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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
Cades Cove Methodist Church
Hyatt Lane Sunrise
Becky Cable Home
Primitive Baptist Church Road
Tipton Barn
Sparks Lane Sunrise
Thanks for following along. If you missed the the first two parts you can find them here: Part 1 Part 2
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.
Here’s another one from my railroad photography trip this past February. This time we’re at the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad for a Lerro Productions photo charter, the last one with Locomotive 734 to go all the way to Frostburg due to a recent landslide on the line. Hopefully scenes like this will be possible again soon.
This week’s photo is one from the archives – Catastrophe Canyon from the Studios Backlot Tour at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. With the news that the demolition of this attraction, one of my favorites since the early days of Disney’s MGM Studios, is complete, I thought now would be a good time to post my favorite image from the attraction.
I’m sure many photographers wish they would have gotten images of things that they thought would be around forever but were gone before they could get back to them. I have many things on that list, but fortunately, this was one I was able to get before it was gone.
The clear skies that made waterfall photography difficult did create opportunities for great sunset and night photography on Clingman’s Dome and along the Newfound Gap road.
Sunsets on Clingman’s Dome are fun to watch. On a clear day just before sunset a line of photographers appear along the edge of the parking lot to get the classic shot of the sun dropping behind the distant mountains. Stick around after the sun disappears and the colors turn from oranges and purples to pastel pinks and blues.
For a little different perspective, a climb to the top of the observation platform gets you above the tree tops. If you decide to make the climb, allow plenty of time. The path is steep and at high elevation.
Once it’s dark enough for the Milky Way to appear, the trees at Clingman’s Dome and the overlooks on Newfound Gap Road make interesting foregrounds.
Clingman’s Dome Trail:
Morton Overlook:
That’s it for Part 2. If you missed it, please have a look at Part 1 of the trip report. Check back in two weeks for Part 3 – Cades Cove.
Last week, I attended a two day photo charter on the Reading & Northern Railroad hosted by Lerro Productions. The weather was an interesting mix of cold and snowing on Monday and slightly warmer and rain on Tuesday creating opportunities for shots with great atmosphere. Above is one of my favorites from the event. Look for a more detailed trip report in a couple of weeks.