by Gregg Obst on January 2, 2010
in Photos
This is the water-powered, vertical-blade Bertolet Sawmill which was moved to the Daniel Boone Homestead site from the Oley Valley in 1972. The mill was built circa 1810. If you remember “The Walton’s” TV Show in the 1970s, they had a similar, though larger sawmill operation as the family business.
For more information on visiting the Daniel Boone Homestead visit their web site. Due to massive Pennsylvania state budget cuts which have really hit the PA museums and historical sites very hard, the homestead is open only on a limited basis and manned mostly by volunteers these days. It never ceases to amaze me how we find eight million dollars in the state budget to end a strike by Septa workers in Philadelphia but we can’t find enough money to keep our own historical places going and at the same time we tout our state to the tourists as being so rich in history.
I shot this back on 5-23-2009 as five bracketed RAW frames at 1/3rd stop variance and then combined them into an HDR and toned mapped them with Photomatix Pro to create the final product.
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by Gregg Obst on January 1, 2010
in Photos
A Great Egret flies alongside a Glossy Ibis on their trip from Sheerness Pool towards the outer brackish marsh at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge outside of Smyrna, Delaware back on 8-1-2009.
For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.
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by Gregg Obst on December 24, 2009
in Photos
I hope that you find a warm place to gather and celebrate with your family this Christmas holiday. What better place than a cabin in the snow. Merry Christmas !
This cabin is part of a tour called “Lehigh County Log Cabin Trail” which winds its way across Lehigh County and visits twenty one different log cabins. Information on the cabin trail can be found on this page.
This representative Germanic log cabin was built in ca 1739-1741 by Abraham Kirper (or Carper) on land that that was bought in 1738. Later the cabin and 294 acres were acquired by Peter Bogert whose family owned the property for five generations. In the 1930s, Robert A. Young owned the land and had some restoration done to the clapboard-sided log cabin, and in 1938 additional restoration was completed by the Allentown Parks Department with the assistance of Allentown architects John K. Heyl and William D. Miller.
The cabin is a story-and-a-half “bank” house moved to its current location from a hilltop across 24th Street. It is believed the current compass orientation of the building is rotated 180 degrees from the original orientation—perhaps to provide a view of nearby Bogert’s Covered Bridge Bridge from the cabin’s front porch. It is one of three log structures preserved in the City of Allentown’s park system (there are four within the City of Allentown). It rests in a lovely setting beside the 1841 Bogert’s Bridge† (one of the oldest remaining covered bridges in Lehigh County), in part of Allentown’s extensive park system, after being moved to its current location from a nearby hillside. Hunters Cabin contains two rooms, plus an overhead loft, and a basement.
I shot this on Christmas Eve (2009) as seven bracketed RAW frames and then combined them into an HDR with Photomatix Pro and finally, tone mapped that image before finally applying Topaz Adjust to the image in order to bring out the wood grain and stone texture on the cabin.
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by Gregg Obst on December 14, 2009
in Photos
Dexter is one of the two Brown Pelicans at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, PA. I think I spotted signs of insomnia in him when I took this shot back on 8-23-2009.
For more information on the National Aviary and how you can help support this great oasis for birds please visit www.aviary.org
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by Gregg Obst on December 13, 2009
in Photos
Adult Bald Eagle jumps from one branch to another in order to get higher and further out over the Susquehanna River so that he can keep on eye on the fish and his Eagle competitors in the area. Taken in Maryland on Saturday 12-12-2009. This shot is a lot noisier than I would have liked but the bird was mostly in shadows when he jumped.
Things were pretty slow earlier in the day and just as we started to lose the good sunlight, all hell broke lose in the Eagle community and we were witness to a dozen different Eagle battles for fish. On two occasions, right over our heads in the parking lot, a chase between Eagles over a fish ended up with neither Eagle keeping the fish and the fish almost hitting parked cars in the lot. Though there wasn’t enough light over the parking area to photograph it, these battles were still a real privilege to be able to watch.
For more information on Bald Eagles, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
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by Gregg Obst on December 11, 2009
in Photos
…And on a completely unrelated subject, here is a photo of a Cow on an Amish farm on Weavertown Road in Lancaster County.
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by Gregg Obst on December 9, 2009
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Juvenile Bald Eagle uses a banking maneuver over the Susquehanna River in Maryland on Sunday 11-29-2009.
For more information on Bald Eagles, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
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by Gregg Obst on December 5, 2009
in Photos
Today’s snow fall, the first of 2009, brought with it the opportunity to take a snowy photo of the 209 foot long Wertz Covered Bridge which spans the Tulpehocken Creek at the Berks Heritage Center just outside Reading, Pennsylvania. The bridge was built in 1867 and is the longest existing single span covered bridge in Pennsylvania.
It was a lot colder than I had anticipated. I’m sure the feeling will return to my hands any time now…
Shot as seven bracketed Raw frames with 1/3 stop variance and then combined into an HDR and then tone mapped the image with Photomatix Pro. I used OnOne Software’s PhotoTools Pro plugin suite to do the black and white conversion and then erased the bridge from the top layer, bringing out the red of the bridge to contrast against the snow and the black and white surroundings.
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by Gregg Obst on December 5, 2009
in Photos
From my rainy Saturday 10-17-2009 trip to Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park in Clifftop, West Virginia. This is the view from the bridge that crosses over the creek near the mill.
For more information on visiting the Mill and Babcock State Park, visit their web site.
I shot this in the drizzle as a single 25 second exposure with the Singh-Ray Vari-N Duo Filter on my Sigma 10-20mm. Some post processing touch up done with Topaz Adjust.
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by Gregg Obst on December 4, 2009
in Photos
Adult Bald Eagle dives down and extends its talons into the water to grab a fish for breakfast out of the Susquehanna River in Maryland on Sunday 11-29-2009. It’s not often that you park your car, walk 50 feet across the parking lot, set up your tripod with the morning’s golden sun hitting the water right in front of you and within the first minute, get a series of shots like this. But I got very lucky last Sunday. Most days don’t start (or end) like that).
For more information on Bald Eagles, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
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by Gregg Obst on December 2, 2009
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The Pool Forge Covered Bridge resides within the historic Pool Forge park in Caenarvon Township, a rural area within Lancaster County’s famous Amish countryside. Built by Levi Fink and Elias McMellen in 1859 at the cost of $1219, it spans the Conestoga Creek for 99 feet. It was also known as Yohn’s Mill Bridge. It’s design utilizes a single span, wooden, double Burr arch truss with the addition of steel hanger rods. It is painted entirely red, the traditional color of Lancaster County covered bridges on the outside. The inside of the bridge is not painted. Both approaches to the bridge are painted in red without any of the traditional white paint.
Historical records indicate that this was the place where James Buchanan met his fiance before becoming president, but she died before they could be married and he became our country’s only bachelor president.
For more information on historic Pool Forge, visit their web site.
Shot as seven bracketed Raw frames with 1/3 stop variance and then combined them into an HDR and tone mapped the image with Photomatix Pro.
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by Gregg Obst on December 1, 2009
in Photos
Juvenile Bald Eagle “Sophie” sits in a tree after eating a fish caught on the Susquehanna River in Maryland on Sunday 11-22-2009. How do we know this is “Sophie” ? Well, according to the blue band around it’s right leg which identifies this as “S04″, a New York native that was born in a nest on Goodyear Lake in Milford, New York on May 18th, 2007. She was the only surviving chick from that nest during that breeding season. Sophie was a visitor to our section of the Susquehanna last migration season too. She likes to catch fish and sit out in the open in a tree near to the water’s edge which allows ample time to photograph her.
You can see photos of Sophie as a chick when she was banded by visiting this page and then scrolling down.
For more information on Bald Eagles, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
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by Gregg Obst on November 30, 2009
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Adult Bald Eagle carries away his lunch over the Susquehanna River in Maryland on Sunday 11-29-2009. I could not quite make out the tune the fish was whistling as he went by but it sounded vaguely like “fly me to the moon”.
For more information on Bald Eagles, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
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by Gregg Obst on November 29, 2009
in Photos
Adult Bald Eagle experiences failure during his first fishing attempt of the day on the Susquehanna River in Maryland on Sunday 11-22-2009. The fish, on the other hand, lived to swim another day and is probably thinking to himself…”what the hell was that ?!?!?!?!“.
For more information on Bald Eagles, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
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by Gregg Obst on November 23, 2009
in Photos
Adult Bald Eagle sits on a perch over the Susquehanna River in Maryland on Sunday 11-22-2009. I think he sat on this Sycamore branch for 1 1/2 hours and only took off after we all left in pursuit of other Eagle photographic opportunities further down stream.
For more information on Bald Eagles, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
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