These two Amish brothers were feeling pretty good as they headed to the buggy with several pairs of new shoes each.I bet the ladies are a little jealous right now.
Tag Archives: Farm
Snack Break
This family was enjoying a snack break of chips and soda as they headed down the road one afternoon.
Preferred Seating
Thanks to a willing older brother and an extra harness,these Amish kids can go for a make-believe buggy ride. I like the use of the wooden chairs for a more comfortable ride.
A Family Affair
A busy day harvesting hay features mom at the reins and dad on the wagon piling the hay bales.The children are off in the distance doing various chores.
Buggy or Bug?
This is something I have never seen before.An amish home with a buggy in the driveway and a VW Bug in the garage.Maybe the bug is there in case they are late for church? At least they kept it black as expected.
Amish Driving Lessons
This little scene turned out way different than I thought it would and here is why.As I drove past this farm lane I quickly glanced in and saw what I thought was 4 children ready to head out for a wagon ride,and all I saw was the kids all loaded and ready to lead the horse,so I decided to go a short ways up the road and wait for them to come by.After about three minutes,I became impatient and drove back to see what the hold up was,and that’s when it became clear that the horse was fake and it was a training session I had witnessed.By then all but one had gone somewhere else and it is one of those shots I will play over in my head that I should have gotten.
Trust Your Instincts
This was one of those nights I wish I had listened to my instincts and headed out to shoot earlier.I was doing yard work and noticed a transitioning sky and kept telling myself to head out but I kept stalling.By the time I saw the cool clouds forming,I found myself scrambling to get somewhere fast.Unfortunately this is the best I could find on short notice and the clouds to the left of my shot were much more dramatic,but it had no foreground interest that direction. Their was lightning as well but never where I had the camera pointed and I was a little nervous about getting out of the car to recompose.
Summer Flight
This hot air balloon finally got to a spot low enough that I could include some of the farm landscape below it.Hot air balloons can be a bit of a challenge to shoot,especially on an evening like this when it was slightly breezy, because they cover so much ground that keeping ahead of them and putting yourself in the right spot for a shot becomes tricky. The crew landed in a farm field shortly after this shot was taken.
Driving Lessons
This image caught my eye with the two young boys learning the nuances of handling the horses and equipment from their father.As I was working on the shot, I zoomed in and realized there were two more children in front of the father that I never even noticed. They are hard to see in this small version but the hats are there.
Looking Back
One thing I can tell you about the Amish and that is they are keenly aware of their surroundings. I was parked in a spot along the road to capture this family passing by and was using a long lens around 400mm to keep some distance, and I no sooner raised my camera and the dad immediately looked back.Their must be a young one up front because there is a car seat plopped in the back with the kids,unless the child is strapped in with the siblings watching.
Are We There Yet?
These three Amish sisters are enjoying a ride in the back of the buggy but the smallest one might be getting impatient and asking mom up front,are we there yet?
A Round The Hay Field
This field of round hay bales looked especially appealing in the late day light of an approaching storm. I was slightly concerned as I shot this because I was on my truck roof with my tripod extended and there were a few flickers of lightning in the distance.The lower image includes the machine that makes the bales and a load of bales ready to leave the field.That image was taken across the road in a second field that evening and I am pretty sure the large field got drenched before they were collected.
The Fun Of Youth
This bunch of friends enjoy a ride around the back roads of Lancaster county. When you are sitting in such close quarters,you cant help but have a great conversation about all the things that young minds ponder.
Coming Round The Bend
Two families head home after a sunday visiting with friends.I basically picked this spot,set up my tripod and hoped for the best.These two buggies were the only two that came by while I waited at least 45 minutes. I kept bumping up the iso as the light levels went lower and lower.I ended up at iso 1250 at a 500th second at f5.6 and the ability to freeze any motion was practically gone.
Horse Shoes For Sale
A group of young Amish entrepreneurs discuss the way they want to position their recently constructed collection box that tourists will use to deposit the money for horse shoe purchases.
Amish Balloon Sight Seeing
This series of images were captured on friday evening in rural Lancaster county.The top image was taken as the pair of balloons slowly drifted across the fields on their way to landing on the road.The second image is my favorite and includes a buggy load of locals who rode up to watch the spectacle and the second deflated balloon is barely visible on the right in that image.The third shot includes some Amish volunteers who stepped forward to help fold the balloons up. A young man who was a tourist came over to me in utter shock to tell me the balloons were actually sitting right on the road,and I said relax,you see stuff like that in the country all the time.I was surprised they waved this truck to come through while they were getting ready to deflate.
After The Storm
This is another image after the rainbow from the other day. The whole sky took on a rather wild yellow/orange color and I actually changed my white balance twice thinking I had something set wrong because of the way it looked on my tablet.
Let Your Spirit Soar
This image was taken last evening from a spot I have tried to get lightning shots from several times in the past. This evening was looking like another major let down,and to be honest everything must be just right to get shots like this.You need to have lightning before the rain reaches you,you need lightning to strike where you are pointed,and you need the ambient light to be low enough to see the landscape and yet still have exposure times of eight seconds or longer.Granted you can shoot lightning at shorter times but you will waste an awful lot of frames at 1 second each till you are lucky enough to get one captured.For this shot I put a three stop neutral density on which added several seconds time to my exposure and this image happened during an eight second shot.
A friend called to tell me he was out and had just captured a strike with his new camera and that it was getting real windy where he was,and about thirty seconds later it came through where I was and I was getting a little nervous about the wind knocking the tripod over plus the lightning was getting closer,so I scampered to pack up real quick.
One very interesting thing happened this evening,and that was an Amish man came by on an open horse-drawn cart just as the lightning was picking up,and I heard him coming up the road singing almost a half mile away and he never toned down his singing one bit as he passed me. He had an open hymnal in one hand and the reigns in the other.I would describe the Amish that I have heard singing around here as more of a chant and that is what this man was doing. He looked right at me with a smile as he sang his heart out and let his spirit soar in the middle of farm country.For all I know he could have being singing, Please Lord,let me get home safe tonight. It was one of those moments that I cherish living where I do.
The Milk Run
A young Amish boy peeks out the back of this buggy to keep an eye on the two stainless steel milk containers being pulled in the wagon behind them.Of course this could be a homemade milkshake machine but one can only speculate.
Feeding Trough Fiasco
The old goat seems to have decided he needs to not only eat some hay,but he also chose to take a siesta in the food trough while he was at it. The one young lamb seems to want to call him out on his rude behavior ,but after seeing the horns,he decided to just give him the stare down.It was a bit breezy this day,so maybe the trough gave a little wind relief.
Windmill Country
Actually it’s getting harder and harder to find farms that still use the old windmill,but this one stood out pretty prominently as I crested a hill and got this lovely view across the valley featuring numerous farms.The red barns illuminated by late day sun stood out as the focal point among the many farms.
The Enveloping Freeze
Finding any body of water around the area that is not completely frozen over has been a bit of a challenge this winter. This partially thawed farm pond was a bit of a surprise with temperatures in the single digits.It must be a spring fed pond to stay open at this point in the season and the temperature at daybreak was a crisp minus 5 degrees.
Winter Zen Moment
This image features a local farm-house and a gazebo the owners have positioned across the street to relax in. I waited till dusk to capture the glow of the gazebo lights against the cold of the night. I used my flashlight to bring out the stairway path in the snow as well as the snow texture in the foreground. I once again used my camranger wi-fi device with my tablet to fire the camera and review the images,all the while from a camera that was close to a hundred yards away. I could not dream of pulling a shot like this off without that device. It does have a slightly slower transfer rate to the tablet at this distance,but that’s still pretty impressive.
Sunset at Suppertime
This spot is a recent find I made and one I hope to work more in the future. The snow was very textured,possibly from strong winds at some point.This is an Amish farm and I think the light in the house is from a propane or kerosene light lantern.This snow was extremely hard to traverse because it had a hard crust that you would break through and sink eight inches with each step. I also got zapped twice on the electric fence going in and leaving this field,which my friend thought was hilarious. When I stopped to ask about taking photos,I was greeted by a large dog that appeared friendly as I called him over,and then after I was 6 feet from the car,he started growling pretty good and seemed like he was ready to rip into my leg,and thankfully the owner came out and the dog calmed down.
Almost Spectacular
This early morning image had all the earmarks of becoming a spectacular shot and although it turned out very nice,it could have been much better. the sky was just filled with clouds that would have lit up at sunrise but for some reason it kind of fizzled just when I was getting excited about the shot. I had to find the farmer in the barn as he was milking cows to ask if I could go on the land and he was more than happy to oblige. One funny thing that happened several times in the last week is me getting shocked as I climb over the electrified fences.Each time I gave them a cursory couple touches with the hand and each time nothing,until I start climbing or going under the fence and sure enough I get zapped. It kind of helps you get over the fence a little quicker.
Sunset Across The Valley
The last light of day skims across the farmland in this snow-covered valley. I came to a quick stop in order to jump out of my truck and capture this fleeting moment.Less than five minutes later,the sun had dropped below the mountains and the cold of evening began to envelop the region.
Dashing Through The Snow
This pair of Amish sleigh riders are zipping down the road in rural Lancaster county on a day that saw temperatures hover around five degrees. Judging by the fact that you can only see their eyes,its safe to assume it was a bit brisk in the old red sleigh.Next time you complain about your car not heating up quickly enough in winter,think of these two.
School and Home
This telephoto shot compressed the distance between the one room school-house in the middle and two Amish farms in the background. I find it humorous how modern schools have closed several times due to low temperatures,yet Amish kids still walk to school and attend on the days public schools are closed. I spoke to an Amish friend and he told me ”we love our children just as much,we just don’t think they need to be sheltered from every adversity”. Some people wonder how the Amish can live without all the modern gadgets,yet they have things many can only dream of,like contentment, humility and the list goes on and on. Imagine sitting in the outhouse at that school in minus 10 degree weather,and you can bet you would take care of business in a timely fashion.
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Tree Farm
This lovely farm sells Christmas trees and they were generous enough to allow me and a friend to capture a few images.We arrived under heavy cloud cover but within a few minutes the sky started to open and I captured this shot as the first rays of sun illuminated the house and barn but still left the trees in shadow.
A Cold Sunday Walk
I photographed this snow-covered scene yesterday on a back road in Amish country and it includes numerous buggies and a few walkers as they head to church at one of the farms up the road. There is actually four buggies rounding the bend but they are hard to see in the distance. I really liked the youngster bundled in the green blanket and his sister wearing the bright yellow scarf. It was 16 degrees when I snapped this image,which was made possible by using my camranger from inside my warm truck to fire the tripod mounted camera on my vehicle roof. I had no intention of going out at sunrise because freezing rain was forecast,but as I looked out my bedroom at 5am,I could see stars,so I headed out.Clouds quickly moved in to ruin sunrise and this was shot at iso 1000,which I hate to do,but it was necessary to get a 500th second shutter speed. Was really pleased I Made the effort.
Donald Reese Photography 