Silver Lake Nature Center Part Two-Sheryll's photos

This is a second edition to the Silver Lake Nature Center photo contest. I certainly need to include several of Sheryll's images. The image of the staircase was taken at the Stover-Myer Mill near Bedminster and is the rickety staircase leading from the second floor to the third. As most old places, they are great windows. This was a 3 shot HDR using Photomatix for the conversion. We are frequent visitors to this place to see the ongoing restoration.

The color landscape was shot at Gettysburg at sunrise. The temperature this morning was 23  but calm winds. I am not sure about the barns and if they were there at the battle. As always, you are at the mercy of Mother Nature and as much as you hope for the "right" sunrise, sometimes you get what you get and make the best of it. She did.

The cannon and farmhouse is the Weichart Farm along the road between Little Roundtop and the Pennsylvania Monument. This farm was there during the battle and on the third day saw heavy fighting all around it. The cloudy day helps the image and through the trees you can see the hill leading to Little Roundtop.

The last image is the decking for the bridge across the Delaware River. The best part was she just had to walk up to the pile of decking and take the picture without laying on the ground to do it! This picture has appeal because it leads your eye through the picture and also the repetitive patterns.

Sometimes, "chasing the light" isn't always the bright sunlight. Even on overcast days there are opportunities. I have a saying, "If it's bleak, go black!" Sometimes a scene just doesn't have the light that jumps out at you but the grey tones translate very well to a black and white image. Three of Sheryll's photos prove this. Don't just stay in or pack up the gear early and be disappointed with the outing. Thinking b&w get help get the creative juices flowing.

Hope you enjoyed her photos and remember.....

Always go to the light,

Steve

Silver Lake Nature Center Photo Contest

Yesterday was the awards ceremony for the Silver Lake Nature Center 37th Annual Photography Contest hosted by the Focal Planes Foto Club. I like this contest because images are judged (by 4 judges this year) in a more straight forward manner, in lieu of more heavily and obviously Photoshopped pictures. Don't get me wrong, I love using Elements and I use it on every picture, albeit sparingly. I have seen pictures in some contests that have objects placed there that no way could have been in the scene and won. Not a problem but put them in a category for manipulated images. SLNC pictures are as close to "what you saw in the scene is what you get in the picture" (Wow, my own WYSISIWYGIP!) There were over 300 images presented for judging in two levels, Amateur and Advanced Amateur. Categories cover the usual, landscape/seascape, animals, plants, people outdoors, outdoor architecture and Bucks County Parks both black & white and color. Because of having won in the past, both Sheryll and I are in the Advanced Amateur level. Sheryll won First Place (B&W BC Parks), 3 Second Place (B&W Architecture, B&W Plants, Color Landscape) and 2 Third Place (B&W Landscape and Bonus Photo, a B&W Architecture). Yes, she apparently likes black &white photographs. Too bad she missed the darkroom days. I won 3 First Place (B&W Animals, Color Animals, and Color Plants), 4 Second Place (all B&W in Landscape, Architecture, Plants and BC Parks) and 1 Third Place (BC Parks Color). Impressive and humbling. It is validation that the work we put into the time and travel is worth it, the effort we take to improve pays off and above all else, it is fun and something we enjoy doing together. Sheryll has really grown. Five years ago, if you said Sheryll would be out in 10 with a 20 mph wind beside a frozen lake, I would still be laughing. All that was needed was a camera (on a tripod, of course!) to make it happen.
When preparing pictures for the contest, you have high hopes for all entered images. But you never know. This year a 4th judge was added and all came with a different perspective which was good for the judging. My two favorites were the Bald Eagle and my landscape of the Barnegat jetty. My eagle won and the jetty didn't. My b&w of another bald eagle won a 1st and yet I wasn't happy with the conversion from color. Photography is a very subjective subject! There were some very good photographs entered in both levels and next years' Advanced Amateur level will definitely grow. It is a good way to get ideas on places to visit for future outings and we have some good ideas. The Best of Show was a picture taken at the Eastern State Penitentiary and every bit worthy of the award. What a place to visit and is definitely on our list.
It is fun to watch the winners, especially those new to competing. Of course, some go home disappointed. Hopefully, learning can come out of the experience. I have included 3 of my winners, Sheryll's will follow soon. The first is the Bald Eagle, then the flower and then the mill picture. Hope you enjoy!

Always go to the light,
Steve

Gettysburg's new visitor center

As a continuation of our trip to Gettysburg from January 30th, we spent a great deal of time in the visitors center after touring the town.
One of our ideas was to take a tour with a licensed guide from the park. We haven't done this before but have heard part of their talks from prior visits. Usually a two hour tour, ours stretched a little further because we had asked for specifics of Sheryll's relatives and I think he liked Sheryll's new Venza. We spent a little more time at the places her relatives regiments fought than I think a normal outing would have encompassed. At $55, not including tip, it was a good plan and I would recommend it if you are planning a visit. Although we are very familiar with the three day battle and the progression of the fight, you do learn smaller items we haven't heard of before, especially who some of the major drunks were leading the troops and some smaller items about some of the monuments. And speaking of the monuments, we have started a project on photographing some of the smaller details of the monuments. It is incredible some of the elements the craftsmen put in them. The 17th Pa Cavalry (one of Sherylls' relatives regiments) is to scale of an equipped trooper sitting on the horse with a recognizable face. You can see the fear in the eyes of horses in others and some the rifles, if not made of granite, could be loaded and fired. I think this idea has a lot of possibilities and one I plan to take further.
We also dropped by the visitors center. Many times as a matter of fact. After all, it's 20-30 degrees out and bathroom facilities are few and far between. This is a new facility that replaced the old building that was actually located where parts of the battle took place so the idea was to go bigger to house all the artifacts and get it away from the battlefield itself. They moved it about a half mile down the road, but frankly, I was disappointed. I loved the old building. It had an extensive collection of arms, clothing, munitions and it had the Electric map. There was not a clearer way to see the battle progress than by sitting in the auditorium and watching the battle unfold with tiny lights coming on and going off as troops moved about. Unfortunately, the Parks Service did not see fit to include this as an exhibit. This used to impress the Boy Scouts when we took them on campouts here and that is not easy to do. I also don't feel all the artifacts are displayed either. Sheryll seems to think that not everyone cares about all the different rifles and guns and such, so she wasn't as put off by this as I was. It was a wasted opportunity, in my opinion. The movie they show on Gettysburg was confusing to Sheryll and a disappointment to me. Only about a third of it dealt with the battle and the rest was on the Civil War. I didn't go to learn about the rest of the Civil War. As you tour the exhibits, you need to progress through quite a few of them to get to the battle itself. Once at this point, the information flows and to someone not familiar with the grounds, you can get an understanding of the 3 days. The place seems too PC to me. As much as Martin Luther King, Jr. deserves a place in history, I'm not sure if this is the venue for it. Otherwise, it is a beautiful facility. They really do need to bring in some form of the electric map. Granted the other was old, filled with asbestos and maybe needed freshening up, it very much needed to be there. I was never at the old facility when there wasn't a full house to see it. Even the new facility at Bull Run (Manassas to those of Southern Heritage) has a form of the electric map.
One outstanding feature of the visitors center is the Cyclorama. This is incredible! Cleaned up, touched up, with the sky added back to it, this is a 360 view of the last battle at Gettysburg, commonly referred as Pickett's Charge. Poor George Pickett! Although only part of a group also led by Confederate Generals Trimble and Pettigrew, poor Pickett lives on in infamy. This feature of the visitors allows me to forgive all the other shortcomings because this worth the trip. Before you is the entire battle that draws you in to every scene. This version was originally painted in 1884 and has finally been restored to its full size (which I believe is 42' high and 377' if stretched to its full length). Added are wagon pieces, cannon parts, legs and arms cast in front of the painting to add realism. Ok, no arms and legs but there was some in July of 1863. Make this part of your trip, it is time well spent.
Besides all other accoutrements the visitors center offers, the cafeteria is actually pretty good with large portions, even in the sandwiches. I felt it wasn't unreasonably priced either. At the opposite end is the large bookstore. Full of literature covering many officers, units and so on, it offers all the latest from the prominent Gettysburg authors. Maybe someday one of mine!
Add this to your itinerary, it is full of photographic possibilities and remember.....
Always go to the light,
Steve

The Philadelphia Auto Show

Today we ventured inside for a photo expedition. Sheryll had received tickets for the Auto Show so down to Philly we went. This was a first for us, having only visited these shows through other people's eyes. I took my camera, of course, since it was a week day crowds should be low. To go again, I would have taken my 12-24 instead of the 18-135. The wider angle and the distortion are a pleasing effect to me and you can cover more of the car from a closer position. Bumping up the ISO to 640 made for easy hand held shots and didn't really detract from the photos.
As Sheryll wandered around, mentally she was comparing her Venza to all the other cars and there was only one that caused a big smile as soon as she sat in it, the BMW X6 sport utility for about $85000. Can't blame her. It had phenomenal lines, sat up just enough to make it easy to get in and out of, a wide stance that just screamed to fly over some winding country road and seats that just said no problem to whatever road you wanted to zoom around.
Of course, everyone (at least everyone that hasn't won the lottery) goes to dream about the car they would buy if they won the lottery. Those that have just go to the dealer, drink his latest vintage Chardonnay and abuse the poor cussed salesman into given him a better price because "Muffy" just has to have it before the next cotillion. So, here is my list if I had the right 6 numbers. I, of course, would not have a "Muffy" but I would have first and foremost a Porsche 911 Carrera. Not sure if it would be the PDK manual shift automatic or the manual 6 speed or of the color but it would be a Porsche. Fell in love with it when my high school chemistry teacher bought the '67 Targa in orange and black. Wouldn't matter how many zeros or commas where in the amount either.
If I was born of stock that came from big oil or hotels that charge thousands per night, I would consider the Bentley. Big on power, really big on comfort and just oozes class. Of course, I'm not ready for that set yet so I would probably go with the Aston Martin Rapide. After all, if Prince Charles needs to go out in public with Camilla, he needs something to please the paparazzi because it sure isn't her and if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me! Oh yea, James Bond drove earlier models also. Once again, really big on power, comfort, class and looks.
If I was the type that couldn't care about the homeless guy on the steam vent, wore tons of Guido chains and had the top three buttons undone on my shirts than I would definitely be seen in the Lamborghini LP 570-4 Superleggera at just a tad under $235000. I think Darth Vader was on the design team. No hyper drive but you do get a V-10 with 570 horse power, 0-60 in 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 202 mile an hour. I think Superleggera means you get a tall long legged Italian super model in the passenger seat also (hey, think is my fantasy isn't it?).
The SUV would definitely be the X6 from BMW for the above reasons. A very close second was the Acura ZDX. An unbelievable sound system, racy looks, once again that wide stance and great seats for that zoom zooming again. A little smaller than the X6 but worthy of a look.
I'm not sure where they fit in, but Mercedes has to fit in somewhere. They are just an awesome company. So many design and safety features everyone else spews out came from their engineers. Innovation begins here. The CL S550 just says quietly, "Yeah. I'm successful" without flaunting it and the performance of the SLS AMG will have your passenger screaming to let her out if you if were to put it through its paces that it's capable of. So, you pull over, open the gull wing doors, let her out and carry on. It's gonna' perform even better with one person than two anyway.
To haul your toys around, you need the truck. A big truck. Toyota may have car like qualities but we're talking truck here. Still didn't see anything better than the Ford F250 with the diesel. Chevy sounded hollow shutting the doors and the interior looked cheesy with all the plastic trim. And that hurts too because I have always been a Chevy guy. Dodge still has the same old design and fit and finish. The Cummings diesel is a big teaser but it's still in the Dodge. I would still go with the Ford.
I would have to stop here because of not enough room in the garage. After all, it is already stuffed with all the muscle cars from the late sixties. You know the ones, 67 & 70 Chevelles, 66 GTO, 68 GTX, 67 Nova, 69 Z-28 and some Mustang also. Remember, we are fantasizing here.
Both photos are just fun images from the show. Something beyond Car & Driver pix.
If you get the chance, put on the wide angle lens, bump up the ISO, go early and enjoy your own fantasy. I did! And remember....
Always go to the light,
Steve

You went where?!!! But it's snowing!

One of our favorite places to visit is the Gettysburg National Military Park in south central Pa. It offers immense possibilities for photography and the opportunity to learn more about the famous battleground. I have been to GNMP about a dozen times and every time it offers me more. I have always wanted to visit in the winter and this past weekend was the chance. Sheryll has done genealogical research and has learned that she had three relatives that were actually involved in the battle. (Another blog to follow soon on this subject). As soon as we were done digging out of 16" of snow, we loaded the car and headed west. Gettysburg, three hours away, had about 6" of snow so we were headed to milder climates.
The weather was going to be a risk because more fronts were due to be moving through. Every time you go out you hope for the right sunrise or the perfect sunset ( and we have had some beauties there) or the sun to break through the clouds at the right time. For instance. Saturday morning had all the makings of that a terrific sunrise. Ok, if you forego the 21 degree temperature it had all the makings of one. The sun rose and soon a large orange ball began to appear over the horizon. I had planned to get a shadow of a statue on the side of a barn right at the main part of the 3rd day of the battle. As the sun was rising, I began to get a nice glow on the side of the barn but it was apparent that the sun was not in the right position in the sky to align it on the barn but I was getting good reflections of the trees behind it. I just needed about 5 more minutes and they would have been perfectly lined up and would have been a very good composition. Alas, 'twas not to be. As time went on so did the clouds and just as fast as Emeril could say "Bam!", the sun went behind a solid line of clouds. No more shadows. Just flat light. And that was about the conditions we had the duration of the trip. If it wasn't flat light, it was snow.
Something to keep in mind when out shooting in the snow is exposure compensation. All the reflected light off the snow fools the light meter into thinking the scene is brighter than it is and you end up with grey snow. As strange as it seems, you need to add more light so you need to add a plus when compensating. When using older film cameras it was not unusual to add 1 1/2 stops or more but newer digitals seem to work best with +.3 or +.7, depending on whether you are in half or third stops in your menu. Paying close attention to your LCD will show you what is working best. This is one time the histogram is not too much help as the spike will be very high on the right side and flat on the left. Bracketing also helps and with the lower price of chips today, there is no reason not to. Sometimes I think I may not be as careful with a shot today as I was in the past because digital has made it so easy to take more to get the one you need or want. That may not be a bad thing. Last weekend in film speak would have been the equivalent of 25 rolls of film and about $525. I would have done things differently.
The first picture is taken from Wheatfield Rd. towards Little Roundtop. This was the southern most end of the Union line and the high ground overlooking Devils Den. It was the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting on the battleground in the three days (also where two other of Sherylls' relatives fought).
The other picture shows one of the cannon and the amount of snow on the ground. Seems more like Valley Forge than Gettysburg but that's another era and another location.
I hope you enjoy them and our visit to Gettysburg. The next blogs will be on the visitors center and the park and another visiting Sherylls' relatives parts in the battle. Good stuff. And remember, just because the weather isn't the best there are still plenty of images waiting to be had, so remember......
Always go to the light,
Steve