Summer | Frank's Photography Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Summer

Aug

Goschenhoppen Folk Festival

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.

Jul

Lemon Drinka

By Frank T. Smith 4 Comments

Categories: Photography
Tags: Black & White, Black and White, Dutch, Festival, Folk, Historic, Kutztown, Kutztown Folk Festival, Olympus, PEN, PEN-F, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Dutch, Photo, Photograph, Photography, Summer

Every year I try to make the pilgrimage to the annual Kutztown Folk Festival. It is the oldest continuously operated folklife festival in America. This nine-day event draws visitors from all over the world. The festival provides insight into the traditions of the Pennsylvania Dutch and their fascinating way of life. I try to keep a low profile and thought the small but mighty Olympus PEN-F would be my camera of choice for this visit. It clearly did not disappoint. I used the prime M.Zuiko 17mm f1.8 lens for all of the images.

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.

Sep

Missouri State Penitentiary

By Frank T. Smith 6 Comments

I recently had the pleasure to lead a workshop with Creve Coure Camera which was sponsored by Olympus at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson, MO. The following images were taken during the workshop. This was my first experience at this location. I have photographed the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia many times, so I was somewhat familiar with what to expect. There were many similarities, but there were equally as many differences. One of the differences was that this facility had it’s own gas chamber. I must admit, I had a very eerie feeling in here. The prison operated from 1836 – 2004. Many of the images were processed in-camera with a monochromatic filter and a couple of them in HDR. The equipment I used was the Olympus PEN-F paired with the M.Zuiko ED 8mm F1.8 Fisheye PRO & the OM-D E-M5 MkII paired with the M.Zuiko ED 7-14mm f2.8 PRO (an amazing combination).

Welcome to the Gas Chamber

Aug

Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

By Frank T. Smith Closed

A few weeks ago I did a couple photo-walks & presentations for Creve Coure Camera in St. Louis. The event was sponsored by Olympus. The first photo-walk was at the Cathedral Basilica. The following images are from the day’s shoot. I have traveled a lot domestically/overseas and have photographed my share of Cathedral/Churches and this one is at the very top of the list, as far as beauty and wow factor. The cathedral was built over a 100 years ago and was designated a basilica in 1997 by Pope John Paul II.

Aug

MacArthur Road Car Show

By Frank T. Smith Closed

Categories: Photography
Tags: Car, Car Show, Classic, classic car, Dramatic, Dramatic Tone, MacArthur, Olympus, OM-D E-M5 MkII, PA, Photo, Photograph, Photography, SOOC, Summer, Vintage

I always enjoy photographing car shows and this weekend was no exception. I don’t pretend to know a lot about cars, but I do enjoy capturing their various graphic elements. My friend Dave and I had shot this event a couple of years ago and thought it would be fun to check it out again. Many of these images were straight out of the camera using using the Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII “Dramatic Tone” filter. Most of these images were shot with one of my favorite lenses, the M.Zuiko ED 7-14mm f2.8 PRO.