A winter hike at Jacobsburg State Park. All of the images were shot handheld with the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II and the M. Zuiko 7-14mm f2.8 PRO lens (my favorite combination).
This past weekend I went to a new hiking location called Tank Hollow. For those of you living in the NE, you may recall this entire part of the country was covered in heavy fog most of the weekend. I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out my trusty water resistant Olympus OM-D E-M1 MkII. I got soaked, the camera got soaked and we both lived to tell about it.
Hopewell Furnace is a restored iron plantation built in 1771 and is a national historic site located in Berks County, PA. I have always been intrigued by this place. As a young boy, I remember my parents taking me here. I have photographed this placeΒ before, but never in the middle of winter. The day was very cold andΒ filledΒ with periodic rain, sleet & snow. Not the ideal conditions for a photoshoot, except that it is great for not having many people in your pictures. All of the images were shot with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II.
I made a quick morning run down to the Conowingo Dam on the lower Susquehanna River. I wanted to try out the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II with the M.Zuiko ED 300mm f4.0 IS PRO paired with theΒ 1.4x Teleconverter MC-14. This gives me the focal equivalent of 840mm. All of the images were shot handheld at a shutter speed between 1/1250 and 1/1600 sec. and ISO’s of 200 to 2500. The camera outperformed all of my expectations.
This is a follow up post to the previous oneΒ I did on the exterior of this complex. As much as I enjoyed photographing the exterior, I found the interior to be be almost magical and again, it screamed to be monochromatic. As many of you know, I am drawn to geometric shapes and styles with a wide angle slant. I look forward to returning and finding more hidden treasures.
During the months of October and November, I spent a fair amount of time in New York for various Olympus events. During one of the earlier events I went to the newly opened Oculus at the World Trade Center station. I was immediately captivated by its design and presence in relationship to the Freedom Tower. I found myself going back several times during my travels to NY trying capture different angles of the structure. Over time I went and found new vantageΒ points to shoot from. There appears to be no limit to different photo opportunities at this place. I am a wide angle shooter and for me, this place screams fisheye & WIDE. I captured all of the images in color but I found black and white works best. If you haven’t seen this place, the next time you are in New York put it on your list of places to see.
A couple of weeks ago I did the “Behind the Curtain” workshop & photo tour at the State Theatre in Easton, PA. This is always a fun event, particularly, since we are granted unobstructed access to this incredibly beautiful gem of a facility. I tell people, as photographers, we get to see the intricate nuances of the various design components in this theatre. Most people, and rightly so, go to the theatre to see a particular performance. However, for me, as a photographer, the main show is in the many incredible masterpieces within the structure. During this event I also had the opportunity to use the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II camera. The reason I mention this is I always tell my participants to bring a tripod because of the low light. I now may need to rethink thisΒ position. All of the following images were handheld for between one second and 1/60 second at ISO 6,400. The image stabilization and image quality at this high ISO has surpassed all of my expectations. Take a look and you be the judge.
Last week I saw one of the most amazing concerts of my life, The Trans Siberian Orchestra. They performed in Allentown at the PPL Center. They have restrictions on camera equipment (based on size), but, because I brought my Olympus Pen-F, I was able to shoot the concert. All images were shot handheld with theΒ M.Zuiko ED 14-150mm f4.0-5.6 II.