by Gregg Obst on May 14, 2009
in Photos
I found this barn on a farm that was clearly not used in many, many years. There were for sale signs and no trespassing signs all over the place. It reminded me of the kind of place that would be featured in a Scooby Doo cartoon. The creepy ghost farmer who terrorized the town kids but in the end was revealed to be Mr. Johnson, the school janitor who was seeking revenge for years of taunting and teasing. Yeah, you know the type of place ;–)
I shot this as five RAW bracketed frames then converted it to an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image using Photomatix Pro.
Tagged as:
HDR,
landscape,
Photos
by Gregg Obst on May 11, 2009
in Photos
While driving around in the Lancaster County farmland looking for covered bridges to photograph, I happened across this old cabin across the street from an Amish farmhouse. It looks like it probably dates back to the early 1800s based upon similar structures in the area that i know are from that time period. It is in remarkable shape but doesn’t appear to be used any more. It had great, old wood textures and stone that made you think immediately, “they just don’t build them like that any more”.
I shot this as five RAW bracketed frames then converted it to an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image using Photomatix Pro. I then blended several different textures and tweaked things a bit in Photoshop CS4 to create this moody stormy piece.
You can always tell just how bad my day at work has been when I come home and feel the need to create something like this that has been swimming around in my head for a while, just waiting for the right photographic subject to come along. Photography and artistic endeavors can be a great escape from the insanity of your everyday job.
Tagged as:
HDR,
landscape,
Photos,
Textured
by Gregg Obst on May 2, 2009
in Photos
This was the first of six covered bridges I shot on Saturday 5-2-2009 in Lancaster County, PA. The Shearer’s Covered Bridge sits in the Veteran’s Memorial Park in Manheim, PA. It’s single span, wooden, double Burr arch trusses design spans the Big Chiques Creek for a length of 86 feet. The bridge was built in 1847 by Jacob Clare. It was rebuilt in 1855 at it’s original location and stayed there until it was moved in 1971 to its present location in the Park. It’s the only covered bridge in Lancaster County that is painted entirely red both inside and out and it is one of only three county bridges featuring horizontal side boards.
The bridge is not open to vehicular traffic but gets pretty heavy pedestrian and bicycle traffic. There is a picnic pavilion within 100 feet of the bridge and walking trails on both sides of the creek offer a very peaceful setting for nature observation and taking in the wild flowers abundant in the area. The bridge had at least four quality angles to shoot it from unlike several of the other bridges I experienced today.
The WGCB # for this bridge is 38-36-31. Over the years the bridge has also been known by the names Kaufmann’s Distillery Bridge, Whiskey Distillery Bridge and Big Chickies 1 Bridge.
A covered bridge tour that includes this bridge is included on the maps and directions found on this page.
Processed as an HDR with Photomatix Pro from five RAW bracketed frames and touched up a bit with Topaz Adjust Plugin for Photoshop CS4 to bring out some of the weathered tones in the wood.
Tagged as:
Covered-Bridges,
landscape,
Photos
by Gregg Obst on April 25, 2009
in Photos
I don’t think I’ve ever actually shot the sunset before. I’ll have to work on fixing that sun flare issue but I still sort of like how this came out.
Lake Ontelaunee is a 1,082 acre reservoir that provides much of the drinking water for the city of Reading Pennsylvania. It’s a favorite fishing spot year round and is surrounded by state game lands and farms. The lake is formed behind the Ontelaunee Dam and was created in 1926.
Tagged as:
landscape,
Photos,
sunset
by Gregg Obst on March 29, 2009
in Photos
So I spent the day at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in the small Amish farming community of Strasburg on Sunday 3-29-2009. The museum normally closes at 5:00 PM on a Sunday but they announced around 4:30 that they were “closing immediately !”, the rest of the announcement was a little muffled so I couldn’t understand why. When I exited through the lobby, I saw the ticket taker running into the museum’s gift shop yelling that they had to close and empty the building because there was a tornado warning !
I’ve lived through several tornadoes but never had the chance to photograph one. Just then a little voice went off in my head asking “what would a famous photojournalist like Joe McNally do in this situation ?” Yeah, so you can picture me out in the museum parking lot trying on different lenses to pick out the most appropriate one for the shots I wanted. Luckily, I had my Cokin Pro Z filter holder and filter set with me and my 10-20mm Sigma lens was already on the camera body since it was my primary lens for shooting in the museum. Next was to pick an appropriate spot. I drove up the road about half a mile until I found a strip mall with a parking lot. It afforded good views over the adjacent farmland and I could pretty much get 360 degree views of the forming storm. I shot up until the 1/2 inch hail started to fall and then I sat in the car waiting to see if anything else would develop. It never did become a tornado but it came pretty darn close. I got the shots I wanted and nobody got hurt so I guess there is a happy ending.
Shot with my D300 mounted on a good, sturdy Gitzo tripod. Captured as five bracketed frames using a Sigma 10-20mm lens with Cokin Pro Z filter holder and Cokin Pro Z neutral density filter (ND4) and a Cokin Pro Z Graduated Tobacco Filter (T2) to bring out the ominousness (is that even a word ?) of the clouds. Processed in Photomatix Pro to create an HDR from the five bracketed frames.
Tagged as:
landscape,
Photos,
Weather
by Gregg Obst on March 10, 2009
in Photos
“In the streets and in society I am almost invariably
cheap and dissipated, my life is unspeakably mean.
No amount of gold or respectability would in the least
redeem it,– dining with the Governor or a member of Congress!!
But alone in the distant woods or fields,
in unpretending sprout-lands or pastures tracked by rabbits,
even in a bleak and, to most, cheerless day, like this,
when a villager would be thinking of his inn,
I come to myself, I once more feel myself grandly related,
and that cold and solitude are friends of mine.
I suppose that this value, in my case, is equivalent
to what others get by churchgoing and prayer.
I come home to my solitary woodland walk as the homesick go home.
I thus dispose of the superfluous and see things as they are,
grand and beautiful. I have told many that I walk every day
about half the daylight, but I think they do not believe it.
I wish to get the Concord, the Massachusetts, the America,
out of my head and be sane a part of every day.”
– Henry David Thoreau. From the Journal (January 7, 1857)
One of several boardwalks that make up a part of the trail system of the Great Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in northern New Jersey. A great place for a walk in the woods and quiet time to reflect on life.
For more information on the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/greatswamp/.
Processed with Topaz Adjust plugin “Spicify” for Photoshop CS-4 for that “HDR without the HDR” look.
Tagged as:
Great-Swamp-NWR,
landscape,
Photos
by Gregg Obst on January 30, 2009
in Photos
“Distlefink” sculpture by sculptor Ramon Lago. The Distlefink is the good luck bird of the Pennsylvania Germans. It actually is a stylized version of the goldfinch. The goldfinch eats thistle seed and uses thistle down for its nest and was called a thistlefinch from which comes the Pennsylvania Dutch “Distlefink”. Distlefink is often seen on traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Signs and is a symbol of good luck and happiness.
I took this on Saturday afternoon 1-24-2009. Processed as a single RAW image through Photomatix Pro to make an HDR.
Tagged as:
landscape,
Photos,
Sculpture
by Gregg Obst on January 24, 2009
in Photos
This is Wert’z Bridge which, at 204 feet in length, is the longest existing single span covered bridge in Pennsylvania. The bridge was built in 1867 and crosses the Tulpehocken Creek. It sits within the Grings Mill recreation area not far from Reading Airport. The bridge is closed to vehicular traffic.
I took this on Saturday afternoon 1-24-2009. Processed as a single RAW image through Photomatix Pro to make an HDR.
Tagged as:
Covered-Bridges,
landscape,
Photos
by Gregg Obst on January 5, 2009
in Photos
This is a look up through the center of the famous William Penn Memorial Fire Tower which stands along side the Skyline Drive and over looks the City of Reading Pennsylvania at a height of 120 feet and towering 950 feet above the city.
Built in 1939, the tower is owned by the City of Reading. The Pa Bureau of Forestry stopped using the tower in 1988 citing safety concerns because of the deteriorating condition of the inside of the tower and the 120 steel steps. A significant renovation project has taken place over the years and the stairs were all replaced by the same company that initially installed them back in 1939. Some of the before and after photos of the internal structure renovations can be found here http://www.pagodaskyline.org/tower/damage2.html. More information on the tower can be found on this web site www.pagodaskyline.org/tower.
The structure is open for the public the third Saturday of each month but it was also open this past Sunday when I ventured up there. You can climb to the top and take in the fantastic 30 mile 360 degree view but you better be in shape. That’s one steep climb and unless you are in top physical shape, it will kick your ass as it did mine.
Tagged as:
landscape,
Photos
by Gregg Obst on January 4, 2009
in Photos
went and shot some landscape stuff today and one of my subjects was covered bridges. I live in an area of the country blessed with hundreds of covered bridges, some large, some small.
This is the Kutz Mill covered bridge that spans 106 feet across the Saucony Creek in Greenwich Township northwest of Kutztown in Berks County. It was built in 1854.
Tagged as:
landscape,
Photos
by Gregg Obst on January 4, 2009
in Photos
I hadn’t been up to Skyline Drive overlooking the City of Reading in probably twenty years so I decided to go on up today and shoot the Fire Tower and the famous Pagoda. The renovations to the Pagoda are almost complete and so you still see some construction artifacts in this shot unfortunately.
For a background on the Pagoda, how it came to be and it’s history over the years, check this page out : http://www.pagodaskyline.org/pagoda/
I bracketed five RAW frames for this shot and HDR’ed them with Photomatix Pro to bring out the dramatic and ominous clouds. I like “ominous” :–D
Tagged as:
landscape,
Photos
