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.

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. What a treat! Enjoy and as always, thanks for stopping by!

-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

Glorious Estates... The Famous "Star Barn" in Central Pennsylvania

The last mission I went on with my photography club was to the amazing estates of the famous “Star Barn” here in central PA. Located in Elizabethtown, PA, The Star Barn is a staple for all kinds of events and a well known landmark of South-Central PA. And just before a wedding, we got access to kind of do whatever.
A labyrinth of roads finally got me to my parking spot (of which as a standard no-nonsense pickup truck driver, I parked appropriately). Once parked, I was just beside myself. There were so many place to explore. I went right into the barn, where some cool antique wine making machines and fireplaces existed. Oh, and of course, horse stuff. They love them some horsies there!

Here are some of the images I captured.

- Mike

Pumpkinfest at Old Bedford Village

First off,

Here’s some Fall colors! I love the Fall time of year. The air is crisp, cool and you can smell chimneys and bonfires for miles. Football is in full swing (GO BIRDS) and it’s hoodie weather. So I changed up the colors on the site to celebrate this! If you’re reading this during another season, you’ll see these colors again!

10/18/25 PHOTO SHOOT:

Christmas comes and Fall, well after a couple seasons, falls upon us. Old Bedford Village is one of my favorite places to visit during the Christmas season. It’s now become a favorite of the Autumn season as well as they offer their “Pumpkinfest” activities.

Pumpkinfest is available October 18 (you missed it) and 19 (you probably missed it too) so look for it next year!

Even though Pennsylvania’s experts couldn’t figure out a chart versus a map, the foliage was pretty lame. Their charts said, “near peak,” but the map was accurate in stating these leaves were barely changing. So my hopes weren’t sky high. This was disappointing, but still gave way for a fun photography adventure. I always make the best of it!

So again, today, I visited for the thousandth time Old Bedford Village. As I mentioned, this is one of my favorite places to visit. The colonial area home that have been relocated are cozy, homey and just a blast to visit. There are always fires roaring in the fireplaces, reenactors doing their thing and the smell of wood burning billows through the air. The atmosphere makes you want to slip your boots off and kick your feet in the air and just relax.

Unlike the Christmas visits, they had some of the homes available for exploration upstairs. Generally, these are closed off for safety reasons because the Christmas tours are at night and the homes are lit only by candle light and fireplaces.

Per usual, below are some images I captured using my Fuji GFX 50S II and 45-100mm glass. Enjoy!

- Mike

Sweet Carolina's

Where to start? I love barbecue. I love butcher shops. I love cities with tall buildings and great people watching. I also love air conditioning.

My 4th of July week was spent in South Carolina, right by the border of North Carolina. Even though I spent a lot of time in each state I really only dug the cameras out in NC. SC was more for relaxation time, TV watchin’ and board game playin’ (in that AC I was talking about, of course).

We always have game time when we visit our family. New one this time. If you are unfamiliar with the game, “Carbles” you are seriously missing out. It’s like Chinese Checkers or the board game Aggravation. But… it’s its own thing and in its own way so much better.

Better, because it was custom 3D printed and personalized by our relative himself. We played it a ton- even with my family’s neighbors who also had a blast playing it. And to be fair- they were hilarious people to hang with making the evening perfect! We need to go back to family game nights. They’re the best.

Like I said, this was a custom 3D in-house game and my mom and I and went home with our very own Carbles board, marbles and three decks of playing cards. All I needed to finalize the set was a bag to keep the board game set in and an electronic card shufflin’ device. Amazon = Success. That card shufflin’ machine will contain anyone’s ADD or ADHD. Pass it on to the behavioral health pros. Love playing with that dumb thing.

Anyway, back to photography- My first adventure in the Carolina’s took me to a little town called Waxhaw, North Carolina (I’ll be fully transparent- I had no idea we even crossed state boarders from South Carolina to enter into this wonderful geographical location- those invisible boarder lines will get ya sometimes).

Within this town is a bridge, some sidewalks, eateries, tea shops and some trains. After crushing a fantastic Cuban-like sandwich with tater chips at a little spot called Cork and Ale (a phenomenal culinary experience), we set out to wander around ol’ Wexhaw. Wexxxxx-HAW! YEE-HAW! Let’s do it!

CSX locomotive rolling through the town of Wexhaw, NC at approximately 50 miles-per-hour. With full cargo, this train at one point weighed right around 34-35 million pounds total

We started out our journey by crossing over the aforementioned bridge to visit some of the aforementioned shops. In the middle of the bridge, an elderly man engaged us in conversation (get ready for some train nerd talk).

Though I am not a stop and chat type, this guy was able to peak our interest by informing us a big-ol’ freight train was about to roll through. He was super passionate about trains as he used to be an engineer for Amtrak back in the day (which was a long time ago). The train was a CSX operated freight train that would be right around 1.5 miles in length (2.41402KM for you Canadian and European nerds) and would weigh in at roughly 14,000,000lbs empty. EMPTY. Sounded like a great shot so we hung around and learned about trains from our new friend. I learned sometimes they put extra locomotives in the middle of the train for extra braking power because God knows these things don’t stop “on a dime” as they say. This man taught us way too much for me to even remember to share. I grew up with Lionel model trails and taking the Amtrak Auto Train to Florida a bunch of times. This conversation just about made my visit. A small world, this now brings two humans into my life that have literally been an engineer operating trains I would have ridden on as a child in the 1990’s. Oh how old I’m getting, but oh how cool!

A couple days went by and we finally found ourselves venturing into Charlotte, North Carolina. Armed with our cameras, we hit up a spot called NoDa first. It’s a very vibrantly entertaining, somewhat mysterious, artsy and unique place to hang out with some vintage RV trailers converted into stores and food trucks, a cantina and a ton of murals to lay your eyes upon. The photography opportunities were endless and stunning. This was a great first stop! It has a lot more to explore, so I will save that exploration for my next visit.

From there, it was off to Uptown Charlotte. Here is where I got the Nikon D810 IR converted camera out and FINALLY got to explore using it as an architectural camera (my main reason for the conversion). Exploring the color grading and different artistic approaches in Light Room was a treat as well. This IR thing has really added a remarkable tool to the photography tool kit for various subject matter.

Down below are the images I decided to bring to life from shooting with my Fuji GFX 50SII and Infrared converted Nikon D810. Click the images to enlarge.

- Mike

PS: New images added to Arch/Design, City Life and Transportation portfolio sections…Browse away friends…


Lavender and Cream but no Fields of Butterflies

Saturday’s adventure was just up Route 15 to Dillsburg. What a town. They hold an annual lavender festival filled with artists, food and gardens.

I enjoyed a whoopie pie infused with lavender, if you didn’t already guess. The lavender cookies are great, too. There were some cool antique John Deere’s and a sweet old Ford F-100 pickup truck on site too, which you’ll see some close-ups of below.

All in all it was a great day to get some fresh air, walk around in the rain and enjoy great company.

There isn’t too much else to say but to enjoy the photos I took! Thanks for stopping by! Support your local town events, artists and get fat at the mom and pop’s restaurants.

- Mike

CANNONBALL!!!!!!!!!

Cannonball? Yeah, we will get there. But let’s start with my visit to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania- A place where I can’t stand their sports teams and hearing the words, “yinz and yinzers.” I will also take Hunts over Heinz any day of the week any week of the month any month of the year. I’m a principled man. And no- nothing to do with actual politics, just condiment politics which honestly are much more important and slightly less divisive.

The journey started off around 7:30 or so in the evening at a spot called Mario’s to watch the Phillies / Pirates game and grab a bite to eat. I enjoyed the double burgle with cheese, habanero BBQ sawwwwwce and sauteed onions with a healthy hill of tater tots dripped in a non-Heinz brand ketchup. I do have to mention, I was in Pittsburgh back in January for the Shane Gillis show at PPG Arena and had tater tots at Fat Heads on Carson Street which also took on the supporting act for the star of the show, another fantastic burgle. Which burgle? The KELSEY burgle. I mean, I ordered it for the name which probably isn’t after the best center to ever play football (we’re in a cross-state rival city here) but it also sounded great and ended up being amazing. Pittsburghians tend to really know their way around tater tots. Every place I’ve been they’ve been super savory, ultra crispy and internally fluffy. Just an astute observation I’ve made. And let us be clear- I am a tater tot connoisseur. So I do, actually, know what I’m talking about here.

Anyway, after this adventure I took a ride share to my hotel downtown. My driver was pumped to discuss transmissions, engine components, timing belts and braking systems on old Buicks and his current Nissan. I earned my auto mechanic certification in eleven minutes and was exhausted.

Baxter Buick dropped me off at my hotel and after checking in, I signed into my YouTube TV account and watched the end of the miserable Phillies game and hit the sack as they say. Who is they? And who still says, “hit the sack?” Not relevant. I got a great night’s sleep.

I then awoke Saturday morning and descended 4 floors to the 2nd floor where free (my favorite four-letter F word) breakfast was served. I enjoyed some unripened fruit, questionable scramby eggs and cheap sausage. But the cool part was the entire area was basically occupied by Phillies fans and I got my fill and enough energy to get back to the Shadyside neighborhood to get the day started.

There was some sort of arts fest in the Strip District today that I was forced into via a city bus. After checking out the first “art” tent, Puttshack sounded way more appealing, so my buddy Chad and I played a few rounds of mini golf. Indoors. In the frigid but imperative air conditioning. I definitely channeled my inner Happy Gilmore in this place and was thankful not to be asked to leave. I never knew about Puttshack and I’m super excited there’s one in Philadelphia near Barcade. What can be more fun than some climate controlled mini golf and retro arcade games within a 10 minute walk in Philly (which is a way better city than Hicksburgh)?

After playing a few fun rounds of indoor air conditioned mini golf, I ditched my party and did some photography on my way to PNC Park for the baseball game where the Phillies would blow it big time. I had fun taking other peoples photos along the way and shooting some fun shots that I found creative.

From travel team soccer tournaments, Backyard Brawls and just passing through, I’ve been to Pittsburgh a ton of times yet I had never gotten a good opportunity to explore this incredible city. The food was amazing, the people are generally friendly, there are awesome views everywhere and the traffic is really dumb which is on par for any city. I may knock on them for this or that and definitely their dumb sports teams, but I gotta say… Pittsburgh is a FUN city! I can’t wait to revisit.

Below are some images I shot with my Fujifilm GFX 50S Mark II body with the Fujifilm GF 45-100mm f/4 LR OIS WR lens. I had to pack light as I knew I’d only have a very small pack to carry in order to bring it into the stadium for the baseball games. The 45-100mm is a sharp and versatile walk-around lens.

Finally got to break the new Alienware laptop out to do a bit of editing in my hotel. It’s an absolute dream to edit images with. Looks like a Micro Machine compared to that Tonka Truck of a TV!

Oh yeah, let’s return to that part about cannonballs I mentioned at the start of this rambling. What do YOU know about cannonballs? Big spherical metal projectiles shot from battle ships and cannons? The thing you do where you bend your knees and hold your legs before jumping into a pool to splash everyone around you? No, even better. Deep fried balls stuffed with cabbage, noodles, copious amounts of cheese, bacon and some obligatory kielbasa. I discovered them while looking up the food offerings at PNC Park and wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night without trying them. I found them in Section 146. Worth the hype! If you go to a Pirates game and don’t get these, seek help.

- Mike

Hershey Gardens

As we near my mom’s next rotation around the sun, I decided to take her on a nice stroll around Hershey Gardens as an early birthday gift. It’s a great place to get into the open air, enjoy some beautiful flowers and plants and things and just enjoy nature.

So as we visited, I obviously brought some camera gear. Today, I carried on me my workhorse Nikon D850 as well as my infrared converted Nikon D810. I flew solo with just one lens- the Nikon 24-120mm Nikkor f/4. It’s versatile and fast, for what it is.

In addition to the gardens, Hershey Gardens also boasts a very impressive tropical butterfly atrium.

After photographing very few flowers and plants with the D850, I got bored and switched the the IR cam. Images below… You’ll know what is what! I’m absolutely loving the IR converted D810. HUGE props to Life Pixel! Our business relationship started a bit rocky but they came through and absolutely crushed it quality wise and customer service wise.

- Mike