The Finale

It’s time to close out another year of sharing my photography here on the blog.   As I have mentioned several times this year, my work with the Nature Visions Expo had an unintended side effect.  It reduced the time I had available to get out and shoot but  I’m not complaining  The Expo is a prestigious event and I’m honored to do my part.  The fact remains that I need to find a way to better manage my time so I still have time to pursue my passion, photography. 

The shot above was taken at the JW Cooper School in Shenandoah, PA.  I spent the day here last August with friends Corey Hilz, Jeff Johnson, and Andy Jezioro.  The owner of the building is in the process of trying to stabilize the property and make some improvements.  It is very much a work in process and he was very kind in allowing us to shoot here all day.   Visiting this area it is quite clear that the local economy is struggling.    It turns out that at one time Mahanoy City was a boom town but that was about 100 years ago.  While the coal industry is still active, I suspect that the activity is a fraction of what it once was.   

Concrete City

If you follow my blog or know me personally, you know that I have spent much of the past year working on the Nature Visions Photography Expo.  Our Expo was held last month and I have a couple months of downtime before the planning for the 2012 Expo begins.   We are also heading into the winter months.  While there are still lots of photo opportunities during the winter, I also plan to use the time to work on images from the past year as well as do some training.  

The shot above was taken in early summer at a place called Concrete City.  Wikipedia has a nice article that talks about the place.  My friend Greg Daily and I had spent the weekend in Ricketts Glen and we were having a late  dinner, somehow we struck up a conversation with our waitress and starting getting some local info of places to shoot.  Concrete City was one of the places she told us about and we decided to check it out on the way home.   

I don’t think I would make a special trip to shoot there again, but if I was ever in that part of PA, it would be worth a 2^nd look. 

High Tide

Last week I met up with friends Tony Sweet, Corey Hilz, Andrea Phox, Charles Riter and James Indelicarto for a couple days of shooting.  We had planned this get together several months ago, but we should have invited the weatherman.   The clouds rolled in prior to our arrival and did not depart until after we headed for home.   In the end a lot of what we planned to do got rained out. 

In the shot above we arrived at the pier about an hour before sunrise and did a little light painting while we waited for daylight.   The shot above is a 30 second exposure and I used a 2 million candle power light to paint the remains of the pier.  Originally I thought all my shots would be converted to black and white, but I really like the blue cast the pre-dawn light rendered on the scene.  

Late to the Party

I’m falling behind with the Blog this month and I want  to extend my apologies to those of you who are kind enough to follow my work.   I’m one of the organizers of the Nature Visions Expo that is held annually in Manassas, VA and the Expo is keeping me very busy this past month.  I did get away a few weeks ago to shoot fall color, but the leaves were a little past peak and the color was marginal.  I loaded the pictures into my computer but have not had a chance to review them.  Now that the Expo is over for this year I can start spending my time out in the field, but early next year the Expo planning will start up again.  I’m going to have to find a way to balance my passion and my obligations. 

The panorama was shot last year during my trip to West Virginia.   I was truly late to the party.  There were barely any leaves left on the trees.   I was driving along a county road and noticed this scene and pulled over.  The sun was high in the sky which is normally a deal breaker, but the trees in the foreground were creating these great lines leading up to the next group of trees.

Reflections

Late February I got together with Tony Sweet and a few other friends at Eastern State Penitentiary for a day of shooting.  I have shot at ESP several times and just when I was starting to think I had seen it all, the melting of the winter snow covered the floor with water, presenting me with new ways of seeing the same old thing.      

Early Fall

I wanted to share one more picture from my hiking trip in Shenandoah a few weeks ago.    While Shenandoah is famous for the sweeping vistas along Skyline Drive, I have always found the park to be much more inviting in the fog. 

First Snow

Each year around the end of September I start watching fall foliage reports.  I suspect that most landscape photographers do the same.   I usually plan to start my fall photography in the Canaan Valley area around the end of the first week in October.  When I checked the West Virginia Foliage Report, I noticed that area of the state was peaking on October 1st, literally 2 days later.   I canceled my plans to participate in a Photowalk here in town and quickly changed my hotel reservations.   The weather forecast for the weekend was snow, rain, and some fog as a bonus! 

The first stop upon arrival and lunch at a favorite location was Dolly Sods.  Near the top of the mountain the rain turned to snow and what a treat.  In the wooded setting above this was a beautiful sight!  At Bear Rocks on the other hand the snow was blowing at about 30mph.  Combine that with the Gray Sky of Death and Bear Rocks was not the most photogenic place.

The conditions in Canaan Valley were peak color but certainly not the best color.   I’m hoping other areas will have stronger color this year.