Trip Report – Light City Baltimore

Light City Baltimore is a new event in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, featuring light based art installations, musical acts and theatrical performances. The event ran for a full week from March 28th – April 3rd.  The main feature of the event was the Light Art Walk located around the Inner Harbor which included a number of light based art installations.  In between were several stages for musical and theatrical performances.  Here’s a few of my favorites from this year:

LightWave – Baltimore’s Beacon:

Antique Baltimore Police Department Patrol Car:

Community Beacons – Making Waves:

Peacock:

Projected Aquaculture:

Theatre of Fire:

Voyage:

The shooting conditions were challenging with brightly lit art outside in the dark, and I found the balance between including the surrounding context and avoiding over exposing the art difficult.  Most of my best shots occurred during sunset or blue hour when the balance in exposure between the two could be found.  Fortunately the event seemed to be a success, so hopefully I’ll have another chance to shoot it next year.

Through The Lens 27 – Light City

Light City was a new event in Baltimore this year, featuring light based art installations, musical acts and theatrical performances. Here’s one of my favorites from the week long event, Lightwave – Baltimore’s Beacon which was an installation at the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse on Pier 5.  The LED lights were operating like a giant computer screen, and was a challenge to shoot.

Stop by Tuesday for a full “trip report” from the event.

Through The Lens 26 – The Durbin Rocket

This weekend is the traditional weekend for Railfan Weekend at the Cass Scenic Railroad. With MSR&LHA opting to host a Members Weekend in June instead, I thought today would be an appropriate day to share one of my favorite photos.  From last year’s Railfan Weekend.

With potentially rainy weather on the horizon and a desire to make the 5 hour drive home in relatively dry conditions, I almost made the turn east instead of west to Durbin on Sunday afternoon.  Thankfully I decided to swing by Durbin because those of us who stuck around were treated to a great show.

Trip Report – Reading & Northern 2016

As I mentioned last week, Lerro Productions hosted a two day photo charter in February on the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern featuring their steam locomotive, Reading & Northern 425.  This was the railroad’s first real photo charter and by all accounts, it was a very successful trip.  The first day featured snowy weather and took us from Port Clinton to the Lehigh Gorge and then back to Jim Thorpe for a night session.  The second day started in Lehigh Gorge and then back to Port Clinton.  While it rained almost the entire second day, the rain hitting the snow created an awesome ground fog which made for some interesting photos.  Here’s a few of my favorites:

Glen Onoko Rock Cut

Independence Bridge

Tamaqua Tunnel

Independence Signals
Lehigh Gorge - Independence Signals

Jim Thorpe Station

Hunter Street Tunnel

King Coal

As always, the Lerro Productions crew put on a great event and the railroad put on a great show. Hopefully this is the first of many charters on the Reading & Northern.

Through The Lens 25 – Photography Lesson

While killing time before the night session on the Reading & Northern photo charter I attended in February, my friend Matthew challenged me with a photography lesson. His instructions were to “take an interesting blurry photo.”  After struggling for a bit I came up with this – an out of focus train with snow flow streaks in focus. Both parts blurry but in a different way.  I think it works pretty well. Thanks again for the lesson, Matthew!

Stop by Tuesday for the Reading & Northern trip report.

Trip Report – Great Smoky Mountains National Park 2015 – Part 3 – Cades Cove

For the final part of my Great Smoky Mountains 2015 Trip Report, we’ll visit my favorite place in the park – Cades Cove.

Cades Cove is home to several homesites, churches, and lots of wildlife, making it a great place for photography. Here’s a few of my favorites from last fall:
Cable Mill

Cable Mill

Cades Cove Methodist Church

Cades Cove Methodist Church

Hyatt Lane Sunrise

Hyatt Lane Sunrise

Becky Cable Home

Becky Cable Home

Primitive Baptist Church Road

Cades Cove - Primitive Baptist Church Road

Tipton Barn

Tipton Barn

Sparks Lane Sunrise

Sparks Lane Sunrise

Thanks for following along.  If you missed the the first two parts you can find them here:  Part 1  Part 2

Through The Lens 24 – Breakfast In Cades Cove

Black Bear & Cubs

Momma Bear and her three cubs enjoy a breakfast of walnuts in Cades Cove.  If I would have arrived a couple of minutes earlier I would have seen one of the cubs up in the tree shaking the branches to knock more walnuts off.

I knew black bears ate acorns, but had no idea about walnuts.  Apparently that’s their go to food when the acorns aren’t plentiful.

Apologies for the unplanned hiatus. Stop by Tuesday for Part 3 of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park trip report.