefully help the signal from the tablet in my right hand reach my camera which is a hundred yards away and that in turn sends the signal back to fire the flash that is in my left hand as I pray that it works! Sometimes I get no response, sometimes the camera fires and not the flash etc etc.
The bottom image is my first exposure as I try to get my flash to light up the snow on the roof to give it some dimension. So basically I move around lighting things I want to bring out more. In this image you can see how little detail the flat evening light reveals but by pointing my flash toward my camera with a big blast, I now have contours showing in the landscape giving it dimension! I often mention how I like a cold snowy landscape with a warm inviting structure that suggests refuge from the elements. When I arrived here the first thing I did was knock to say hi and it appeared to me as if they were home but there was no answer so I assumed they were enjoying dinner. I then went about finding a good view and started shooting as it got darker. I kept thinking how great lights on in the barn would be but hated to bother them again. I had been in the barn once for the book and knew the light switch was right inside the door! I noticed the barn door was hanging wide open so I simply hit the light switch on and that warm interior illumination transformed the shot completely in my opinion. hopefully that helps explain a little of the technique I use
I should have posted a bunch of upcoming shots in December but I was so busy shooting that posting these got put on hold. This image was captured on a rainy evening just before Christmas in the nearby town of Lititz, Pa. It is a close knit town that has a very strong sense of community and has a charming downtown with neat little shops. My heading is a little deceptive in the fact there were so many cars going by that I barely had openings to capture this image. My truck is parked along the curb/sidewalk with my tripod and camera at the front drivers side corner of my Jeep literally 3 feet from the cars whizzing by with an umbrella over it to keep it dry! Capturing an image like this can be practically impossible to get with one frame so one option is to do it in parts. So for example there were cars constantly on different areas of the road but not on the other areas, so I shoot till I know I have frames with no cars on one half of the frame and then do the other half till both sides are clear of cars! Then I must light the buildings which helps to make their wet reflections more visible on the road, and that requires me to physically be on the other side of the road with my flash and then I have to not only aim my flash correctly but I must watch to make sure there is no car passing between me and my camera as I fire the flash or all I get is a passing car blur. While I think of it I must apologize for my sentences that seem to go on forever. My mother writes the same way and can go from one thought to another in a seemingly endless sentence, so maybe it’s a genetic defect. I wish I could make sense of it but I have no clue?
The building on the corner with the arched window used to be a church but it went up for sale and thankfully a member of the community stepped up to purchase it and it now functions to host events periodically. The real shame is the previous owner took out all the stained glass just to make a quick buck! Take note of the house on the left which has these amazing carved embellishments over each window! One point of frustration is my wifi setup is supposed to be able to remotely fire my camera and transmit the image to my tablet at almost a football fields distance but for some reason rain wreaks havoc on the signal transmission distance. Essentially the result of that is me walking up to the church numerous times only to find I lost connection or can’t get my camera to fire and have to walk back closer to get my signal back!
Last week we got several more inches of snow added to what the previous storm had given us. It was late Friday afternoon when I headed to a farm I had on my list of potential good subjects if we ever got snow again. I went to the farm at 4:00 and found my vantage point and set up waiting for dusk to arrive to get my shot. It was snowing and blowing so I had my tripod set up with a bag of weights attached and I also had my no hands umbrella setup covering the camera. I basically took a monopod, added a pvc tube that an umbrella handle slides down in and I simply velcro that to my tripod. The weights insure the tripod stays put even in fairly strong winds. I got the shot I had envisioned and noticed two hours had blown by already. I basically was feeling I wanted more snow shots so I drove around snapping here and there. I ended up deciding to drive through a local park as it was already after 9:00pm. I took a quick look through the park and realized I was the only one there except for one car with no one in it?
I was excited to know I had the place to myself and not worry about people interrupting me so I commenced to look for my shot, which you see here. It was not full moon, yet the whole area seemed fairly bright and you would barely guess this is around 10:30 at night. The contrast between the warm park lights and the cold snow created a sort of fairy tale look with the bridge leading to the gazebo! This shot was transformed by me adding light to the gazebo and the snow to bring out the texture. I really enjoy taking a scene and transforming it with light to create images that are uniquely my vision.
Getting back to that other car, I could see it across the park and noticed it start up, and then proceed in my direction. I watched as it stopped near my vehicle and it seemed the person inside was watching me? My radar was now on full alert and then I see what I thought was a big guy get out and start walking through the snow toward me. To my surprise it was a woman who was curious about what I was doing lighting up the landscape. We had a brief conversation about how pretty the snow was and then she left, but I couldn’t help but wonder how many women would venture out alone to a park at 10:30 at night and then approach the only other person there to see what they are doing? I did make one rookie mistake here and that was when I walked through pristine snow while doing another shot only to realize I wanted to shoot the snow I just walked through.
A couple other shots of the Sleigh ride I captured. These do not show the dogs as well but I like seeing the two modes of transportation in the one shot! Maybe the buggy was hauling the hot chocolate for when the adventure ended?
My apologies for not posting for quite some time because I have a good number of shots, just setting time aside to do it can be a challenge. With that said here is a shot I took this past week after our area got 4-5 inches of new snow. I will drive the backroads scanning for anything with potential and as I looked in the distance I wondered if what I saw heading my way might be a sleigh? Sure enough it was and it is these special moments that strike a chord with me and get filed away in my memory as yet another blessing in my photography career. It is not just the sleigh, or the bells jingling, or the snowflakes flying, or the horses in perfect synchronization, but if you look closely there are at least eight dogs snuggled in enjoying the ride as well. You got the captain up front, the white one peeking around the corner, there are three in the ladies lap, two in the arms of the rear passenger, and my personal favorite is the one nestled in under the front seat where all you see is his white nose peeking out. For all I know there may have been more under the seats. Sometimes the simple things in life are the most special.
A former local train station decorated for Christmas.
A recent foggy evening provided the opportunity to have fun in the fog. I blasted my flash up into the gazebo to get the light rays both on the ground and through the foggy air!
Yet another shot from the farm.
Same farm but now looking back down the lane!
Another and perhaps my personal favorite shot from the farm visit. This is now going up the lane above the bridge and stream. The conditions were perfect with the thick fog starting to relinquish it’s hold and at the same time the sun was slowly starting to break through. It was basically illuminating this one tree so it stood out in brilliant color.
Continuing with this location, here is the stream that leads to the stone bridge. The tree on the left had literally dropped the majority of it’s leaves the day before but I still like the various progression of trees and leaves changing.
This is the same location as yesterday and this is at the bottom of that image and you can now see the lane heading toward the other connecting farm. I thought the bridge was kind of impressive being that it is on private property.
This particular location is actually down a long farm lane owned by an Amish family. Eons ago I drove through here from a second farm that the lane connects to and I stopped and asked if I may take a photo. They said sure, I got a shot, they got a print and everyone was happy. Fast forward 10-15 years and I could see off in the distance what appeared to be fall foliage from the main road so I stopped to ask again and to my surprise they actually remembered me coming and giving them a print all those years ago! The lane on the left goes over a small stream down at the bottom and then heads up to the right where those trees are. I think I was here from like 5:30 am till almost noon shooting this fall foliage spot and will sprinkle those in as the calendar moves on. This is one of the first I captured as a good layer of frost and somewhat dense fog combined for a great morning. It took a little waiting till the sun finally broke through but it was worth the wait!
Same Church but taken about a week apart. I was lucky enough to happen to be going by when things looked nice each time. By getting on my stomach I was able to use the low vantage point to hide the road located between the leaves and the Church. I also was somewhat forced to go low so the branches and leaves would not block the steeple.
Recently I shared the story of the Mennonite boy I crossed paths with riding home from school. Well this is where he lives and where his parents allowed me to shoot their flower garden. The sun setting on the left was pure luck but I am pleased with my result as it balances nicely composition wise. This was just on the edge of getting hit by frost and a week later they were toast!
I got a little lazy last week so I missed posting. Anyway I shot this old mill a week or two ago and it took some work and co-operation from a couple people to pull off. I noticed this place while driving past in the morning and decided I was coming back in the evening. Now for starters the foreground area was littered with those huge ugly brown Sycamore leaves that are the size of your head, so my solution was simply bring my own! So I gathered up leaves from my front yard and brought them along for their moment in the spotlight. After dispersing my leaf collection I noticed the farmer heading my way to see what all the commotion was about? I told him my goal and asked if he wanted to help with the cause, which for his part was simply turning on his house lights because you all know I love illumination!
So part of my lights request was turning on lights in the mill, which I was told was impossible because all the wiring had been removed. Well not to deterred by this little glitch, I asked if we can go inside the mill and I will add light with my flash to bring it to life? He said sure and we moved from window to window as I blasted the interior with light. The big window on the right was not accessible, so he asked the tenant to turn that rooms lights on which he kindly did. This spot is one I am pondering if we get some snow this year. There is also an old covered bridge right behind my camera but its not used anymore and is not that photogenic. Oh and after I was inside the lower level to light the window, he mentions that skunks are fairly regular guests down there, so one flash and out I came!
Well I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving and time with your family. I figured I would share this little nugget of brilliance with you as your turkey induced sleep wears off. This is the oldest covered bridge in Lancaster county and it was fixed maybe two years ago after a box truck hit the entrance. So this past week a driver from Georgia was driving an 18 wheeler and seemingly has no clue what height is, decided it would be no problem to drive their rig through this bridge! The huge orange sign reads 10 ft 6 inches and this morons truck was 13 feet 4 inches so there was a slight issue here. So they decided to go ahead and upon hitting the entrance, their brain didn’t say stop, it said keep going, no problem! they ripped every cross brace but one off on one side and screwed up a lot of other structural things. You also see the weight limit sign which is 20 tons or 44,000 lb , and an unloaded rig starts at 35,000 lbs. So since they are not a quitter, they got as far as the other end and got stuck, so they then tried backing out destroying more of the bridge! In the end the fire company was called and they got the rig out of there. One last thing, if the tractor had gotten out the end, the road drops downward and the trailer would have pivoted up and torn the roof off! to see more photos visit the Farmersville fire co Facebook page.
This horse and buggy is enjoying a quiet ride on an Autumn day in Lancaster County.
This old stone Church is framed by the mature trees in all their fall splendor. A few of the windows reflect the autumn color.
Two wagons full of harvested feed corn sit waiting to be unloaded into the barn.
This property is one I have always admired and when I saw the trees in full color, I knew it needed to be captured. There are some challenges here but with some effort greatness can be achieved. If I told you there was a busy road between the stone wall and the white picket fence, you might say no way but in fact there is and I think I finally cracked the code with this angle. The other thing I absolutely abhor is obnoxious power lines ruining a shot but I put in the time to remove all of them and trust me there was a multitude.
This was captured in my hometown park about a week ago and includes peak fall trees and Azaleas? I have no clue why Azaleas are blooming in the fall but these have been doing this the last several years. I always thought Azaleas were a late spring bloomer but what do I know. I don’t think these colors really work together but it is an interesting sight.
Donald Reese Photography 