The past two nights, we had our first snow falls of 2011.
It was nothing major, about 3″-4″, enough to give the ground a good covering, and then some.
I was not able to go out Friday, but after running Family errands all Saturday, I finally got some time at the end of the day!
Grabbing my gear, and knowing that I did not have much light left, I jumped in my car, and headed to the little stream area off of Norwood Road in Downingtown.
Having driven up and down this road thousands of times, I knew of a small little parking area, about mid-way down the road. After parking, I realized that it also seemed to be an entrance to an ancient access road.
Snow Stream hdr 08
Now I was ready to go! I through my camera bag and tripod over my shoulders, and headed slight back out the road, and into the woods.
Having never walked this area before, it was funny breaking new territory with the fresh snow, but finding trails was very difficult.
Eventually, I did find two sets of prints in the snow: boots and paws, and by the looks of the paw prints, that canine was having allot fun!
I had to cross the stream, back and forth several times, scouting and shooting with each adventure, and I was capturing everything in multi-exposure HDR.
It was getting colder by the minute, and I was not collapsing my tripod with each shoot, which on several occasions, also doubled as a nice balancing rod!
Snow Stream hdr 13
Slowly, I moved up stream, finding many wonderful shoots, and taking in the beauty of the moment.
After about an hour, the light was getting too low and so was the temperature.
I crawled back up to Norwood road, startling homeowner across the street, shoving their driveway, as I broke through the trees.
It took me a few more minutes to get back to the car, and another seemingly successful outing.
– Andrew
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Update
May 31, 2011 – With the Winter memories slowly fading away, I finally got a chance to revisit Norwood Road Creek with my son, Logan, for an afternoon walk in the cold water!
It was a cold early morning with a steady wind blowing across the area, but the night sky was crisp and cloud free!
While waiting for the event to start, I was reading various Facebook posts from friends talking about how the clouds in their area where making in nearly impossible to see the moon.
Finally, at about 1am, I packed up my car with my camera bag, tripod and extra clothing, and set off to my secret location.
Driving to my location was very easy, and I was surprised not to see many people out looking into the sky.
After getting to “my” location, and setting up, I realized, “my shoot” was not going to happen with the event occurring nearly straight over head.
Oh well, I was going to get some picture no matter what.
What really surprised me was how bright the moon was!
I did take a few early shoots from “my secret location”, but then packed up and headed back home because the wind was cutting right through me.
At home, I setup again, but used the garage to block some of the wind, and I was able to go inside to warm up a little between captures, and have a beer!
Initially, I was able to shoot at ISO100 at 1/15-1/80 in the ƒ8-11 range, but by the full eclipse, I had to push the CCD sensory speed up to ISO1600, and focusing was becoming very difficult.
By 3am, I packed up for the morning, and went inside.
I was too tired to download my images, and went to bed.
After a night to recover, I finally transferred my 150+ images my computer, and used Adobe Lightroom to sort though all of them.
Even with a tripod, I was able to notice, the wind moved the camera just enough to cause many rejects.
I ended up shooting a 50:1 ratio, which is not very good, but if I had been using traditional film, I would have gone broke with processing charges!
Yeah Digital!
I did spend some time looking on Flickr to see what others had captured before I created my final composite, and finally posted everything to my “2010 Winter Solstice – Lunar Eclipse” Flickr set.
Yesterday was the Annual Downingtown Good Neighbor Christmas Parade, and once again, it appeared to be a big success!
The weather was definitely warmer than last year, with the temperatures in the low 40s, and mostly overcast. (Several members from the Flickr groups I belong to, also expressed delight with the warm weather!)
Madison and I were the only ones from our family that were able to go. Logan was coughing way too much for Mom to allow him to stand around outside. (Our whole family, plus many other folks I know, have been fighting this dreadful lingering cold…)
We headed downtown around 2:15pm, with the thought of trying to avoid the hassle of trying to find parking, and to get a good viewing spot.
As we got closer, there did not appear to be much of a crowd, which made parking a breeze.
We walked from our spot at the Downing Center lot, and headed over to the center of town.
As we arrived, there were some people already there, with unfolded chairs and blankets, but not as many as I would have expected with the parade starting so soon.
We decided to walk around, and ended by stopping into the Minquas Fire House, where the Christmas Committee was hosting an Open House with Cookies and Hot Drinks.
After a few minutes of warming up inside, and some cookies, we talked back down town, and eventually staked our claim in a little spot near the Rt. 322 intersection, almost the same spot as last year.
As we waited and watched, we noticed a group of parents and kids gathering to the right of us, in front of the Coffee Cup, getting ready to perform.
As the instructors started to move the littlest members onto the street and into position, things started to get a little strange.
To the left of us, you could see that the police had already stopped the Rt. 322 traffic from turning on to the main parade route, but several Township vehicles and Police cars were still driving up and down Rt. 30.
At one point, a fast moving township pickup truck seemed as if it was going to run right into the little performers sitting in the street!
Needless to say, the spectators were getting a little agitated with what they were seeing, causing one parent from across to street to yell out: “Guess they did not get the memo!”.
Leaping over the Streets (007)
The little dancers were easily cleared from the street without problems, and one of the adults from the Studio, did walk down the street, and confront an Official to confirm that it was okay to continue, and she was assured that is was.
Several minutes later, another unmarked gray police car drove back down the street, causing the kids to once again to scamper of the street, sparking an even more satirical comment “One more time!” from the same parent as earlier.
Getting a better view (047)
Finally, the Studio was able to continue without incident, and thrilled the crowd with their various dance routines.
On several occasions, with the music playing and the dancers jumping and spinning, children from the crowd entered the street and joined the performing Dancers.
As the performances continued, proud parents and children moved to the street to get a better view of the action, including one child, who seemed to just want to take a nap!
After about 30 minutes, the whole Troop gathered on the street to finish their performance.
The Finally – All hands on Deck! (053)
Now it was time for the Main Event!
The Start of the 2010 Parade! (058)
The celebration of the Holidays, is to look back to the past…
Old Fashion Steam Fire truck (142)
as well as what we have today…
Some of Downingtown’s Fire Trucks (119)
as well as trying to remember the innocent’s of youth…
“Hi There!” (072)
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“Look at that!!” (100)
and good food! (Think these pretzels are big enough??)
“I know I can finish this…” (039)
and our animal friends…
Apologies to the Commissioner! (065)
as well as the music of the season…
One of Santa’s musicians (080)
and the array of colors!
The Season of Colors (077)
or the First Family of the Holiday’s, that help to bring it all together!
Santa and Mrs. Claus (155)
Happy Holidays to all!
Additional Images of this Event can be found on Flickr
Another “trick”, when coming from the Outside in, put the camera in a plastic bag while still outside, and then slowly introduce the camera to the indoors!
Also, there does seem to be a debate about keeping the camera in your coat… Personally, I am against this, because 1) You body heat is going to make for a larger extreme when you take it out; 2) Your body still sweats, adding moisture to the situation…
Also, your battery life may NOT be as long, so have extras, just in case!
As we continued with our Flickr-mail exchanges, and as I started to investigate her Profile and Links, I found out that Kim also runs the “365 Things to do in Chester County” on Facebook, which I have been a Fan of for a long time, and have used the suggestions to figure out stuff to do with the kids!
Kim and I agreed to talk more after the Holidays, but hopefully, sometime soon, you will read about my suggestions of what to do!
