I captured these images during a fall walk along the North West trails of Marsh Creek State Park in Chester County, PA.
These images share some of the views during my 5+ mile walk, and thankfully, the there was no real rain to speak of during my outing.
Once again, the storm clouds added some drama to the scenes.
Hope you enjoy!
[contentblock id=1]
Here is a little something for this weeks “Manipulation Monday”, which is a combination of (3) images taken here in Downingtown earlier in the summer.
On a technical side, the (3) 16-bit RAW images where combined in Photoshop CS6, on my new computer, which did not even flinch when dealing with the 500MB file!
In monitoring the scratch disk space, it was bizarre for me to see that I still had 10GBs of free space available!
Guess I’m going to have to work on that…
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the image!
[contentblock id=1]
I started posting on Facebook, Flickr, Google+ and Twitter a while ago, so everyone knew it was coming…
Last year, in early May, there was a dense cloud cover over the whole area, but the small group of us, still managed to have some fun with night-time photography.
Back in April, we gathered for the Lyrid meteor shower, but did not see anything with the naked eye, but did manage to do a few light drawings!
Early in the week, the weather reports suggested that once again the Chester County area was going to have clouds, and as Sunday approached, watching the reports, I was skeptical.
By Sunday afternoon, I started to see posts from folks wondering when and where to meet, and it was agreed to meet at the usual location, the Boat Launch side of Marsh Creek.
All afternoon, I was looking at the sky, and by 7:45pm, I left the house.
While I drove along Creek Rd (282) heading north, I could peek through the trees, and began to think that our atmospheric luck was beginning to change.
As I turned right on N Reeds Rd, and looked over my shoulder into the horse field, I was greeted with this –
I continued down the park road, and turned into the front parking lot,nearest to the lake, and was looking for tripods.
Passing the first group, I did not see anyone that I knew, and continuing on until I thought I recognized a truck, and then I saw a friendly wave.
After parking, I got out of the car, walking over to Dan and Brian, shaking their hands in greetings.
We chit chatted as I unpacked and setup.
It did look like a good night!
Not perfect, but it will do, and for the next two hours, I had some fun with the event!
I knew I could not stay out late, and said my ‘goodbyes’, and headed home.
While driving back along Creek Rd, the brightness of the full moon pierced the leaves of the trees, making me think of a quick picture to end the night.
Eventually, I found myself in the small parking lot across the street from the new Minquas Fire Company Station House.
I was about 5 minutes late, but what are you going to do…
From here, I headed home…
[contentblock id=1]
Facebook Profile picture for Minquas Fire Company!
I have always enjoying looking up into the night-time sky, and following the rhythms of our solar system is something I follow daily online.
Lately, I have been keeping my eye on the rare alignment of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury in the west-northwest about 30 minutes after sunset. The next time this will happen, is in 2026.
Being Friday night, I had to go out and try to see this!
The whole week has been hotter than normal for this time of year, and I hoped the cover of night would help.
The dam parking lot had two other cars when I arrived, and as I unpacked, a jogger going downhill, turned and entered the park.
Because of the heat and humidity, I packed my equipped vest into the daypack, and threw it over my shoulder, along with my camera and tripod, and headed into the park.
Heading down the hill, it got darker because of the overhanging trees and leaves, but the light grey colored maintenance road made it easier to follow with the ambient light.
When I got to the opening at the bottom of the dam, and I could see I was a little late in getting there, but I still had time.
I took the steep dirt path through the tall grass to the south-eastern corner area of the lake. The ‘flea and tick season’ phrase kept repeating itself in my head.
I finally reached the dirt road at the top, panting heavily and thinking that I should have brought along a second water bottle, while the jogger I had seen earlier, passed by me, and off into the increasing darkness.
Once setup, I could see that most of the sky was clear, but there was a thin bands of clouds, hovering in the distance, just above the treetops, in the northwest sky, right where my compass was aimed at 300°.
I was a little bummed, but as the 30 minute mark began to approach, I did see a bright spot right where it should be, and not moving. Could this be one of the planets?
I took numerous pictures of the sunset, and rising ‘planet’, and then started to focus my attention on the various fishing boats with lights, motoring silent around the lake.
As one boat crossed in front of me, I heard –
“You can not take his picture. He is in the witness relocation program.”
Followed by chuckles from the boat.
Responding back, with a smiling tone, I said that my camera did not have the resolution, and that they were going to fast.
Little do they know… Tee hee…
I also followed the various airplanes crossing my vision. It did not seem like a very busy night, especially compared to other times I have stood in the boating parking lot, staring up into the night sky on other photography expeditions.
As 9:30 approached, and fending off the mosquitoes was becoming impossible, I packed up, crossing over the rest of the dam, turning sharply to my left, and down the diagonal road.
Walking next to the marshy area, I saw fireflies signaling their presence, and at the bottom, I could see that I was going to need my headlamp, as I started back into the darker section of the road. I had not been here before at night, so I did not know what I might encounter.
When the light flashed on, I was greeted by a thin fog that reflexed back the bright light, making it more difficult to see. I turned the lamp down, be it did not help. Maybe next time, I’ll get the headlamp with multi-colors.
Finally, I reached the brown swinging gate at the top of the trail, and headed into the parking lot, where I threw my gear into the car, and headed home.
Note to Self – Next time, bring two water bottles and bug spray…
[contentblock id=1]
After processing several series of images, it seems that I might have ‘caught’ Venus and Jupiter in my captures, with Jupiter being just too faint to see with the naked eye.
We’ll try again in 2026!
During the past several CCPaPhoto meetups, one of the more common questions has been –
Where is it legal for Astronomy and Photography types allowed to group during the night?
I finally sent an email to “PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources” asking…
A couple of days later, I got the following back –
“The park manager said that basically any approved parking lot can be used at night – the Dorlan Mill lot, the west side lot, or the Chalfant Rd. lot. Just make sure that no one is parking on the grass, or blocking a gate!”
which is great news, especially with the Summer months coming up!
[contentblock id=1]