Pine Grove Furnace State Park - A Great Walk Around + Nostalgia

When I was just a wee lad I used to go to Pine Grove Furnace with my parents. I’d go swimming at Fuller Lake and enjoy a bunch of calming hiking trails. See the image below for the beach. It’s small, but intimate. Family friendly and refreshing. Click the image below for a panoramic of the beach!

Well today, I had a day off my job. Wanting to spend some valuable time with my mother, I decided to drive us out to Pine Grove Furnace. What a treat. The leaves were beautiful, the trails were cool under an almost 70 degree day and friendly folks were everywhere and friendly folks were without temptation.

I wasn’t really going out to do photography but knew my club was meeting the following Saturday and I am scheduled to work, so I brought along my Fuji X100V. I knew I could capture some great shots and not really focus on shooting, but apply my focus on my time with my mom and enjoying the paths God set forth before us to hike on and just enjoy nature, the changing of the leaves and the gorgeous weather.

Of course, I did play with the camera. Why wouldn’t I? It’s in my nature and hardwired into my brain compartment, so I let bygons be bygons.

Below are some photographs I took on some trails, the beaches as well as of the furnace.

As always, thanks for stopping by! Check out and subscribe to my Facebook for updates!

- Mike

Hershey's! The Great American... Great American! Choc.... Theater!

Got ya there for a second!

I, legally (as advised), have to start this post off by stating that no commentary by me in this post reflects that of the Hershey company. No images are for sale or reuse without express written permission by their company. Period. End of discussion. This post is not for promotional purposes at all, but for purposes solely of entertainment ONLY.

In other words, I can’t sell any photographs I’m posting and my opinions and ramblings are solely my opinions and ramblings and they DO NOT reflect any related Hershey Company or the Hershey Theater in anyway whatsoever.

Phhhhewwwwwww… got that out of the way.

Let’s begin with this evening’s post…

Today my camera club got to embark on a really cool opportunity. In fact it was an opportunity I dreamt of back in October of 2023 when I visited this place to see Mark Normand perform standup. And let me tell you- Mark CRUSHED it. To this day, one of my favorite standup shows.

Comedian Mark Normand performed at the Hershey Theater on October 6th, 2023 and absolutely killed it! Evidently, so did the not-so-funny nor talented Jim Jefferies. Hope his flight back back to the “Land Down Under” was comfortable. This image was captured in the upstairs light room at Hershey Theater, in Hershey, PA.

The moment my friends and I walked into the theater to see Mark Normand, the Italian marble, the Greek mythology themes carved into the ceilings and pillars, the intricate flooring tilework, old fashioned shiny brass banister staircases and decretive carpeting captured my attention and triggered my creative photography imagination. Oh, the images I could capture here if only I had a chance.

An iPhone wouldn’t justify this architectural sophistication and I kept thinking; what a great place this would be for my camera club to visit.

Well, press the fast forward button to Tuesday, August 11th, 2026 and here I am, in the flesh, with my camera club surrounded by some of the most creative and best photographers I know.

Standing just beyond the ticketing office booth and entrance doors in the foyer of the Hershey Theater, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, I was super excited to see where our guides would be taking us around this amazing labyrinth of architectural and artistic wonders.

Strapped with my Fujifilm GFX 50S II, 45-100mm glass and 32-64mm glass, I was prepared, ready and eager to photograph the daylights out of this place! Every nook and cranny I could!

For starters, here is a brief (and hopefully accurate) history of the Hershey Theater:

Construction of the theater was completed in 1933. Milton Hershey also built a windowless office building across the street (a limestone structure now of which has black glass windows which create an amazing aesthetic and adds a ton of architectural character to the building), a school, a stadium (which was originally, and I could be wrong, a racetrack for horses) and some other structures during the Great Depression which actually boosted the economy of the town of Hershey, PA.

In fact, our guides told us that if you were to ask a citizen of Hershey during that period about the Great Depression, they would look at you and ask, “what Great Depression?” Quite a feat from quite a philanthropist and entrepreneur to stabilize and build a local economy.

Sitting as a theater today, this facility was originally built as a multipurpose community center with the theater’s 5th floor serving as a hospital with an operating room and nurse’s quarters, a junior varsity school with dorm rooms, a swimming pool and exercise facility, a game room, cigar lounges and a library. And yes, a small movie theater as well that showed films for a small price which was the only way this enormous building actually generated decent revenue at the time.

Over the years it has been converted to a major theatrical institution hosting plays and productions such as The Phil Collins Story, Cats, Hamilton and Green Day’s American Idiot.

In addition to plays and musicals they have featured public speakers and stand-up comedians of the likes of George Carlin, Bill Maher, Jo Koy, Daniel Tosh, Mark Normand, Nikki Glaser, Jeff Dunham, Steve Martin, Dane Cook and many more.

Bands and musical acts such as the Hershey Symphony Orchestra, Chicago, Alice Cooper, Blue Man Group, The Beach Boys, Third Eye Blind, America and Mellissa Etheridge have also graced this theater’s stage.

It’s a true staple of the Central Pennsylvania area and is surrounded by a myriad of great local and (not so great) chain restaurants, bars and a fantastic farmer’s market. Oh and that huge tourist attraction they speak of with roller coasters and wave pools and such.

Our guides today did a wonderful job informing us of the history and going’s on of the facility and had a great deal of patience with us as we took our sweet time photographing the rooms, stairways and corridors.

A massive thanks is due to them as well as the folks at WSPC who set this trip up as it was an absolute blast and a photographic adventure I will definitely not forget!

Below are my images. I definitely edited more than I usually do!

Please like my page on Facebook if you enjoy this content!

- Mike

Exploring Pennsylvania's Capitol - The Annual Trip

As the title of this post suggests, my camera club got exclusive exploration of Pennsylvania’s capitol building in Harrisburg, PA.

Generally, we do annual visits to the capitol building. Yes, a lot of redundant shooting and typically the same adventure, but we got some new places to explore this year.

Of course, this is always depending on the activity, if things are in session or if we do or do not have a tour guide.

This year’s opportunity came with a tour guide. She was amazing. She was able to tell the history of the construction, the murals and paintings as well as the other artwork such as the sculptures and so forth. Full transparency - I don’t remember any of it as I was deep into my creative zone. I never do anyway- my comprehension skills are horrible.

Per usual, we were allowed into chambers usually not available to the general public, especially the supreme court chamber which is still under investigation for water damage that occurred some years ago. The renovations look great so far and they still have the comfortable chairs imported from some far away land that are impossible to get out of once you sit in them. I did myself a favor this year and didn’t take a seat. As they say, it’s not sitting down that is difficult; it’s getting up.

We started out with moving through security which was beefed up this year. I’m glad my tripod didn’t fall under their, “blunt objects as weapons” policy.

After our group photo, our tour guide gave us a briefing and we headed to the elevator to move up to the second level and the senate room. I think it’s the senate room. I’d be broke if I paid attention, so I have no idea which rooms were which except the one with the comfy chairs.

It was a great trip per usual and we had a pretty decent turn out for a Thursday morning trip. Lots of great exploration and photographic opportunities. The AC in that ancient building is ice cold, too, which rules. On a 90 something degree day with a million percent humidity, it was great to be provided with some modern luxuries amongst aging and historical architectural and artistic wonders.

You know the drill- follow Zone Three on Facebook and enjoy the images below!

- Mike

HO HO HO....Not Early Christmas... Just H.O. Train Layouts

Growing up I was enamored by O-Scale Lionel train sets.

I received my first train set when I was probably around 7- or 8-years-old. It was a Wabash freight train. Years later the local model train shop had a Pennsylvania passenger train for sale- the very last one they’d ever sell. It was priced really high and my parents couldn’t afford it.

The shop owner saw how desperately I’d stare it down every time I went in and eventually caved and gave my parents a discount on it to surprise me one Christmas. Aside from my drum kit- this was the best Christmas present ever!

The same shop owner built my family a platform for us to set the trains on. I had two tracks for both of my trains, various houses, buildings and figurines. Aside from Matchbox Cars, Legos and Lincoln Logs, my Lionel set was my favorite toy ever.

As I grew older learning how to drive I learned to be annoyed by trains. However, I have never not enjoyed model train layouts.

A week ago, a relatively new friend from my church invited me over to his home for pork chops and train sets.

I learned a ton from this man. We both love the Lord, we both love train sets, we both love photography and he happens to be a licensed commercial pilot.

The pilot part is important. I always wanted to learn how to fly planes but failed miserably at math and physics. So that dream was a ship that sailed quickly a long time ago.

I learned a lot from Lou. A man in his 80’s and a man I can call a new close friend. Age doesn’t matter. At all. Lou is the man. And he is working on a sweet model train layout in his basement. HO scale to be precise for you train nerds.

My photography club has captured some images of a local professional layout and I can’t remember if I posted those photos, but below are some photos of Lou’s work-in-progress. He has a basement full of trains, train sets, transformers, tracks, buildings and down to humans and vehicles for the set up he paints himself.

I was blessed to be asked to help him, moving forward, to continue with his set ups. I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be doing- photographing, painting, building structures or whatever, but I am pumped I got a few images with my Fuji 50SII. I would have been better off with my Nikon D850 with my macro lens, but here are the images…

I am even more excited to help with his really neat set up and relive a little bit of my childhood doing so. HOpeully it brings a lot of joy to those who get to see it in action! See what I did there?

Please enjoy and as always, like and follow on Facebook!

- Mike

MLB All Star Weekend Philadelphia, PA - Hosted at My Second Home Citizens Bank Park

Patiently, my great friend Craig and fellow Phillies season ticket holder and I have been waiting for seven years for the All Star Weekend to come to Philadelphia. Countless miles walking around our work building having conversations about this that and the other often times interrupted by, “dude, I can’t wait for All Star Weekend at Citizens Bank Park” finally came to be!

Inside the All Star Village there were employees who would take your pic for free with your camera

We arrived Sunday morning at K-Lot (our second home’s driveway where many cheesesteaks, burgers, chicken tacos and meatball sandwiches have been constructed) where we met up with some buddies who live in Philadelphia.

We went into the stadium pretty early so we could browse the Team Shop and grab some food before catching the Futures All Star Game featuring one of the Philadelphia Phillies top prospects, Gage Wood. It was just a few weeks earlier that we traveled to Reading, PA to watch him pitch with the Reading Fightin’ Phils against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats who are the AA affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Sunday was a fun afternoon. It started early- the Futures All Star Game started right around noon followed by MLB’s new feature which was a 3v3 competition. It was so boring and bland I won’t even explain it. But Terrel Owens showed up. He must be busy looking for that chip to show back up on his shoulder, because nobody cared about this game but he was able to make a grand appearance.

The highlight of the afternoon came when Craig and I got to take our photo with our favorite usher, Craig (yes, another Craig). Craig rules! He is the king of his domain in Section 102, where our season tickets are and the three of us have become good buds!

After the game we took a ride share to a handful of places to grab dinner, dessert and just hang out. This evening was followed by a ton of sleep at what we have coined, The Circle Hotel, on Penrose, right across from the sports complex.

Monday morning came quick and Craig and I crushed some of the best diner breakfast you will ever have at the Penrose Diner.

Though it’s only a 5 minute walk, we had to take the truck over since we had to check out and were venturing to Center City for the All Star Village.

I enjoyed two very perfectly creamy scrambled eggs, some well done hashbrowns and perhaps the best chunk of scrapple I’ve ever had in my life (I always order it here because as I said, it’s literally the best!). If you don’t know what scrapple is, I would suggest not asking questions you do not want to know the answer to. Trust me, though, scrapple is awesome!

I’ll spare the details about scrapple but unveil my opinion on the city and their handling of All Star Weekend.

Philadelphia, in my eyesight, was very unorganized with the All Star Village event. They did have some amazing artwork though, including this mural:

Fun and colorful mural of an artist’s interpretation of South Philadelphia.

It took place in Center City which, yes, there’s a lot of historical and cool spots for the fans of the other 29 teams to check out, but parking is annoying and nobody (especially those from New Jersey) has zero concept of operating vehicles.

It was a very frustrating morning / afternoon. I hope, at least, fans of other teams and those who visited outside of the city found places like Barcade and Putt Shack amongst the array of very expensive high end restaurants, farmer’s markets, dive bars and cool shops around to enjoy. All of that is better than the All Star Village was.

Which we shall discuss…

The Village itself was underwhelming. There wasn’t much to do or see unless you were a kid (which I’m ecstatic to see how much fun they were having) or had copious amounts of disposable income to enter into auctions for very expensive MLB memorabilia that was on display in their “museum” sections.

I’m honestly not really sure I even had an idea of what it would be like, but it was included with our ticket package to Sunday and our choice of the Home Run Derby so we figured we should maximize our trip and visit it.

They did have two baseball diamonds for kids and actual tutorials from former major leaguers. If you were under the age of 14 you’d probably have had yourself a ball.

However, for those of us who don’t wish to stand in long lines, have really deep pockets or an ounce of patience, it was pretty pointless.

Super appreciative I got to experience it though as it tied into a likely one-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

The atmosphere at least was pretty fun! All of the mascots from the teams were roaming around and there were some interesting musicians playing some fun music.

After we left the most narrow parking garage in the country in Center City in my not-so-practical large pickup truck, Craig and I went to Chickie’s and Pete’s.

We split some hot wings and crab fries. Which, if you are not partaking in their great seafood menu, that’s what you order. Period. Also, wings were half price on Monday, so it was the frugal choice. And their wings are fantastic and certainly hit the spot.

After getting our fill, we hopped across the road to the parking lots at Citizen’s Bank Park.

The Home Run Derby was at 8pm. We parked around who knows when and went in as the gates opened at 5pm. The line to get into the stadium was longer than sold-out playoff games and the line to the Team Shop once we got into the stadium was approximately 3.2 miles long but moved relatively quickly for us to go in and not buy anything. But hey, they were blasting air condition which was worth the wait in and of itself!

We hung outside at Pass and Stow for a bit to grab a little shade and cool down before climbing Mount Everest to our seats in Section 306.

I had to grab a panorama before heading up though and an usher around the 100 section of home plate actually let me scoop one up!

Panoramic image of Citizens Bank Park a few hours before theHome Run Derby took place

The Home Run Derby consisted of some fun players. We booed every one of them except Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber because we wanted the other 29 fan bases to feel a nice warm and comfortable welcome in our park- especially those who root for the dumbest franchise in sports aside from the Cowboys, the MESS.

We really did take pride in booing them when their fans would be on the scoreboard as well as the children who couldn’t catch routine fly balls. As bad as the kids thing sounds- it was in good fun and we cheered loudly when the caught them. But not so much for the Mets fans. We still made them feel uncomfortable.

The energy was electric. It was great to hear CBP as loud as October again and I hope we keep that energy up throughout the rest of the regular season!

The Derby came down to our own, as well as at the time of this post, the MLB leader in home runs Kyle Schwarber versus Jordan Walker of the St. Louis Cardinals.

The final stand-down started with Kyle followed by bellowing boos for Walker.

Walker came to the plate with a look of confidence and that look of confidence translated to him being victorious. After seeing how our fans treated his dad and congratulated him, I almost ALMOST didn’t care that Kyle lost the derby. But it still sucked!

I’m bummed Kyle didn’t win it, but Jordan’s an awesome baseball player and it was awesome to see his stuff!

Ben Rice on the other hand was a bummer, just like the Yankees. So, while I feel bad for him he represented them well. Especially the Yanks fan sitting next to me telling me sarcastically, “your Phillie couldn’t win it” to which I replied, “your dude hit 7 homers and finished dead last in the first round.” That’s exactly where the conversation ended.

Yankees fans are so cute.

Overall…yes there were frustrations. Yes, the city of Philadelphia could have done things better- namely having shuttles out of the parking lots to Center City for the Village while opening up the lots earlier for this to be a reality.

Otherwise, this may have been some of the best couple days of my life sports wise. I spent it with amazing friends, made new friends, garnished great memories and enjoyed a once in a lifetime event in my own backyard seeing the Home Run Derby at my favorite baseball team’s park!

Next time it comes to Philly, I’ll be in my 70s if I’m lucky so I’m glad I, as well as my true Philadelphia Sports fans friends, jumped on this opportunity! If I’m in my 70’s and it comes back to Philly- book it- I’ll have my best “booing” voice chambered for the opposing players and fans! That’s just how we do it in Philly!

Please enjoy the photos I took!

This weekend I packed light for obvious reasons and brought along my Fuji X100V accompanied by my iPhone 13 Pro Max for the photos!

Please follow me on Bookface!

- Mike

North? South? Carolina? Where Am I?

My mom just celebrated a monumental birthday. I’ll pause so the readers can wish her an amazing birthday and hope for many more wonderful years to come… I’ll wait…

I couldn’t ask for a better mom and it was amazing being able to spend a week with close family as we really don’t have much family to hang with and these folks are absolutely amazing.

The story starts one week ago when her cousin texted me. She said to get our behinds down to Lancaster, South Carolina to visit. Yep, SC has a Lancaster too and they say it right unlike the Californian's. As I’m still in a job hunt, I decided to take this trip sooner rather than later in case any interviews should arise (they didn’t, I’m too much of a stud for these bums). We rented a car, packed our bags and hit the road.

Our trip started on Monday, June 22nd heading down I-81 South to I-77 wrapping ourselves around Charlotte.

Interstate 81 is my favorite (sarcasm loading pretty thick) road to unload many 5-second minimum honks, flickering my high beams at left-lane campers doing 55 in a 70 MPH zone, watching the copious amounts of tractor trailers passing each other at .2 MPH taking several business days to pass one another and holding up traffic for what seems to be months and altogether just being irritated the entire time. I struggle with patience and struggle even more with what goes through other people’s unaware minds. Trust me, though, I’m a very safe, aware and good driver.

The good news is we arrived safe and sound. The bad news- my infrared converted Nikon D810 was dead on arrival. I did factory resets, inserted freshly charged Nikon-branded batteries so it could read them properly and discharged the capacitors but no dice. Sadly, it will need professional servicing.

We arrived Monday evening and had a great seafood dinner consisting of coho salmon with peas and bacon. The salmon was wonderfully seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, loaded with roasted peppers, spinach and a silky cream parmesan sauce with a side of peas and crispy bacon. All of my driving annoyances were immediately dissipated.

On Tuesday we adventured to the neighborhood of Ballantyne, North Carolina. After some photography adventures we had lunch at a place called Postino. We had a great spread of soups and bruschetta offerings. Such a unique and enjoyable experience as far as restaurants go!

After we got our fill we ventured on to get ingredients to make our own bruschetta boards. I could not, and let me emphasize COULD NOT care less what Italians do, because the concepts I came up with were incredible.

Smoked salmon with cream cheese pesto and capers, heirloom tomatoes (red, purple, yellow for flair) with fresh mozzarella freshly picked basil 18 year aged balsamic and extra virgin olive oil, avocado salsa, gyro and tzatziki sauce (pro chef tip: add finely diced raw red onions next time to set the flavors off)

Chicken salad with grapes, brie cheese with blackberries, artichoke dip with sea salt

I’d like to say we whipped that restaurant's butt in creativity and the abundance of flavor we brought to our own bruschetta!

Wednesday was a relaxation day. However, in the mid-morning my mom and I decided to visit Andrew Jackson State Park which was only a few miles away and took a very relaxing and gorgeous 1-mile looping hike through some of God’s most beautiful nature. Aside from the hike there wasn’t much to see as the museum was not open, unfortunately.

After our brief excursion, we headed back to the neighborhood, loaded up a cooler with drinks and snacks and took a dip in the pool to cool off even though the South Carolina heat made that pool feel like bath water. It was still refreshing to wade in a pool, eat half a Costco bag of dehydrated mangos (it’s hard to stop eating them, please don’t judge) and sip on a crisp Diet Coke. What a great way to just chill.

Back to food. Why not? Because I’d be remiss to leave out a final, amazing and probably the gold medal winner of a meat- DINO RIBS.

Friday (please don’t click if NSFW) afternoon we visited a wholesale meat market in search of pork ribs to throw on the smoker for just a few hours (time was an issue as guests were coming over post-dinner). However, one massive package of beef dino ribs looked me in the face and the decision was made.

Rubbed with salt, pepper, brown sugar, cumin, a variety of peppercorns, paprika, garlic powder and other punchy spices we trimmed and prepared these behemoths for the smoker. Around seven-and-a-half hours later they were done. Succulent, moist, tender and had humungous big flavor.

I prepared at the last minute some Mexican Street Corn for a side while broccoli was roasting on the grill in a myriad of spices and herbs.

The meal was superb.

Great haul from the wholesale meat market!

Dino ribs are sourced from the cow’s 6, 7 and 8 ribs located behind the brisket and below the rib primal and are very meaty and full of beef flavor complimented with enough fat to render in even more flavor as they slowly cook

Additional trimming of fat needs to be done as well as removal of the silver skin for the most favorable outcome

After seasoning and allowing to sit for a few minutes to allow the flavors to mesh the dino ribs were tossed onto the smoker at 225 F to slow cook over the next seven-and-a-half hours

After patiently waiting for seven-and-a-half hours the ribs were done and set on a cutting board to rest for roughly 20 minutes to cool and allow the juices and flavors to redistribute themselves

What a spread- dino ribs, Mexican Street Corn, broccoli and a Dr. Pepper Zero - I felt like Fred Flintstone grabbing those bone handles and mauling down that chunk of perfectly smoked and grilled meat

Well. It appears I have spent a ton of time discussing the amazing food I ate whilst relaxing in both Carolinas. Being right on the border I never knew which one I was in but nothing else matters.

I did actually do some photography. I brought along my workhorse- the Nikon D850 and a few lenses, though I only used my newish favorite which is the 24-120mm f/4 for its simplicity and versatility. I purchased this used as it was one of the only recommendations for IR converted full frame Nikon cameras as it doesn’t leave those annoying orbs in the center of the image as too many lenses do for IR converts.

That being said, I have found it to be a super handy and lightweight walk-around lens for my D850 as well.

And, to be honest, I’d say it has held up quite well and has produced some tack-sharp and great images for me.

You know what to do- enjoy the photos below and leave a like and please visit and follow my Facebook page here!

- Mike

Middle of Nowhere

As the title of this post suggests, I was in the middle of actual nowhere this past weekend. Excuse the annoying music video link… Somewhere in the cobwebs of my mind that was the first thing that came to mind… ahh nostalgia AND immediate apologies for that disaster of a link.

I was invited to a good friend’s camp to celebrate our friend’s birthday weekend. The cabin is located on State Forest land in an undisclosed part of the Pennsylvania woods. It’s so dark that if the electricity decides to go out, you can’t see your very own hand in front of your face. That definitely happened night one. Thank goodness for portable power bricks and cell phone flashlights.

Night one consisted of settling in, eating some brisket I smoked up and watching Airplane for our late-night entertainment. Probably a top three comedy for me.

Sleeping was rough this evening as the cabin got humid. I finally fell asleep around 2:45am just to be awakened by the lights turning off and the fans shutting down. The dehumidifier also shut off as all power was lost. I hardly got a wink of sleep, but Friday would prove to be a fun day of exploration and hiking.

In the early afternoon hours we drove around the mountain to trek a loop on the Alan Seeger “Natural Area” Trail. The loop we did consisted of old Hemlocks and other cool trees and growths as well of a chorus of birds and insects singing making it a super relaxing and revitalizing trail to hike. After being out of work for 9+ months, super stressed out and down and out this trail by itself lifted my spirits and gave me an immense sense of tranquility. I could have sat in those woods for hours. Nature is truly a great remedy for anything.

We then visited an abandoned fire watch tower. Another great hike and some more needed exercise!

Saturday was a wonderful evening for us all to enjoy. My friend slow smoked ribs all day and they were absolutely delightful. During the day was a relaxing day as I sat next to the fire pit shucking corn and enjoying some craft soda preparing for that evening’s feast while everyone else went on dirt bike adventures.

Every night was met with watching 90’s and 2000’s comedies such as Step Brothers, Old School and the like. Saturday evening we were able to watch the Phillies on Fox Sports as DirecTV doesn’t normally get Philadelphia sporting events. That was awesome and the Phils won! Unfortunately, they did not take the series to the Brewers over the weekend. Oh well…who cares when you’re in the middle of the woods roughing it!

Roughing it is always a fun and engaging experience as you immerse yourself in the deep woods where other creatures roam and call their habitat. Black bears, deer, snakes, insects, arachnids, gorgeous butterflies, pretty moths the size of a dime to way bigger than your own hand, rodents and other animals establish their homes and we have to temporarily and mostly coexist with them.

Shooting some guns was also fun. I got to fire off my first “Cowboy gun” which digested 45 Long Colt ammunition. You better believe I told some cans and bottles where to go! Pure freedom! The power and recoil was exhilarating. I own enough guns to have fun at the range from semi auto pistols to .22 rifles to AR-15’s and shotty’s but that cowboy gun was so delightful to shoot. Not only a great stress reliever but a reminder that we live in a great country where we get to engage in that kind of freedom.

These few days were the most stress-free and relaxing days I have experienced in a long time. So much thanks and appreciation to the hosts who let me stay!

I feel bad for people who think they need to hop on airplanes or cruise ships to see manufactured tourist attractions and have no clue how how amazing it is to escape a few hours away and simply enjoy nature. Not that visiting other states, countries and areas sucks. It’s definitely awesome. But hitting the factory reset button on your mind and soul and watch all of the worldly cares dissipate as you sit around a bonfire, grill burgers and smoke ribs is simply unmatched.

It’s a blast as you tell funny stories and have great laughs around the bonfire and open up and get to know each other better without the hustle and bustle of worrying about schedules and being somewhere at a certain time. You have everything you need- food, crystal clear naturally filtered stream water that tastes better than the bottled stuff, great company and simplicity.

I even made some friends:

Tom, the Wolf Spider. He was the size of my hand and probably shouldn’t exist ever in nature OR in politics. IYKYK.

Sally, the salamander. She was sweet and very friendly.

Blacksnake Billy. He was kind of a jerk. He wouldn’t move when I asked him to but was very aware I was eating a hotdog. When I told him he couldn’t have my hotdog he stuck his tongue out at me like a complete entitled jerk. But we ended but being good buds as he slithered towards the stream for his slumber. We let bygones be bygones. As they say. I wish him the best of luck eating rodents. He was actually a pretty cool dude.

See below for the images I took (I only got a few night sky images with the D850 / 14-24mm glass and some Infrared photos with the D810 with the 24-120mm glass).

It’s truly amazing to observe God’s heavenly creation scattered with gazillions of bright and beautiful stars in a sky barely filled with light pollution. If you look closely you’ll see some shooting stars as well due to the slow shutter speed I set my cameras to. What a treat! Enjoy and as always, thanks for stopping by and check out my Facebook Page!

-Mike

Central PA Air Dot Show @ Harrisburg International Airport

Last year around this time I experienced my first air show. It was exhilarating and one of, IF, the coolest things I have ever experienced. The roar of the engines, Avenged Sevenfold and Linkin Park playing over the PA system while the pilots performed their routines and just simply observing their sheer talent which always will leave me absolutely breathless and speechless.

I received a free ticket from a friend for last year’s show for the general admission area and grabbed some amazing photos. I had a blast. But, this year I shelled out for the photography pit tickets. I just knew I needed to be up front and center for this phenomenal show. Yes, they were a tad expensive, but the photo pit box limited 50 people including their ridiculously tall obstructive hats and of course all of our long telephoto lenses. That being said, there was always a great location to shoot from and I was roughly 30-40 yards back from the runway.

Oh, and very importantly, included with my ticket they provided bottled wooder and snacks (chips, apples, protein bars). Since I didn’t get to enjoy any snacks because everyone scooped them up I came home with several bottles of h20 to put in my garage fridge. So I definitely made out.

The neat part about this is watching the planes take off and land, observing the ground crew and mechanics do pre-flight inspections and see the pilots climb into their planes to get ready to perform some insane stunts. Additionally, because Harrisburg International is a commercial airport, you get to watch Delta, American and United airliners take off and land in between stunt sets.

This year featured the F-16 Viper Demo Team. A somewhat local pilot whose name is slipping my mind took to the skies for the USAF. He pulled high speed maneuvers at 500-600 miles per hour pulling gut-wrenching G’s.

Mike Goulian also performed, as he did last year as well. He is known for flying in the Red Bull Air Races. He is an incredibly skilled aerobatic stunt plane pilot and quite the anomaly to watch. It is always a pleasure to be able to watch this dude perform outstanding stunts that seem to defy the laws of physics.

The Penn State Health Life Lion also showed up again to show off the Airbus H155 helicopter used as a mobile emergency room to rush patients to nearby hospitals. They operate out of Hershey, Carlisle (where I was introduced to this spherical planet) and Lancaster (where the Amish live) and are an integral emergency lifeline for South Central Pennsylvania. Evidently, per the narrator, the bulk of their cases are actually pediatric patients which actually came as a shock to me considering these guys fly through every type of weather conditions to rescue people in very severe incidents including life-threatening car accidents and the like.

Lastly, the main attraction: The Navy Blue Angels. And, per usual, they did not disappoint. They wore their rare yellow uniforms, too, which was a treat to see. I’m not sure if this was because this show happened on Memorial Day (my Saturday tickets got rained out, so I was credited with Monday tickets) or because of the Nation’s 250th. Either way, it’s awesome I can say I got to see them wear those alternate uniforms.

Another interesting aspect of this year’s show I may not have remembered from last year, was the tower piping in the comms from the pilots to the PA system so we could hear them talk and communicate amongst one another.

Unfortunately, no military aircraft were on display this year due to ongoing operations in Iran, so there wasn’t a whole lot to see other than HIA’s newest fire engine, a bunch of vendors, some Toyota’s and my friend Kenny putting some hotdogs to shame while wearing his Top Gun attire.

All images were captured with a Nikon D850 with Nikkor 200-500mm glass and the monochrome infrared images were captured using an IR converted Nikon D810 with a 24-120mm lens.

As always, thanks for stopping by and enjoy the images! I also uploaded some of my favorites to the, “Transportation” section of my portfolio, so be sure to check it out!

Like and share on Facebook.

- Mike

Junkyard Stroll

First off……..HOLY MOLY! This is actually my first post of 2026!

AND, after at least four group trips I missed, I finally got to join my camera club in Lititz, Pennsylvania today at the Gerhart Machinery Company’s graveyard of old tractor trailers, heavy machinery, farm equipment and tons of other cool things to photograph.

An easy drive down I-76 (and probably expensive), it was a gorgeous, albeit overcast, morning to walk around for a couple hours.

At our 9:00AM arrival our club members vehicles and weather apps said anything from 59-61 degrees F. So it was slightly brisk compared to the past couple days which were in the 80s and 90s.

However, after getting the blood pumping and walking around it was super comfortable and contributed to some great exercise.

I armed myself with two cameras today.

First, my Nikon D810 Infrared converted camera. I felt this would lend me some creativity for some cool bold and dramatic monochrome shots. We were expecting mostly blue skies but instead we walked under a massive soft box of cloud cover so the dramatic effect only went so far.

To keep things light, I also brought along my trusty Fuji X100V for my color shots. In an arena of beat-up and gritty old machinery and vehicles, photographing full color images was a must.

This experience, overall, was easily a top 5 or maybe even top 3 photography opportunity for me and I am thrilled my camera club made this happen! I had an absolute blast.

What really stood out to me today was just thinking about these trucks, cranes, tractors, heavy construction machinery, gears, batteries, engine components and other equipment that started their industrial lives many moons ago presumably with that “new vehicle smell.”

Then, after years of hard use and purpose, transporting heavy loads, operating on construction sites, used for harvesting crops and other farming needs they are now sitting in a junkyard victim to collecting dust, spiderwebs, weathering, corrosion and ultimately nature simply taking them over. They are truly beautiful disasters.

What a truly neat place and massive thanks to Gerhart for letting us roam their property!

As always, enjoy the images below and follow Zone Three on Facebook! I’m sure you can figure out the color images versus the infrared ones ;)

- Mike

Christmas Time at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens

Monday, December 15, 2025. Vienna, Virginia. Meadowlark Botanical Gardens.

That’s where I was around 5:30pm yesterday evening. Equipped with my Fuji GFX 50SII and yes, my 100-200mm lens. The one I hate to love and love to hate (I didn’t even read the link, but it looked relatable).

I made a bit of an oversight when packing my gear. Instead of my favorite versatile 45-100mm lens I packed my 100-200mm lens which, as previously mentioned, I’m not a huge fan of.

Oh well, I decided I had already paid the $25 to get into the gardens after dropping my friend off at Mr. Ronald Reagan’s Port of Air.

Filled with families and small children who were all in my way, I still managed to enjoy my nearly mile long hike along the restricted pathways. The light show was awesome and if you are a family with children, they have an awesome scavenger hunt to find different things throughout the gardens.

I always like the challenge of using an unfamiliar lens in unfamiliar circumstances, but I couldn’t mustard up the creativity this time. So I opted for some fun ICM (In Camera Motion) shots. I just set the ol’ ISO to 100 in aperture priority mode in the low lighting and just shook, spun and zoomed to see what I got. Not that I am self-conscience, but I wonder what non-photographers think when they see some dummy twirling a camera around in a very focused state-of-mind? Regardless, these shots are simple to capture and always lend to a great abstract image that is random and unpredictable and to me personally, are fun to look at.

Below are some of the images I edited this afternoon. Mostly out of camera with some tweaks in Light Room and some blur/motion effects in Photoshop for some extra pizzazz. Not my normal batch of images, but I hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, if I don’t post again before the holiday!

- Mike