Category: Chester County

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Chester County Covered Bridges Filters HDR Long Exposure Nature Photo Journal Photography Rivers Streams Water

Looking for water

120727 Rapps Covered Bridge hdr 18
Rapps Covered Bridge hdr 18 - Looking Upstream

It has been very dry in Chester County for a while now, and when it did rain last night, I had thoughts of where to find some water to finally take pictures of in the area.

Early in the morning, I put my photography gear in the car, along with drinks and snacks and I was off.

By the time I finished my quick errands around town, it was overcast, 85°F+ with slightly high humidity, and I knew I really wanted to play with my new 10-stop neutral density filter, and I knew my first stop.

Downingtown Dam

The Downingtown Dam, which is just west of the center of town, along Rt. 282/Creek Road was my first stop.

I parked in the little spot near the road, packed up my vest, grabbed my tripod, and was off along the little path through the woods.

120727 Downingtown Damn HDR 06
120727 Downingtown Damn HDR 06

Tech Note – The Downingtown Dam image is a HDR collection of (3) three images taken at 180 sec, 120 sec and 60 sec (f22 ISO100), combined in Photoshop, with Tone Mapping done with Nik Software HDR Efex 2.

I had been there a day or two earlier with my kids, when we took advantage of the swimming area just above the damn, and I also knew I could get a good measurement of what to expect further up-stream for possible later shoots.

The water level was definitely higher, my guest 2-3 inches, and most of the concrete on the damn was cover, with places blocked by small branches.

On the downside of the damn, it was still easy to cross the river with all the bare rocks still visible, and I quickly situated myself on the one large concrete slab near the middle.

As I setup, and looked around, I knew I was not going to get much, but I pushed on with the session.

During my time, I did finally get an exposure into the 4 minute range with the sun nearly right over head, but still not slow enough for somethings I want to do.

After about 45 minutes of shooting, I headed back to the car, and headed further upstream.

I stopped at several more places along Creek Road, checking the water levels. On several occasions, I had to deliberate, if it was worth the walk through thick poison ivy and oak, for a mediocre shoot.

When I reached the west side of Glenmoore, I turned around, and headed back on a GPS drive to my next adventure.

Sheeder-Hall Covered Bridge

I first photographed the Sheeder-Hall Covered Bridge back in 2010, and lately, I have been reviewing my images, with a desire to try again.

In Chester County, there are many wonderful, scenic roads, and Pughtown Road, off of Rt 100 (Pottstown Pike) is one of them, and along the way, one will find Hollow Road, on which Sheeder-Hall Covered Bridge can be found. The best place to park, in the little area on French Creek Road.

Sheeder-Hall (1850) - Looking Downstream
Sheeder-Hall (1850) – Looking Downstream

Tech Note – A series of (5) shots ranging from 1/15th to 1 second (f25 ISO100), combined in Photoshop, with Tone Mapping done with Nik Software HDR Efex 2.

Once again, I got my vest and tripod out, and headed down one of the little paths that lead to the downstream side of the bridge.

I waded into the water, and took some more documentary style images, looking upstream, and then headed back to capture some more interior shoots.

Eventually, I crossed the bridge, took some more shoots and headed back, and as I did, I turned, and saw this view. The traffic was lite, so doing the required multiple exposures for HDR work was easy, and then I was done for this session.

Rapps Dam Covered Bridge

Rapps Dam Covered Bridge in Phoenixville was another bridge that I photographed back in 2010, and since that time, Rapps has been restored, and I finally got a chance to visit to see the new construction!

120727 Rapps Covered Bridge hdr 12 - Under the Bridge
Rapps Covered Bridge hdr 12 – Under the Bridge

Tech Note – The Underneath shoot was another series of (7) HDR shoots, taken between 1 second and 60 seconds at f22 ISO100. Combined in Photoshop and tweaked with Nik Software HDR Efex 2.

When one is walking near the bridge, you can still smell the fresh new wood, combined with a pitch smell as you walk underneath.

120727 Rapps Covered Bridge hdr 18
Rapps Dam Covered Bridge hdr 18 – Looking Upstream

Tech Note – The Underneath shoot was another series of (6) HDR shoots, taken between 8 seconds and 180 seconds at f22 ISO100. Combined in Photoshop and tweaked with Nik Software HDR Efex 2.

It is very easy to see that the renovations that started on January 17 2011, were a success when the bridge reopened on Monday, November 21, 2011.

PennDOT took 10 months to replace the 4 steel support beams, remove and replace the cedar roof and redwood timber and siding, along the 106-foot span. The project cost $1,527,257, which was paid for by state funds, and was managed by Bi-State Construction of Easton, PA. The last time the bridge was reconstructed was in 1978.

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Updates

2014 April 29

Apparently, an 18-wheeler decided to take on Rapps Dam… Guess who won…

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/gallery?section=news/local&id=9520568&photo=1

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Categories
Chester County Exton Reviews

Asian Grocery Store – Review

Logan & Madison looking at Dried Mushroom
Logan & Madison looking at Dried Mushroom

The Asian Grocery Store is located in the Marchwood Shopping Center in Exton, just off of Route 100.

I do not know how long my parents have been going there, but definitely before I was born.

There are many things you can get there, and even my dad does not know what most of the stuff in the store is, because most things are written in Chinese, but we do get this stuff on most of our trips.

Nori Snacks

I remember my Dad buying the green seaweed, and bringing it home. I could not believe he was eating seaweed, but one day, I decided to try it. After I tried a nori strip, I really liked it, because I like the taste of salty stuff, and even my brother, Logan, enjoys eating nori!

Rice Sprinkle

Both my parents have been making rice for as long as I can remember, and during one visit to the Asian Grocery store, we found this stuff that you sprinkle over your rice.

We got the rice sprinkle, then the next time we had rice, we put it on the rice, and my brother and I ended up liking it!

There are three types of the sprinkle, the flavors are:

Nori Komi Furikake (Blue Label) – Which has in it: sesame seeds, salt, sugar and seaweed.

Wasabi Fumi Furikake (Green Label) – Which has sesame seed, horse-radish, shaved bonito, Japanese mustard plant, sugar, seaweed, soy sauce, salt, and cooking rice wine in it.

Ebi Fumi Furikake (Red Label) – Which has in it sesame seed, shrimp (ebi), potato starch, seaweed, sugar, salt, and dried yolk powder.

I like the Nori Komi Furikake, but the Ebi Fumi Furikake would have to be my favorite, because I love shrimp! And I would like to try the Wasabi Fumi Furikake, but I am scared of the wasabi being too hot!

Madison and Logan looking at ginger
Madison & Logan looking at ginger

Soy Sauce

My mom loves soy sauce, more than my dad, so I saw her putting it on her rice a lot!

I did not want to try soy sauce, because the dark color kind of scared me, and I was not really sure what to put it on, but then one time at China Grill, when we were having sushi, my dad had a bowl of plain soy sauce, which he finally got me to try with my finger tip.

And at first I didn’t know what to think of the taste but, once I tasted it again I liked it!

Then my dad had me try the soy sauce on rice, then I tried it on sushi on my own, and that was awesome!

Pocky Sticks

Well I kind of discovered Pocky Sticks on my own! What they are, are biscuit sticks covered in flavored cream. There are two flavors Chocolate and Strawberry, but if you want more crunch to your Pocky sticks you can get chocolate cream and peanuts, but if you’re allergic you can get strawberry cream with strawberry pieces!

Noodles

At Asian Grocery when you get there if you go to the aisle farthest from the register you will be surrounded by plenty of types of noodles!

One of my favorites is Ramen noodles, especially the chicken flavored, but in this house we have a special name for Ramen noodles we call them “Daddy Noodles”!

I came up with that name when I was younger. How I came up with the name is the only two words I knew at the time, where “Daddy” and “noodles”, so I put them together, and came up with “Daddy Noodles”!

One time when I was in Daycare, they asked me what was my favorite food, and I said “Daddy Noodles”, and at the end of the day, my teacher had to ask what “Daddy Noodles” were, because they had no idea what I was talking about!

There are noodles made out of all sorts of things, like rice and beans. On our last trip we got invisible noodles, that are made out of mung beans, which we have not tried yet, but hope to soon.

Wasabi

Logan & Madison looking at deserts
Logan & Madison looking at deserts (Moon cakes)

My dad introduced me to wasabi at China Grill!

At first I didn’t know about it, but that day we had bacon wrapped crab, so when my dad wanted me to try wasabi, I took a tip of a toothpick, and it set my mouth on fire! Then my dad had me try wasabi in soy sauce. Then I thought that my tongue would feel really weird, but I tried it, and it was delicious! The soy sauce really took away a lot of the hot and spiciness!

In the Future

Right now we are working on my brother’s adventure into asian food!

Thank you’s

Just a quick “Thank you” to my new readers for inspiring me to keep blogging!

Updates

2012 July 10 – Published as “8-Year-Old Foodie Reviews Asian Grocery in Marchwood Shopping Center” on the ExtonDish.com.

– M ;  }
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Categories
4th of July Chester County Downingtown Events Holidays Photo Journal Photography

2012 Downingtown Fireworks

Images taken during the 2012 Downingtown Fireworks in Chester County, PA.

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– Andrew
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Categories
Blogging Chester County clouds Equipment Filters Gadgets Lionville Nature Photo Journal Photography Tone Mapping

First Day with ND 3.0 10-stop filter

As part of “Daddy Day Camp”, I took the kids up to Lionville Elementary School to practice their biking riding, in prep for taking off the training wheels.

We first started in the upper play ground, and after parking, I unloaded the bikes, and the kids were gone. I had to coach them a little, but with the follow-up tweaks after Sunday’s outing, both kids were doing much better.

Now I was able to grab my tripod and camera and set up for some shooting.

The wind was rather gusty, and was really nicely formed white clouds against a very deep blue sky, and I had my new filter… Tee hee! wink… wink…

With my first few shots, I felt like a complete amateur, because as I would set one thing that, I’d forget about something else, and the shot would be blown, but I got into a rhythm and finally began to click off some shots.

Long exposure 019 – Take of the intersection of Rt 113 and Devon Drive.
Long exposure 022 – Taken from the outfield of one of the Baseball diamonds.
Long exposure 024 – Taken of the Main School Building
Long exposure 035 – Tennis Practice

Most of these pictures were taken at ISO 100 f22 for 30 seconds to 1 minute, the tennis practice image was around 3 second, using the B+W 58mm 3.0 ND MRC 110M Filter.

At one point, I could hear Logan asking me why I was taking pictures of cars, as I set up for my shot looking north on Route 113 with the Devon Rd. intersection in the background.

He was very puzzled, and even more so, when I showed him the pictures later during proofing. The cars just disappeared!

While playing with my new filter, it became very apparent to me, that I was going to need to recalibrate my water shots, and how to do my HDR work with so much potential ghosting issues during processing.

But as they say no gain without pain.

So come back again, and see what new things I’ve done with this new filter of mine!

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Categories
Blogging Chester County Exton Restaurant Review

China Grill – Review

MAS writting her review
MAS writting her review

China Grill is an awesome buffet where you can get Chinese food!

My parents tell me, that China Grill was the first restaurant that they took me to, They put me on the table in my baby carrier.

When I got older to eat on my own, I had to use a fork or a spoon, but I now use chop sticks just like my parents! It was hard to learn how to use them.

They also have a lot of sushi! My favorite type of sushi to get there is the avocado, crab/pollock, nori seaweed and orange roe (flying fish eggs) around the outside!

I remember watching my parents putting this brown stuff into a small bowl, and then add this green stuff to it. It looked really yucky!

I now really like soy sauce, and the last time I went, I tried the wasabi, mixed with it and that is good, but can be hot if you are not careful!

My dad has a rule when eating there: “You have to try at least one new thing each time we go”.

One time, my dad made me try these round little balls covered with seeds.

At first, I was not sure, but then I tried one, and it was really good!

I now like the sesame seed balls filled with sweet bean paste!

Trust me they sound weird, but it’s like chocolate inside a sesame ball!

Even I like them, and I’m 8!

There’s a whole little dessert part of the buffet, and sometimes they even have a chocolate fountain on!

There are so many things there to try, and I think you’ll really enjoy it!

– Maddie ; – }
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Update

8-Year-Old Foodie Strikes Again, Reviews China Grill