I recently took a short trip to Lancaster, PA. The area is beautiful rolling farmland, worthy of a much longer visit than I gave it. But in the day I was there, I managed to take some great photographs.
This is the heart of Amish country, with farms growing corn, tobacco and soy, with plenty of grasslands (not sure if they are unfarmed or just fallow fields).
But even just being there for a day, I took some great photos. And a lightly clouded sky made for some outstanding black and white images. I still would love to head back for a longer trip one day and do some more exploring.
Many of the photos below were taken from a trip on the Strasburg railroad, which gives some great vantage points as you travel through the country side.
Clicking on most images will make them larger.
Typical farm scene
Rolling hills of grass and crops
Clouds make the scene - farmlands extending all the way to the hills.
This year I decided to extend my PA trip to Allentown for DCI East to include a side trip to the Strasburg Railroad.
The Strasburg railroad is the oldest continuously operated railroad charter in the US. Today' it's a tourist railroad running several steam trains per day on a short 45 minute excursion trip (an out and back ride - 4.5 miles). The locomotives and various passenger cars are all historic equipment, restored to running condition. Trains run hourly, and there are plenty of things to do on site for the kids. There are occasional special trains, like a Wine and Cheese special, or a Day Out with Thomas. (They also do limited freight service....) The rail cars range from an open air coach (great for photos!) to an air conditioned parlor car.
Across the street is the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, a large collection of restored equipment, cars and locomotives, preserved in an indoor climate controlled environment. It's easy to take in both attractions on the same day (at a discounted price).
When I travel for any reason I always do a little research to see if there are any good railfanning spots in the area. You never know if you're near a hotspot of how much rail traffic might be in the area.
So I'm planning on our annual trip to Allentown for the DCI East Coast finals. Having driven around Allentown for Drum Corps, I did notice lots of tracks in the area, but had no clue what traffic went where, or where some good spots are. Plus, not everyone on the trip is a railroad fan. (OK, none of them are). But I didn't want them to stop me.
The park
Searching the internet I found a place in Macungie, PA - a park dedicated for railfanning! I found an article that details the planting of the Flower Park adjacent to the tracks, but only this fellow railfan's article on the construction of the station-like pavilion that sits next to the flower park and the tracks.
The only remnant of the original train station is a crumbling curb which was the station platform back in the day... However, the flower park is quite nice, and worth walking through while waiting for trains. Even during my August visit the park was in full bloom - the park is certainly well cared for.
Entrance to the flower park off of the main street.
Tracks are behind the white fence, and the pavilion is off photo to the right.
Macungie station/pavilion.
Flower park on the left. Tracks on the right. Grade crossing near the van in o the left.
As a railfan, it was nice to see a place for us. Railfanning is often pulling your car to the side of the road or some other out of the way place near tracks where you can see trains and not trespass on railroad or private property. Here the pavilion is adjacent to parking, provides shelter from the sun and rain, and has plenty of seating! When I was there Saturday I also ran into some locals there to train spot as well - everyone was very friendly!
But to the trains...
An Eastbound autorack train at the crossing
The action was pretty good at the location. I was there on a Friday afternoon and Saturday late morning, and saw many trains bother times. Flow isn't consistent - 4 trains in one hour, then nothing the next hour sometimes. There were a lot of trains Saturday morning as (we assumed) they were clearing the yard and sending all the trains out...
A Westbound mixed freight. I'll see this same locomotive again the next day.
If you don't have a scanner, it's still easy to spot when trains are approaching. Eastbound trains go over 2 other grade crossings before reaching Macungie, so if you keep your ears open you can hear the whistle for those crossings and be ready.
Westbound trains have no grade crossings, but looking west there is an approach-list signal, so when that turns green something is most likely on it's way. There's also a good sight line both east west, so you can just keep your eyes open. but trains come through at a good clip, so once you can see a train, it'll be on you within 30-odd seconds.
Looking East (left) and West (right) from Macungie station
If you're ever in the area, I encourage you to visit Macungie. The railfan park is a great resource. There's a convenience store across the street. If you're there on the weekend there may be other events going on in the town (there was a giant flea market and antique car show the weekend I was there). And, if you're lucky, you'll run into some other railfans there!
Some young kids (with Mom) showed up to railfan, and were rewarded with a wave by the engineer.
Video
While snapping photos with the SLR, I propped up the iPhone for some video. A compendium is below.
This past June was the 2017 South End Garden Tour - an event to raise money for the Community Gardens in greater Boston. I was asked to take some photos at Watson Park, and also took photos at Berkeley Community Garden, where the tour started.
While I took some good photos for the tour, I also snapped a number of flower photos along the way. Not only did my 'snaps' come out quite good, but the Clematis are amazing in Black and White!! I definitely want to share these.
Watson Park prepares for guests with Lemonade/Limeade and a basket of fresh cookies
There was plenty of whimsy to be found in the gardens, as each gardener personalizes their space, giving each garden plot its own style..
Being June, there were an abundance of flowers in bloom in the garden. While all were wonderful, many of the purple blooms had great color - beautiful hues of purple along side the greenest of greens.
It had rained the night before, leaving droplets on all the flowers, and making the colors a bit brighter. There was also a heavy fog over the city, giving me nice even light with few shadows.
The clematis proved to be even more exciting in Black & White. The many purple hues look like veins coursing through the petals.
And the great thing about Black & White - sometimes even your mistakes end up looking great...
Thanks for visiting!
A gallery of all artistic Photos from the garden tour can be found in this Flickr album.
You can see more photos of the tour itself on these Berkeley and Watson Park facebook albums.
All involved in this tour are non-profits - if you are interested in visiting, joining or donating any of the organizations shown here, please visit their respective web pages:
Was great to meet everyone - some faces from last meet, and some new folks. Even people who were not with us - we just assumed anyone with a tripod was with our event. :)
Rick was taking some model shots
Folks staking their spots for the sunset.
Ambient light, ISO 8K. Love my Nikon 750. :)
We even had a few brides at the pier for their wedding photographs
We had an amazing sunset, and some great shots were taken by all.
Sun setting over the North End/Charlestown. Zakim bridge on the left.
Sunset from the pier, with a non-photographer enjoying the view.
But there are only so many Boston sunset photos you can take. I spent some additional time taking other photos of the area.
Local art
Something fishy on top of a local marina
A container ship docked in South Boston
Containers being unloaded at Conley terminal
Various sailing craft out on the harbour
Red sails make this schooner look more like a junk out of place
And some really big ships, as vehicle carrier Liberty made it's way through the harbour to Subaru pier in Charlestown on the Mystic. Not sure the sailboat could claim the right of way when you have a ship that can't stop on a dime.
A vehicle carrier arrives in Boston, big enough to block half the skyline
Even an abandoned railroad tunnel, one of the two portals from the old Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn railroad. (South portal - I couldn't get to the open north portal on this trip...)
BRB&L old South portal
Many photos also lended themselves to Black & White conversion. I enjoy using B&W to show the viewer more about a photograph, emphasizing mood and structure and not relying on color alone to carry the image.
B&W can make buildings stand out
Custom house and surrounding buildings
or turn a cityscape into a mood shot. The sunset/twilight sky lighted the buildings up just enough you can tell them apart, but it was dark enough to for the office lights to show up.
Boston Skyline
Dockside warehouse shut down for the night with a few single lights providing security - and some interesting neon artwork....
All's quiet after dark
Finally, what was once a lively promenade during the day becomes eerily quiet after the sun went down (and a chilly breeze came up).
An empty promenade
It was a great night, and I look forward to the next 617 event. And a plug to D'parma, where we stopped for a bite after the shoot for some amazing Italian food. for a great dinner afterwards. Perhaps that's why 617 heads to Eastie so often. :-)
This Christmas I was able to continue the tradition of giving my young cousin a jewelry box as a Christmas gift. As usual, the requirement was for it to be something unique that you wouldn't find anywhere else. That usually brings me to flea markets...
It turns out August was a good month. A new dealer showed up at the open market and had something interesting that I just had to have. A beautiful metal box on legs with a rose on it. Of course it needed some TLC, but I'd never seen anything similar before. Sold! Renaissance
Box in it's original condition
This one would definitely need some elbow grease.
Some internet searching identified this as a casket style jewelry box. The inside of these boxes - rather than being lined along the edges - is puffy like a pillow (or a casket) on the inside. I was able to use one web site to date this piece to the 1920's. The inside is a pastel rather than a dark or red color - and the silver exterior was all tarnished off (They didn't learn to electroplate better until the 40's - so if you find a shiny one, it's a newer copy...)
Box before cleaning - with the good camera and a nice background
Even though this needed some work, the detail was amazing.
But hard work was ahead of me. I have to again thank Ann of the NBSS Jewelry program for helping me out for the second year in a row. For the second year in a row I brought a jewelry box to the NBSS open house to get some advice on how to restore the piece. While last years box was cleaned with Brasso and NevrDull, this year I was introduced to Rouge Cloth for polishing.
Even before cleaning, the detail was still a highlight of the piece
And polish I did. As you can tell this piece had lots of nooks and crannies, so a small section each night. The detail took a lot of time. I did sneak a little NevrDull and tooth pick into some corners I just couldn't get into with the cloth. But not getting every little spot turned out to be nice - there's enough black here and there to bring out the design.
The finished product, polished, sealed, and ready for delivery
The 'unclean-able' black that remains adds character and helps emphasize the design
The top detail looks quite different after a good cleaning.
The interior needed some work as well. Someone tried to repair the interior lining with regular white glue. ugh. Who would do that. Luckily, it was regular white glue. A little dab of water and began to soften. So another few nights to soften some flue, then gently tweezer it out without damaging the lining....
I didn't polish the bottom much - I wanted to keep that in something of an original state to see where I started. There was some ID on the bottom - the initial JB and the number 1187. Probably leads back to the manufacturer, but I've found nothing on line to help me...
The bottom of the piece. Identification marks?
As you can see, the finished product came out amazing. Sealed with some Renaissance wax, I hope it stays in good condition for years to come.
Interior of the box, with the 'casket' like puffy padding.
Safely in the hands of the new owner. I think she likes. :)
You can see a few more Jewelry Box photos in my Flickr Album.
Rolling hills of grass and crops
