Kiwanis Lake, York Pennsylvania - Egret Central

Today, along with my camera club, I visited Kiwanis Lake around 8:00am. At this time of the year, Egrets local to this area are making their nests and getting ready to get greasy and make babies. The males display a beautiful bright green color around their eyes which turns yellow after they’re done having themselves a time with females.

I brought two pieces of gear with me today- My Nikon D850 and my Nikon Nikkor 200-500mm lens. I left my teleconverter at home as I didn’t think I needed it and my thought process was mostly right. It was tough enough to track at 500mm let alone adding the extra length and calculated the extra math as far as S, A and ISO went. I’m happy with the decision I made as it was simple and allowed me to focus solely on photographing the birds nesting as well as them in flight.

York, PA is not my favorite city/town in the state I live in but it does have a great central farmer’s market, this park and the band Live is from here as well so that’s kind of cool. Otherwise, please enjoy the egrets, duck and cardinal that allowed me to photograph them today… And please visit the central market and get some good produce, meats and hoagies. If you’re in the area and have a chance to visit this park, please do so. It’s a relaxing and flat walk around a lake with vibrant animal life.

-Mike

That Solar Phenomenon That Happened Today...

Today I awoke with with not so high hopes as the local news dude whose name I can’t pronounce, Weather.com and Accu Weather had not been giving very promising weather reports.

On any account- I laid in bed drinking Deer Park Sparkling Lime Water (the most flavorful fizzy water on the market in my opinion). I feared the worst as the prior forecasts had stated mostly cloudy. Maybe the sun would bear its face but at the time it looked unlikely. I had already canceled a trip to Cleveland on account of extreme price gouging (I get it) and the gamble of not having good skies to photograph this phenomenon. So instead of 100% totality, best case scenario where I live it would be 92% and some change.

I’m glad I stuck around my house because I was able to contently photograph what was available to me- which was clouds, trees and oh- the sun did decide to come out.

Moving to my front yard I was able to get more views not blocked by other things like branches and sticks.

This was much more challenging than I thought it would be. However, it played out to be a fun and unique experience.

Images shot with a Nikon D850 and Tamron 150-600mm lens with a 95mm ICE ND Filter. Enjoy!

-Mike

Indian Echo Caverns

Today started around 6:15 AM when my alarm went off. I awoke a bit later after hitting the snooze button, groggy and heavy on the allergies acting up. Nothing was stopping me though from today’s adventure- not even the leftover tuna noodle casserole I made the night before with Lipton onion soup mix, fake parmesan cheese and cream-of-celery soup with a couple cans of the “chicken of the sea.” Tuna… they call it tuna.

Around 7:20 AM I fired up Big Red and departed towards Sheetz to withdrawal money for my admission and obtain caffeine. Final destination: Indian Echo Caverns.

I had not visited (and I feel old saying this) Indian Echo Caverns for 30 whole years. Yep. Last time I was there I was probably in third grade on a field trip with Sporting Hill Elementary School! Such a geezer I am becoming!

Call time was 8am for the West Shore Photography Club. Our fearless leader, Joe, gave us multiple focus stacking demonstrations and we met our guides Karen and Mike. Massive thanks to both of them for being our guides and lending their knowledge of the cavern.

Additional thanks to the WSPC leaders Elaine, Mary, Joe and Mike for putting this amazing trip together.

-Mike

Eastern State Penitentiary

Finally, after years of dying to visit this place I got a chance. I met up with a few of the folks from the camera club, some of whom knew this place very well. I opted not to take a guided or audio tour, rather just focus on exploration and taking my time photographing all I could. I live close enough to and frequent Philly enough that I will find some time to carve out to take one of the tours since I love learning history. Their Halloween events look pretty neat as well.

I did miss a few spots in the prison (aside from what was closed off) but overall was able to capture most of what I set out to get. I considered this trip a massive success and was happy with my results as well as everyone else’s from my club.

This prison is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more information on this historic landmark, you can visit their website here.

-Mike

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex

Annually, my camera club gets together to photograph the interior (and exterior if we please) of the state capitol complex in Harrisburg, PA. Generally, we get to adventure into rooms normally not open to public tours which gives us more opportunities to explore this architecturally amazing building. The craftsmanship through out is spectacular and gives you a massive appreciation for the amount of integrity builders once had when designing and constructing these buildings. While modern architecture definitely can be stunning, nothing in my opinion, beats these old facilities. Around every corner and space there is an opportunity for creative photography. And just across the street is Jackson House. Meaning, after a couple hours of shooting, a fantastic hoagie is just a few minutes away. Their burgers are most likely the best around, too.

-Mike

Heishman Mill, Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Early this morning I met with my camera club at an old Mill in Carlisle, PA called Heishman Mill. As part of the National Register of Historic Places, the Heishman Mill has a rich history dating back to the beginning of the 19th century. For more historical information, please visit their website.

I was extremely impressed with the owner as he was responding to my tags on my Facebook page almost instantly excitedly filling in bits and pieces of history to each image I posted. To me that shows drive and initiative and a very proud owner who wants to keep this place preserved and offer it up as a historical part of PA for everyone to see.

-Mike

Longwood Gardens Christmas Lights

This evening (actually, like 9pm at night) I visited Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. I’ve visited these gardens in the past but had never had the opportunity to explore them during Christmas with all of the lights. What an amazing job they do. Not a square inch left untouched with lights or decorations. I can’t wait to re-visit again next year, although this place is phenomenal any time of the year.

“Pro tip” if visiting during the holiday season: Buy tickets early and opt for a later entry time as it seemed as if they let less and less people in the later you sign up. Although there were a lot of people when I visited, it was not overwhelmingly packed.

-Mike

Shepherdstown, West Virginia

Today I met some friends in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. We spent the day exploring the various shops, doing a little Christmas shopping and walking their British Golden Retrievers around the town. It’s a quaint, vibrant small town along the Potomac River boarding Maryland.

After getting some good exercise in we had lunch and my buddy gave me some smoked meats he smoked on his new smoker. I’m a huge BBQ/Smoker guy so this was quite the treat!

We had lunch and I departed back home as I had to play host this evening.

I would say my least favorite spot was this coffee shop called Lost Dog. It was nothing special. It was nothing to write home about. It served as a coffee shop and generic gift store on the main drag. The gifts…very lame and generic. The tea barely had a scent and seemed stale. The coffee was mediocre at best, so I won’t link them. They had “I’m better than you” attitude condescending vibe. They didn’t feel inclusive or tolerant at all. Didn’t really feel like a marketplace of ideas existed with the owners/employees.

However, THIS place was amazing. The staff was engaging, excited for outsiders to visit and served us quickly and provided some PHENOMENAL pastries, coffee and desserts. They were accommodating with the dogs and their customers were so warm and inviting to us “outsiders.” I highly and when i say highly I mean HIGHLY check these folks out if you’re in or around this town. They can be found on the web here. The woman who served me picked my brain about the Eagles and how she should place her online bets. I hope whatever I told her was fruitful! GO BIRDS!

The general store was awesome as well. Again, if you visit, please check this spot out! They really do have some cool stuff to buy! Great spot to buy gifts and little trinkets for your home.

-Mike

Christmas at Old Bedford Village

Every December I take a trip out to Bedford, Pennsylvania to visit a small colonial town called Old Bedford Village. Most of the structures are not utilizing any electricity and are only lit by candle light and fireplaces. The rustic feel is cozy and inviting and the reenactors all do a fantastic job wearing period clothing and explaining history. Some of the shops where demonstrations and historical context can be found are a blacksmith, gunsmith, general store, stables, chandler, two schools, a church, a tavern with refreshments and more. This is one of my favorite Christmas time traditions.

They do two Saturdays in December for their Christmas/holiday events but have other events and educational opportunities throughout the year. I have not yet attended any of these, but they look pretty cool. Check Old Bedford Village out here.

-Mike

Rocky Ridge Park, York, Pennsylvania

Every Christmas I love traveling around to see what different places do to go “all out” with Christmas lights. For two or three years now I have been visiting Rocky Ridge Park in York, PA. Their light display is really amazing and rivals others in the Central, PA area.

This year I decided to do something a little bit different and abstract with my photography. Using the ICM (intentional camera movement) technique with the different lights, I captured interesting images which I tossed into Photoshop where I experimented with different filters including the liquify filter. This isn’t a difficult process but encourages creativity in symmetry, abstract imagery and just testing out random results.

Even with a really capable PC, some of the processing really put it to the test.

Again, something different this time around!

-Mike