PA | Frank's Photography Blog

Posts Tagged ‘PA

Dec

The State Theatre In All Her Glory (color) 1 of 2

Categories: Photography
Tags: Architectural, architecture, Behind the Curtain, Easton, Fall, Historic, historic State Theatre, Olympus, OM-D E-M1 MkII, PA, Pennsylvania, Photo, photo workshop, Photograph, Photography, State Theatre, Vintage, Workshop

A couple of weeks ago I lead the annual “Behind the Curtain” photography workshop at the State Theatre in Easton, PA. This is always such a joy for me to photography this amazing gem. When you take the time to look at all of the incredible art in this place it’s almost overwhelming. I am breaking this post into two. This first one only includes color images and the next will be all monochromatic. All images were handheld (this is the first time I didn’t use a tripod) using the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II paired with the either the M.Zuiko ED 7-14mm f2.8 PRO, the ED 12-100mm f4.0 IS PRO or the ED 40-150mm f2.8 PRO.

Aug

Goschenhoppen Folk Festival

By Frank T. Smith 4 Comments

Categories: Photography
Tags: Dutch, Festival, Folk, Folk Festival, Goschenhoppen, Historic, History, Olympus, OM-D E-M1 MkII, PA, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Dutch, Pennsylvania German, Photo, Photograph, Photography, Preservation, Preserve, reenactments, Summer, Vintage

A little over a week ago I was introduced to this amazing festival. This is their 52nd one. I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I was totally delighted with the overall friendly nature of all of the volunteers. The people are more than glad to chat with you and explain the specifics of their reenactments. Goschenhoppen is one of the oldest continuously existing Pennsylvania German communities in America. This geographic region occupies a small corner of southeastern Pennsylvania in Montgomery County. The event is put on by The Goschenhoppen Historians, Inc. which is organized to identify, preserve and disseminate the Pennsylvania German (Pennsylvania Dutch) folk culture and history of the Goschenhoppen region. The Folk Festival is designed as an educational family event to demonstrate various home skills and trades of the Goschenhoppen area from about 1750-1880. I will definitely be putting this on my calendar for next year.

Aug

Architects of Air (Albesila)

By Frank T. Smith 2 Comments

Categories: Photography
Tags: Abstract, Architects of Air, Architectural, architecture, ArtsQuest, Bethlehem, Luminarium, MusikFest, Olympus, OM-D E-M1 MkII, PA, Photo, photo workshop, Photograph, Photography, Summer, Workshop

Musikfest may be over. But, the memories from the Architects of Air experience located at Experienceplatz are still very vivid in my mind. I had the opportunity to lead a couple of exclusive workshops for ArtsQuest. The attendees were fantastic and the visuals in this place are off the chart. All images are hand held using the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mk II paired with the M.Zuiko ED 7-14mm f2.8 PRO and the ED 8mm F1.8 Fisheye PRO.

This year’s structure was completely different from last year and was only the second time at Musikfest. This was the Architects of Air’s new 25th Anniversary Structure, a monumental inflatable structure designed to generate a sense of awe at the beauty of light and color. This latest luminarium uses a rectilinear grid of quadraxial pods, each approaching 17 feet high. Four of these colorful eggs provide the base for an imposing tree structure, while ten more eggs are opaque silver where, looking upward, you saw an inlaid geometric pattern of illuminated lines.

Jan

Glen Onoko Falls

By Frank T. Smith 3 Comments

Categories: Photography
Tags: Carbon County, Glen Onoko, Glen Onoko Falls, Hike, Hiking, Landscape, Olympus, OM-D E-M1 MkII, PA, Pennsylvania, Photo, Photograph, Photography, Snow, Winter

Last week I ventured up to the frozen Glen Onoko Falls in Carbon County, Pa. It was incredibly beautiful. But incredibly difficult. Once you went past the first set of falls, the trail turned into a sheet of ice. It would have been almost impossible had it not been for the boot chains I had.

Dec

Autumn’s Last Light

By Frank T. Smith 2 Comments

Categories: Photography
Tags: Allentown, Autumn, Fall, Flora, Landscape, Lehigh Parkway, Light, Olympus, OM-D E-M1 MkII, PA, Parkway, Photo, Photograph, Photography

I shot these images a couple days ago (before our snowstorm) on a frosty morning in the Lehigh Parkway. I suspect these may be the last ones with color until next year. All images were shot with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 MkII and the M.Zuiko ED 12-100mm f4.0 PRO lens.

Dec

Pittsburgh Architecture

By Frank T. Smith 5 Comments

Categories: Photography
Tags: Architectural, architecture, Autumn, Fall, Glass, Olympus, OM-D E-M1 MkII, PA, Pennsylvania, Photo, Photo Walk, photo workshop, Photograph, Photography, Pittsburgh, PPG, Union Trust, Workshop

A few weeks ago I was invited, on behalf of Olympus, to be a featured speaker for the annual PSA conference held this year in Pittsburgh PA. I was also asked to lead a photo walk. I had not been to Pittsburgh for quite sometime. A favorite aspect of photography for me is architecture. I wasn’t sure what to expect here. I was throughly impressed. There were gems at every turn. I look forward to going back and spending more time with these architectural marvels. All images were shot with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 MkII. The first image was taken by using the “Live Composite” setting on my camera with 4 second intervals for approximately 4 minutes at f/13.

Nov

Franklin Hills Vineyard/InVision

By Frank T. Smith 1 Comment

Categories: Photography
Tags: ArtsQuest, Autumn, Fall, Flora, Franklin Hills Vineyard, InVision, Landscape, Olympus, OM-D E-M1 MkII, PA, Photo, Photo Festival, photo workshop, Photograph, Photography, Vineyard, Wine, Winery, Workshop

A couple of weeks ago I lead a workshop to the Franklin Hills Vineyard on behalf of ArtsQuest for the InVision Photo Festival. We had near perfect conditions and a fantastic group of people. In addition to all of the great photo opportunities, we were able to sample some wonderful wine at the end of the day. All images are shot with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 MkII.

Nov

Fall’s Final Finale 2017

By Frank T. Smith 10 Comments

Categories: Photography
Tags: Autumn, Fall, Flora, Fungi, Hike, Hiking, Ice, Ice Formations, Jacobsburg State Park, Landscape, Olympus, OM-D E-M1 MkII, PA, Photo, Photograph, Photography, Reflections, Sunshine

Yesterday I hiked at Jacobsburg State Park in hopes of finding some final colors of the year. To my surprise, there were vibrant colors all over the place. Temperatures in the early morning hours were in the teens. But the sunshine made up for the chill in the air. In addition to the colors, there were ice formations, reflections, fungi and did I say sunshine! All of the following images were shot handheld with the Olympus OM-D E- M1 MkII paired with the M.Zuiko ED 12-100mm f4.0 IS PRO.

Jul

Mushroom Monday

By Frank T. Smith 3 Comments

Categories: Photography
Tags: Flora, Macro, Mushrooms, Olympus, OM-D E-M1 MkII, PA, Photo, Photograph, Photography, Summer

This summer we have seen more rain than usual. When this occurs, I always keep an eye out for the mushrooms. To give you a point of reference all the mushrooms averaged about 1 inch in height. All of these images were shot with the Olympus OM-D EM1 MkII and paired with either the 60mm f2.8 or the 30mm f3.5 macro lens.

May

Muhlenberg College Chapel

By Frank T. Smith 6 Comments

Categories: Photography
Tags: Allentown, Architectural, architecture, Black & White, Chapel, Fisheye, Gothic, Historic, M.Zuiko ED 12-100mm PRO IS, M.Zuiko ED 8mm F1.8 Fisheye PRO, Muhlenberg College, Olympus, OM-D E-M1 MkII, PA, Photo, Photograph, Photography, spring

A couple of weeks ago my friend Dave Rehrig and I decided to head over to Muhenberg College and photograph the Chapel. I have never seen it before and I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised. It had a very gothic feel and as such, I thought the images would be best viewed in a black & white. In order to capture the glass windows behind me, I used the Olympus OM-D E-M1 MkII paired with the M.Zuiko Digital ED 8mm f1.8 fisheye PRO lens. Take notice to the light fixtures. The subsequent images of the fixtures were shot with the M. Zuiko ED 12-100mm PRO IS lens in order to give me some compression with the shot.