Last weekend I led a photo-walk for Milford Photo sponsored by Olympus at Yale University. We had a great turnout and great weather. I have never been to this location and I’m already looking forward to going back. During the photo-walk, I thought I would concentrate on various graphic elements of the buildings and work with the built in black & white filter “Dramatic Tone”. Most of these images are SOOC (straight out of the camera) with some minor lens perspective correction.
Sunday evening was the first night in a while that the temperatures did not drop into the single digits. So, I thought I would take advantage of the “warmer” evening and play with some light using the Pixel Stick. The images were taken in the Bethlehem Moravian Historic area and shot using Olympus’s new “Live Composite” mode.
My friend John Barclay is an extremely talented photographer who has exclusive rights to photograph the interior of Fonthill located in Doylestown, PA. Here is a link to his website. He ran a workshop there a couple of weeks ago and invited me to join him. Of course I was honored and excited to attend. He runs the workshops several times during the year. If you have the opportunity to participate in one of John’s workshops, you won’t be disappointed.
Two weekends ago I had the honor of leading a workshop in Jim Thorpe, PA for Dan’s Camera that was sponsored by Olympus. The event was sold out, the group was fantastic and we were able to experience some amazing photographic opportunities. We had private access to the “Old Jail”, our own private rail car and mother nature treated us to some of the best fall colors I have ever seen.
Last week I photographed the historic Haines Mill in South Whitehall Township, PA. The original mill was built around 1760 and reconstructed in 1909 after a fire gutted the interior. The mill was operated until 1956. Today it is operated by the Lehigh County Historical Society. The day we photographed the mill we were treated with a bonus. A fellow by the name of Ken Haines introduced himself and explained he was the great grandson of the original Haines operator. He was kind enough to show us around the mill and some of the ajoining property.
I visited the Troxell-Steckel house located in Whitehall Township, PA. It is a 2 1/2 story house and farm built in 1756. The house and property is now owned by the Lehigh County Historical Society.
Lehigh Valley International Airport put on this show last year and it was a huge success. They did it again this year and it was equally as good, if not slightly better. It took place last weekend and Sunday was the prettier day. However, I thought Saturday made for a more dynamic photographic opportunity, which is the day I shot.
As part of my Doylestown trip, I also visited Fonthill Castle & the Moravian Tile Works. Fonthill was constructed in the early 1900’s and was the home of Henry Mercer. In addition to his home, he built Fonthill as a showcase for his collections of tiles & prints. In 1985 it was designated a National Historic Landmark. The facility that produced the tile, is now known as the Moravian Pottery & Tile Works. It is within walking distance of Fonthill. Handmade tiles are still being made in a similar fashion to the way Mercer produced them from 1898 to 1930.
During my trip to Doylestown, PA, I visited the Mercer Museum where they presently have an exhibit titled “America’s Road: The Journey of Route 66”.
Last month, The Reading Airport hosted the 24th annual World War II Weekend. It was presented by the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum of Reading, PA. There were all types of WWII aircraft, vehicles, military personnel and reenactments throughout the weekend. There had to be several thousand attendees. This, of course, creates all types of challenges as a photographer. However, I think I was able to do a reasonably decent job of keeping the spectators out of the images. I decided I would break this post into four series [The Aircraft, The Americans (one & two) and Behind Enemy Lines]. Enjoy!
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