I finally got out for a couple spring photos! This beauty took center stage as it dominated the hillside view.
Spring Spectacle
Tag Archives: lititz
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.
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
Another shop window all decked out in seasonal decor in downtown Lititz, Pa. A week after I shot this, the shops all got Christmas trees with lights placed at their entrances which would have jazzed this up.
Shining Star
A large Moravian star is shown glowing over and in the water in the Lititz Springs Park as nightfall takes hold.
Everything came Together
Title says it all, awesome fall foliage, Beautiful Church and a pretty sunset to round it out and everything just 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
Another deserted street sits eerily quiet during the Covid 19 crisis.
Fire and Ice festival
This is the only shot I did this year during the Fire and Ice festival held in Lititz, Pa. Â 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.
Bandshell at Christmas
This is the bandshell in the Lititz Springs park as it was decorated for the recent .community carol sing
Lititz Christmas Window1
I have been fairly active shooting scenes relating to Christmas in the town of Lititz, Pa but not as on the ball posting them, but hopefully this will be the start of sharing new images. This shot features the window of the Atlas general store which has a cool display of what appears to be rolled paper made into trees.
Rainy Night Solitude
This is the old train station in Lititz, Pa which now serves as a visitors center. The large building in the back is the former Wilbur chocolate plant that closed and has been renovated into a very beautiful Restaurant, Hotel, select market shops and more. Little by little more rooms are lighting up as the project advances. This was a few days ago and I shot this in the middle of a steady blowing rain storm that was a real challenge to work in. One detail I like is the shadow that was cast toward the camera when I backlit the town clock. Because of the rain, I had very few people going into the park which made it nice to shoot.
Autumn comes to Town
A view down main street in Lititz,Pa with fall foliage at its peak. I was somewhat surprised the street was as car free as it was which was perfect to get this shot.
Springs and Fall
I took this image in the Lititz Springs park and I am not exactly sure if this is the main spring or an area that holds the water from the springs, but you could see it flowing up from a few places in the area. This was taken with my 17-35 zoom at almost its widest view and I am backed up to a wall that goes around the springs from the steps on each side. This was taken on a night that was supposed to have bad storms and winds were maybe 20mph but it stayed dry while I shot. Thankfully the leaves surrounding the water were sheltered by the wall but out past the wall they were being blown all over the place. The green in the water was algae on rocks and I was surprised how well it showed up.
Nights like this are great for having the place all to yourself but I did have a crazy situation arise that  was a little sketchy. At one point across the park I could hear some teen girl swearing and it was about two or three minutes later I notice two black males around 17 to 20 years old sprinting from one end of the park to the other? It was getting much darker than my photo appears and I was taking all this activity in from the shadows wondering what was up?  All of a sudden they see me standing in this area and come running full speed till they are literally three feet in front of me. The one guy immediately starts demanding to know if I just slapped his baby girl?  I told them how long I had been there photographing and they said “some white dude just walked up and slapped his baby girl across the face” and the one was itching to whoop somebody and his most memorable comment to me was ” I believe I am about to get out of my character if I catch this dude”  They kept asking me if I saw anybody run my direction, and I said no, but the funny thing is, I did have one shot in my series that actually had a guy in it that looked similar to what they described.
Bundle Up
I will be sharing my images from the town of Lititz,Pa over the next week or two and they are all done using flash and light painting techniques. I go for a somewhat nostalgic feel and my hallmark effect is the cool versus the warm. This shot features a yarn shop that had a sheep in the window and a tree with knitted hats and scarves.
All Decked Out
The fourth of July is a time to reflect,as well as a time to enjoy with family and friends, and one local town near me does its best to celebrate in grand fashion.That town is Lititz,Pa and it seems everyone gets into the patriotic spirit in town as the old red,white and blue proudly waves all over town. Most photos shown are from the Moravian church that has made a tradition of placing thousands of flags across the grounds in neatly lined rows,and the rest include a funeral home done very tastefully and a flag lined main thoroughfare.
The Sutter
Having the technical ability to capture lovely scenes such as this, is only part of what is needed to get the job done. Without cooperative owners,I never would be able to spread my artistic wings and pull a shot like this off. This is the lobby at the General Sutter in downtown Lititz ,Pa,and I was allowed to come in to try this shot.The restaurant was closed but the lobby was active so I set my tripod up in a spot somewhat out-of-the-way and crossed my fingers no one would bump my tripod or move any of the furniture. Halfway through the shoot,a gentleman sat down on the couch and said he wanted to watch me work, but after telling him he was in the shot,he high tailed it. Special thanks to owner Paul and his staff for helping me get this shot.
Indulge Yourself
Another store window tastefully decorated for the Christmas season in downtown Lititz,Pa
Panchito 2
Same plane as yesterday but captured at sunset.After the sun went down, I used flash to illuminate the silhouetted plane allowing the shiny details to be revealed.
A Warm Seat Awaits
Actually a warm seat awaits across the street at the Tomato Pie Cafe in downtown Lititz ,Pa. I photographed this ice sculpture yesterday and thanks to a stretch of bitter weather, it is still hanging around from last weekends fire and ice festival. The cafe recently added sunday hours and judging by all the footprints in the snow,it seems half the town was headed there. I light painted the scene to add some texture to the snow on an otherwise overcast and flat light morning. I would have preferred fresh untouched snow but folks must have been out and about saturday night leaving all the tracks so it works for a cool shot. This was the first day temperatures climbed to the freezing mark and seemed downright balmy while I shot this.
Cross Your Heart
Another ice sculpture from the Lititz fire and ice festival this past weekend. This particular one was located in front of the post office and despite my complaining over the brutal temperatures,the upside was there was no one else out to get in my way while I did the photo. Brutal cold just makes the whole process more complicated,from batteries that die too quickly to tripods that are harder to operate to fingers that hurt so bad you almost want to scream,but you push on because you love the experience. I guarantee every time I see this image, I will instantly remember the whole experience including the bitter cold.
Lititz Fire & Ice Festival
Last night a light snow moved into the area and since the small town of Lititz,Pa was holding its annual fire and ice festival this weekend I decided to brave the elements and get a few shots. I woke at 5 am today,went back to bed and laid there pondering the choice of staying nice and cozy in bed or going out into 2 degree weather with thirty mile an hour winds that made it feel a wonderful minus 18 degrees. Well I finally mustered the enthusiasm to get bundled up and head out and this shot of old man winter blowing his air was very apropos for the day. I lit this with flash and intentionally did a shot to cast the shadow onto the snow for added interest. Ice is very tricky to light and getting the right angle takes a little work to reveal the carving details.
I shot for about twenty minutes till my two batteries were drained, and then I sat in my truck with the heater warming them up to bring them back to life for a few more shots. I bounce back and forth between really enjoying mother natures intense weather and asking myself what possesses me to go out in weather like this? Inevitably I must take a glove off to change camera settings and today that was a really numbing experience after about a minute of the glove off. The upside was there was only three other brave souls that I encountered taking photos of these things and they all had cell phones. The guys who carve these do a great job using a variety of tools from chain saws to grinders to blow torches and the event is always packed with visitors from near and far.
Beautiful Shapes
This home is another gem from the town of Lititz,Pa. It shows what real architectural style can look like and what is lacking in todays cookie cutter home construction.The wrap around porch is amazing, the dome is super sweet as is the peak on the left. Seeing the reflection in the wet road made me stop to get this shot on Christmas eve as I headed home from a family get together.
Snoopy Better Behave
With Santa looking over his shoulder,snoopy is on his best behavior in this Lititz, Pa window.This particular store called The Main Street Peddler has always been one of my favorites.The large panes,and quaint design afford a good view of the display and the lantern hanging above the door is a finishing touch.
All is Calm
All was calm on this rainy night in Lititz ,PA as I looked for subjects reflecting in the glistening wet road. These old homes along the main street looked inviting with their christmas trees and lovely door decor. This town is such a neat place to walk at night and soak in the ambiance of a close-knit community.
Donald Reese Photography 