Deciduous and Evergreen

I haven’t really gotten out for a real photo excursion for a long while.    So today, I took a drive up to Black Moshannon State Park.  I thought the amount of evergreens mixed into the forests might make for some nice photos.

Winter Bale w/Lensbaby

I borrowed a friend’s Lensbaby today.  I’ve never used one, and it was time to see what all the hype is about.

Here’s a valuable Lensbaby tip:  Try out the Lensbaby at home first.  At least learn how to focus the darn thing in the warmth of your house.   Do not, I repeat, do not wait until you are standing in a field, in the middle of an extremely windy freezing December day to try out your new toy.  It is not an optimal learning environment.

Willows Across the Lake

I just finished up the biggest waste of a week in my life.  There’s nothing like being stuck in your house with the flu.  Miserable.  I finally felt well enough to get out and take some photos.  Canoe Creek seemed a good place to check out.  Most of the leaves are down now, but as a light fog lifted this morning, these weeping willows became visible across the water.  Since they’re about the last things alive with any color, they really showed up well against the rest of the scene.

My mom once asked me, “Eric, if we dress up like animals, will you take our picture?”  I just don’t take pics of people very often.  I’m a wildlife and landscapes kind of guy.  But when I saw this little girl helping her grandma rake leaves, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work on my people photography skills.  She was really shy, and she wasn’t sure if it was OK for me to be taking her picture, no matter how much Grandma reassured her.

Deer at Canoe Creek

I took a quick afternoon drive out to Canoe Creek and on the way out of the park, this little deer was hanging around the grounds outside the main entrance.  It seems that the apple tree had dropped lots of delicious goodies.

Walking Stick

After lunch, I drove up to the Ridenour Overlook at Lake Raystown in Huntingdon.  While walking down the trail, I just happened to get a quick glance of this little guy on the ground.  My brain recognized what it was and told me to stop, but my body didn’t react fast enough.  I took a couple steps past him and when I turned around, it took a while to locate him amongst the downed twigs and leaves.  Even changing lenses for the different shots was a pain.  Just looking over to my camera bag would cause me to lose track of him.  I even piled some twigs on the ground pointing to the darned thing and still kept losing him.

I finally picked him up and put him on a limb in hopes of getting him separated from the background.  The darned thing was very frustrating to photograph.  It blends in so perfectly with the surroundings.  In most of my shots, you can’t even tell what you’re looking at.

Cucumber Falls in Autumn

Another 5 AM wakeup time.  Another 2 hour drive to Ohiopyle State Park.  But after 4 days of rain, I knew the falls would be more impressive than they were 2 weeks ago.  I was not wrong.  Much more water flowing.  Although it did make it more interesting getting around.  Nothing like jumping from wet rock to wet rock while wearing a backpack, carrying a tripod and trying not to get strangled by the camera hanging from your neck.

Deer on an Autumn Morning

I had planned to get up at 5 am again and drive to an unexplored state park to catch a sunrise this morning.  Yeah, it didn’t happen…big surprise.  I was up before sunrise, but had to settle for a quick drive to Canoe Creek for the sunrise.  The  clouds were too thick to see the sun come up, but on my way out of the park, I saw these deer grazing along the drive.  These two didn’t seem to mind my car near them.  I rolled down the window and just followed them along.  So getting out of bed later than planned put me at the right place at the right time.

Cucumber Falls

Some things happened this week that haven’t happened in a reaaaaalllllyyyy long time.  First, I went to bed at 10:00 on Wed. night.  I’m usually forcing myself to hit the sack around midnight.  And second, I was up and out of bed at 5 AM.  If you felt a slight tremor in the force on Thursday morning, that was my fault.  Ohiopyle is two hours away, so I had to get up early to get some photos before the sun got up too high.  At Cucumber Falls, once the sun comes up, light spills over the top of the falls and kills the shots.  I spent about an hour and a half at the falls wandering around shooting.  I had the place to myself, probably because nobody else is dumb enough to be out there for daybreak on a cold Pennsylvania October morning.

Heron at Take Off

As I walked into the bog at Black Moshannon State Park, this heron saw me first and took off before I was ready.  I didn’t have my camera settings right for the low morning light, so when I tried to track the bird, this is what I got.  I don’t really do abstracts, but I kinda liked this shot.