Shenandoah River Bank

Here is another shot from my recent scouting trip with Greg Daily. When I took the shot I was visualizing a much different scene than the one in front of me. It was mid-day, cloudy and fairly bright but in my mind I saw a much different scene. I achieved my vision in post processing. I want to be clear, I did not fix it with software, I enhanced it with software. I occasionally hear people suggest that when the scene is not quite right they can later fix it. I don’t subscribe to that school of thought and neither do any of the serious Pros that I’m fortunate enough to call my friends.

Tried and True

Last weekend Greg Daily and I spent the day scouting the countryside. This little adventure also took us close to an old favorite, a place I like to call the “Car Farm”. With an hour or so of good light remaining we suited up for the snow. Several days had passed since the snow fell, so there were lots of animal tracks on the snow. Considering this I decided to focus a bit more on details and I stumbled on the situation shown above. The snow had started to slide off the roof of the car and was interesting to see. Shooting this straight on did not provide much of a picture. However, positioning my camera against the car window and under the sheet of snow provided a much more interesting viewpoint and hopefully a more dramatic photograph.

Scouting in the Snow

My area of the country was recently the recipient of about 30 inches of snow. That pretty much brings the region to a halt. After digging out my thoughts turned to where I could shoot the snow in all its beauty. Of course the day job got in the way of getting a prompt start on this little adventure. My friend Greg Daily and I decided to scout the Virginia countryside yesterday. We found this nice red barn and after stopping we noticed a couple of horses walking around. Overall it was a day with lots of driving and little picture taking, but with the picture above I still consider the day a success.

Fonthill

Last weekend I got together with friends John Barclay, Doug Dinkle, Tony Sweet, JustBob, Stan Silverman, Sara Howell, and Karen Messick to shoot Fonthill Castle in Doylestown, PA. It was a great day of shooting with friends. The only bad part was that it took Sara and me 7 hours to drive up in the snow. It seemed the highway departments were ill prepared for a few inches of snow. Luckily we had planned to drive up the day before rather than leave home in the wee hours of the morning, so it worked out just fine.

Shooting here was a special opportunity since interior photography is normally not allowed. The first trip felt like a warm up. I think a 2nd trip will be necessary to really capture the essence of the place.


Click here for more info on Fonthill and the Mercer Museum.

Click here for a small gallery from the shoot.