Category: Fields

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2014 Chester County Balloon Festival

Smoky Sunset Grill 130
Images taken of a smoking grill during sunset at the Chester County Balloon Festival.

I FINALLY got through the gates and found a place to park, and it feels SO good to stretch my legs!

I gathered my gear, and started up the hill.

I HOPE I can find my spot later…

As I got to the dirt road, I heard a voice call my name, and it was Brian A, a fellow local photographer in his car with his wife, and they were leaving.

We chatted for a little bit, and I headed off for my well deserved beer!

It was quit noticeable, the lack of balloons in the air, just laying on the ground like colorful shadows…

Walking to the Victory beer truck, I did see someone was taking advantage of the strong winds, by flying a very colorful kite!

Flying a colorful kite at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Flying a colorful kite at the Chester County Balloon Festival.

You might be able to notice, the long grass had just been cut, and was laying in the sun to get dry, but that did not stop the children from building hay forts in the fields!

Children playing in the drying hay at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Children playing in the drying hay at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Children playing in the drying hay at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Children playing in the drying hay at the Chester County Balloon Festival.

I finally got my beer, and quietly drank it, as I surveyed the fields and the setting sun…

My stomach and nose also told me, it was time to get something to eat, so I ventured back up the hill and into the vending area.

Images taken of a smoking grill during sunset at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Images taken of a smoking grill during sunset at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Images taken of a smoking grill during sunset at the Chester County Balloon Festival.

and of course, there were kids and parents all over the place!

Images of Parents and their Children at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Images of Parents and their Children at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Images of Parents and their Children at the Chester County Balloon Festival.

All eyes were on this man and his flying kite! – As long has his kite was flying high in the air, no balloons were taking off!

FAA Kite Man 144
Image of the FAA Kite Man, monitoring the winds at the Chester County Balloon Festival.

Eventually, one brave group decided to give a balloon raising a try!

Glowing flames at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Glowing flames at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Glowing flames at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Glowing flames at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Glowing flames at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Glowing flames at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Glowing flames at the Chester County Balloon Festival.
Glowing flames at the Chester County Balloon Festival.

As the sun faded, the temperature began to drop.

Folks began to cuddle up, as a few more balloons attempted to fill the night sky.

Cuddling up 171
A couple cuddle up during the flame glows at the Chester County Balloon Festival.

But the winds refused to die down, as the balloons began to slowly sink back to the ground, a mere shadow of what they could have been.

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Adobe Announcements Barn Blogging Bridges Chester County clouds Covered Bridges Creeks Fields HDR Lancaster County Long Exposure Nature Online Life Oxford Pastures Photo Journal Photography Projects Published Rivers Software Streams Sunsets Tone Mapping Water Weather Wildlife

Covered Bridges of the Oxford Area – the Book

Looking through Rudolph & Arthur Covered Bridge (1886)
Looking through Rudolph & Arthur Covered Bridge (1886)

I have been playing with the idea of publishing a photography book for some time, and after my experience with producing Madison’s 10th birthday gift, I decided to make a first real attempt.

So what was my first real book going to be about?

Looking back at my recent history, it only makes sense that I do something about covered bridges, and I already had the content from the presentation I did back in October 2012 for Citadel bank.

This time is going to be easier from the standpoint that I only had a limited number of pictures, and a layout with the text.

So after a couple of hours, I was able to put the following together using the simple Adobe Lightroom module, and uploading to Blurb.com.

I invite you to take a look, and let me know what you think.

Covered Bridges of the Oxford Area

With this first book done, and I’m sure that I’ll revisit at some point, I am beginning to put together some ideas on themed books.

This time, using Blurb’s SmartBook application to put together my next adventure, namely because it seems to offer far more options and controls than what is available in the built-in Adobe Lightroom module.

In the meantime, let me know what you think of the book!

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Adobe Chester County clouds Fields HDR Nature Nik Software Photo Journal Photography Tone Mapping

A Fall walk in the Peacedale Preserve

Weather Clouds 169 - Peacedale Preserve
Weather Clouds 169 - Peacedale Preserve

Some images taken during a late Fall walk in the Natural Lands Trust’s Peacedale Preserve in Chester County, PA.

There was a weather front moving through while I was there, which allowed for some very interesting cloud and lighting conditions, and several times, I was able to see some Crepuscular rays.

Weather Clouds hdr 01 – Peacedale Preserve
Weather Clouds 024 – Peacedale Preserve
Weather Clouds 169 – Peacedale Preserve

At one point during my walk, I encountered a real old-timer.

In the middle of the Preserve, there is a huge beech tree, at is 3-4 feet in diameter, and easily several hundreds of years old!

I don’t think I have ever seen a monster like this!

I was also extremely surprised with all the wooly bear caterpillar that I encountered. (Predicting Winter Weather: Woolly Bear Caterpillars)

During my walk, I had to avoid walking on over a dozen of these critters!

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Adobe Barn Chester County Digital Painting Fields Nik Software Photo Journal Photo Manipulation Photography

Barn door with corn stalks – Digital Art

Barn door with corn stalks - Digital Art
Barn door with corn stalks - Digital Art

I am still ‘new’ to the digital art/painting capabilities of Adobe Photoshop CS6, but it has been a lot of fun playing!

Earlier in the week, while out on a GPS drive, I captured the base image while shooting out the car window, and published it ‘as is’ so to speak.

A couple of days later, playing with a new processing technique, I came up with this!

Barn door with corn stalks - Digital Art
Barn door with corn stalks – Digital Art

I’m still fine tuning which images this technique works best, so come back again to see more images!

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Announcements Awards Chester County Coatesville Downingtown Featured Fields Hibernia Park Photo Journal Photography Streams

WhereandWhen 2014 Calendar Images!

Dandelion Spring (2012)
Dandelion Spring (2012)

I am happy to announce, that I just learned that two of my images have been selected for the 2014 Where & When PA Calendar!

Dandelion Spring (2012)
2014 April – WhereandWhen.com [Dandelion Spring (2012)]
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2014 April - WhereandWhen.com - [Wagontown Rd 026]
2014 April – WhereandWhen.com – [Wagontown Rd 026]
I would like to thank the great folks at WhereandWhen.com for selecting my images for the 2014 Calendar and I can’t wait to see these in print!

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