I do a fair amount of shooting in the nearby town of Lititz, PA around the holidays. If you have ever enjoyed the sweet chocolate treat known as a Wilbur Bud, you may have either picked some up here or ordered them from here. The Wilbur chocolate plant was a fixture in the downtown forever but a few years ago the old plant was deemed outdated and so manufacturing moved away. The old factory was completely renovated into luxury condos and an upscale hotel called as you may have guessed, The Wilbur! I stopped in one day after I noticed their lovely Christmas tree to ask if there was any chance to photograph it? They agreed but I could not be in the way of any guests and that basically boiled down to me being about 5 feet from this tall tree with my 17mm wide angle! It was not the ideal setup but I got the shot and before I left I also captured this little festive decor arranged to catch your eye. The Wilbur company thankfully still maintains a store nearby where visitors can sample their sweet creations.
Tag Archives: lititz Pa
Romance is in the Air!
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.
Spring Spectacle
I finally got out for a couple spring photos! This beauty took center stage as it dominated the hillside view.
Sidewalk Stroll
This is another shot of the Alden house in downtown Lititz, Pa. The star is one of many the boro used to use on their telephone poles at Christmas. There were retired and offered to the public and this one still proudly shines in all its glory on a side porch while Edison bulbs shimmer overhead.
The Alden House
This is the warm welcome you are greeted with when staying at the Alden house in Lititz, Pa
Keep Looking Up
A stroll down main street in Lititz, Pa.
Edison Lights the Way
The quaint town of Lititz, Pa is the subject of some of my photos and these Edison bulbs add a warm inviting touch to the downtown sidewalks. Local lighting company Stray lighting is responsible for this welcome addition.
Christmas Window1
I found a little time to capture some of the festive holiday windows in downtown Lititz, Pa and I will be sharing them through the end of the year. The first images feature Zest, a local shop that specializes in premium herbs and spices, as well as kitchen related home goods. They are one of several stores I can count on year to year to deliver a great window. I spoke briefly with the owner who told me the featured girl in the window was found at a large convention she attends. I tried to find the artist online but to no avail. I couldn’t muster the courage to ask what it cost but it was very well done.
Roadside Attraction
Fall in Lancaster County, Pa has been surprisingly colorful this year despite being somewhat dry throughout the summer. Right now seems to be about prime time for foliage but hopefully some more photogenic opportunities will present themselves yet. While this scene might not be your typical roadside attraction, I found it to be very appealing with the carpet of fallen leaves and the backlit foliage. I put my tripod as low as it would go to hide not only the street but other distracting items in the background. There is a whole high school campus to my right but you would never guess by looking at the image.
Fog Shrouded Morning
Romance is in the Air!
Apologies for taking so long to post my Christmas shots from Lititz but here is the first. The top image is my main shot but then I started wondering if I could get any people involved? It’s funny how things come together and the couple in silhouette was going by and I asked if there was any chance they would volunteer? The young lady replied “oh my word, I stalked your house to buy a photo years ago”! We laughed, they posed and it all worked out.
Almost Missed it!
The Antique Shop
The Path to Peace
This is Moravian Square in Lititz, PA and with a little accent flash I was able to make the yellow leaves pop. My goal was to add some light that enhanced the shot but still looked natural. I was very pleased with my result.
Those are Cool!
This image was taken a few weeks ago at a local funeral home. The intense blue planters went well with the burgeoning tulips. My only wish is that the planters had plants in them but it was early in the season
Springtime Reflections
If you follow my blog, you know I enjoy capturing images on rainy evenings. Two simple reasons and they include the fact that no one else is usually outside getting in the picture and the added reflectivity brings an extra element to the scene. This particular night my gear was being very finicky which made holding a tablet, flash, remote and umbrella a veritable disaster! Sometimes rain seems to interfere with the wireless image transfer to my tablet, so dropped connections, images taking minutes to download etc etc were all happening this night. Out of frustration trying to juggle everything, I ditched the umbrella and till I got the shot there was barely anything left dry on me. By adding some extra flash to illuminate things I was able to get the colorful trees to reflect on the driveway which I found nice. This is the Moravian church in Lititz,Pa. Just imagine if the sanctuary lights had been on!
Chandelier Assist
I cannot definitively say this is a racoon hugging a tree stump but its my best guess. This sculpture was part of the Ice Festival in Lititz and I knew as it got darker the light from the Chandelier was going to help bring some internal color out. Another cool sculpture of ice to celebrate Winter activities.
Seasons First Monarch!
The Old Factory Comes to Life
This is another shot I did on New Year’s Eve in Lititz, Pa. It is the former production factory for Wilbur Chocolate which moved manufacturing locations and thankfully someone had the vision to revamp it into luxury condos. Just behind me is the Wilbur Chocolate retail store that still offers Wilbur Buds and other goodies. I already had two angles captured of this building and was ready to leave when the rain got heavier and started puddling and providing lots of reflective possibilities. The camera was fairly low which put it in the splashing rain zone which added to an already challenging shoot. The bottom photo is my attempt at creating a more painterly look like a painting on canvas. I have two more angles to share from here. One little bit of luck was the fact that I went back to shoot some more two days later and three quarters of the front had white tents set up for outdoor dining so I caught a break on that one.
The Nightmare Car
This is another image that I shot this year as Christmas was rapidly approaching. It was absolutely pouring this cold and raw evening, yet I did my best to suck it up and get the shot. I thought this might make a nice shot but until I got parked, I was a block away so I carried only what I felt was necessary. That included my camera, tripod, tablet, umbrella, flash. Not included was an umbrella for me, gloves, because it would be ten minutes at most, or my rain jacket. I start setting up and I am delighted the two parking spaces straight in front are clear. So I get my tripod set, umbrella attached to tripod, I mount the camera and start my tablet up and out of the corner of my eye I see a car pull in to the left spot to which I thought “well no stores or restaurants are open so this will be short. I shot a few exposures every few minutes as it got darker and before you know it I was approaching the one hour mark waiting on this car to leave. My hat, the hood over the hat, my jeans and who knows what else were soaked and my hands were starting to really ache. Not too long before I was calling it a night, this dude comes back to the car and 30 seconds later I was heading to my car.
I don’t know when its considered frostbite, but I turned my heat on to warm up and my hands were aching so bad as they slowly warmed up. I remember hearing how intensely painful extreme frostbite is. To think a block away I several sets of gloves sitting ready and I could not move and risk my tripod walking away.
December Window2
Shining Star
Everything came Together
The Bakery
This is Zig’s bakery in Lititz, Pa and the area I found myself as the skies started lighting up. I have never been here before so I ran around aimlessly trying to find an angle and the only small puddle in the lot was what I settled on. To complicate matters my tripod only goes as low as a foot or so, so I was forced to set my camera on the ground and put a water bottle and towel under the lens to get the angle right. The lower photo shows the sky after it had peaked but was still very beautiful. We have had several amazing sunsets in the last week, and this was the only one I had my camera along to capture.
Lititz Historical Museum
I enjoy taking photos in the quaint town of Lititz, PA and happened to be shooting another scene across the street when I noticed folks going inside the local Historical society? Turns out they were having a board meeting and the normally dark interior was now all lit inside with warm light. There are so many aspects to this scene that all go together to make a pleasing result..
A Local Park
Admittedly this is not one of my favorite buildings but it is situated in a local park and it houses an American Indian museum. The grounds around it have had some nice touches added in the last year and the color was not too bad so I gave it a whirl. The color wont be around too much longer so enjoy this image before you are shoveling snow in a few weeks.
Covid-19 Rush Hour
Silent Beauty
A normal bustling street is now devoid of people, an eerie calm surrounds you as you feel like the last person on earth. Similar scenes are playing out across the globe as we all deal with the coronavirus threat. The flowering trees with their heavenly scent take your mind off the fear swirling in your head for just a moment, then in the distance you hear someone sneeze and you make a bee line to your car and hit the gas to get out of town.
Fire and Ice festival
This is the only shot I did this year during the Fire and Ice festival held in Lititz, Pa. My enthusiasm to go out shooting has been very subdued the last six months due to my medicine but on the upside the negative thoughts I was being bombarded with on a daily basis have become pretty quiet and I have been more social in general. So while I still do enjoy shooting, my creativity seems to get dialed down as well and while I wish I could post photos more often here, It can be a struggle to get motivated to go out, so my apologies for the infrequent shooting right now.