GREEN AUGUST!

August in south central Pennsylvania is always marked by a dry landscape of washed out pale greens or browns. Rain comes only in the form of thunderstorms that may drop lots of rain, but it evaporates quickly. Hay fields stop growing and the plants wither. Corn fields start losing their vibrancy and the edges of the leaves begin to turn a yellowish brown. To sum up the views in a word – blah.

This August is different! Rainy days have been the norm. They have been spread out evenly over the summer. What would normally be dull is now bright green. The different crops provide a patchwork of greens from the dark green of the corn fields to bright green pastures and different shades between.  Here are some photos of the fields along Route 75 through Path Valley Pennsylvania.

Farm near Doylesburg

Barn and silo near Doylesburg

The Knob separating Path and Amberson Valleys

View to the north between Willow Hill and Spring Run

Field south of Metal - a long term landmark in the valley

View of the entrance to Path Valley from Lemar Road

LIGHTNING!

 Lightning is an amazing phenomenon. Electric charges build up in the clouds until it can no longer contain it. A bolt of bright white energy streaks from the clouds to whatever is nearby. Destruction and injury, even death, can happen. But the jagged streaks have the potential to create beautiful images.

Several years ago, a thunderstorm passed overhead that was mostly a light show with little rain. The lightning was going from cloud to cloud instead of hitting the ground. I grabbed my camera and put on a Canon EF-S 18-55mm/f3.5 lens and set it at 18 mm to maximize the amount of sky. I stood in the opening to our deck and started shooting, hoping for the best. I tried some different settings until I settled on a shutter speed at 0.3 seconds with a low ISO of 100 at f3.5. 

Finally I hit paydirt! These bolts started in the distance and worked their way until they were almost overhead. I sent the photo to our local TV station that usually shows pictures of weather events submitted by viewers. Mine was shown and the weatherman made comments about how dramatic the shot was.  They did a little photo editing. The top photo is a truer rendition of the colors during the storm.

Canon Rebel XTi with EF-S 18-55 lens set at 18mm. f3.5, ISO 100 with 0.3 second exposure

TRACK AND FIELD EVENTS

Sports have always been a big part of my life. Soccer, basketball, baseball, and softball in high school, college, and in adult leagues kept me active through most of my playing life. Then there was distance running to stay fit. Along came children and with it came years of coaching and refereeing soccer, watching swimming and cheerleading. But the one sport I never participated in or watched was track and field. My high school was too small to have a team. My children didn’t participate in it. My wife ran track in high school, but that was long before I met her. So, it was with some excitement that I jumped on a chance to watch something new and take pictures of a track meet at our local high school.  

The events themselves were not new to me, but the sequence of events and where the athletes would be positioned were things I needed to figure out. The shot put and discus area were roped off making it hard for me to get into position so I headed to the long jump area and focused on the jumps. The low sun behind the athletes made it hard to shoot but some good shots came out. Once the hurdles were set up, I moved into position and got some great shots. Relays and distance runs came next. All in all, I enjoyed the day and captured some good images. I never did get the shot put or discus, but there is always next year!

THE EYES HAVE IT!

The eyes are the windows to the soul, they say. But in sports photography, they are the key to the action. A fellow photographer told me to try to get the player's eyes in the pictures that I send to the paper. Easier said than done when it is football season, lacrosse season, or softball season when player wear masks that hide their faces. But I was lucky enough to get some good ones. Below are some shots where the eyes play a prominent role. 

Looking for the receiver before a touchdown pass.

Catcher focused on the ball.

Catcher looking for a play at first base

Lacrosse defender tracking an opponent

Several soccer players watching for a pass

Keeping his eyes on the ball!

Looking for the goal!

THIS IS FOR THE BIRDS

Spring has been a busy time. I missed almost a month of taking photos. The latter part of April gave me the chance to get back onto the fields to shoot spring sports 0 Softball, soccer, lacrosse.  That kept me busy, almost too busy. Games would take a couple hours followed by two or three hours of editing. But I didn’t mind because the paper was publishing a lot of the game photos on their website. And I enjoyed it. There wasn’t much diversity in the photos other then the difference in sports. Visits to my Mother gave me a much needed break from sports only shooting. Birds! She has bird feeders, suet cakes, hummingbird feeders, Oriole feeders and a tray of sunflower seeds. Mating season, and the associated bright colors, is in full swing for the birds.  It has been decades since I saw an Oriole, but her feeder brought them in! Blue Jays, Bluebirds, Cardinals, Goldfinches, Purple Finches, Woodpeckers, Catbirds, Sparrows, and others, along with squirrels, showed up. This post is for the birds.

USING A CELLPHONE CAMERA

Good scenes can show up when you don’t have your primary camera with you. How often have you said, “I wish I had my camera with me”? A camera with the adjustments needed to fully capture the beauty or mood of the scene is great to have handy. But you can’t always lug one around. Fortunately, almost everyone today carries a cellphone with a built-in camera.

Early versions of cellphone cameras were relatively low resolution when Nokia and Sanyo introduced them in 2002. Technology has improved dramatically with every new version on cell phones since then. Today, they provide high resolution images and videos and the ability to edit in the phone’s camera app. They can provide images that are great for posting on social media or just capturing a moment.  Photo albums are now being replaced by cell phone photo libraries.

Harrisburg Railroad Bridge iPhone Image

The Harrisburg Hospital sits along the east bank of the Susquehanna River, a very scenic river. The dining area is called the Seven Bridges Café, which provides a great view of the bridges and the cityscape. My Canon was at home, so I made do with my iPhone camera. When leaving the hospital, the light of the setting sun was hitting the arches and abutments of the old railroad bridge and leaving interesting patterns of light and shadow. I had one of those “I wish I had my camera moments.” But at least there was an iPhone in my pocket to capture the moment.

Harrisburg Market Street Presbyterian Church iPhone Image

The spire of the Market Street Presbyterian Church is visible from the hospital’s café. Again, the cellphone camera provided the opportunity to capture the view.  

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME

Winter is holding on. Spring flowers are hiding underground. But that doesn’t stop devotees of the beautiful game – soccer! Yes, it was very cold a few nights ago but the Tuscarora High School stadium lights beckoned. So off I went to practice my soccer photography skills. It wasn’t long and my fingers and toes were stinging with the cold. My plan was to stay for a short while just to practice. Could I stick to the plan? Are you kidding? I’m a soccer fan! Here are a few of the photos I was able to capture that frigid night.