Anderson Grist Mill, 2012

It's been two great days this weekend!  The only problem is...they are over!

I'll tell you about yesterday in a future blog, but for now, let's talk about today.

Last year Annette and I arranged for the camera club to go to the Anderson Grist Mill near Mercersburg, PA.  The participants who attended the photo shoot last year were very excited about all of the opportunities for pictures inside of the grist mill.  Several asked if they could get in on their own!  The club president said that it was the most requested photo shoot of the year.

So, what could we do but an encore.  Annette and I arranged for the Camera Club to go to the Anderson Grist Mill near Mercersburg, PA for the second time.  The weather shaped up right on cue.  It was a beautiful day full of warm fall air and wonderful sunshine!

The grist mill is so full of ingenious contraptions that I just look for more time than I spent taking pictures!

Inside the grist mill there was a tool room with all kinds of hand tools laying on the work benches and hanging from the wall.  There was also quite a bit of old junk.  In the middle of the floor was a table with window light hitting it just right.  So, I used that table as a place to "stage" some of the junk treasures.

This first picture includes a bottle, just for Annette.  On one of our first workshops, Annette found some old bottles and arranged them just so against a colorful rusted bucket.  I wondered why she was photographing trash!  Now here I am doing the same.

This second picture is of a wooden box with an orchard brand name stamped into the end.  I set up the box so that the sunlight would rake the side of the box and create shadows in the imprint so that the imprint would be more visible.

There were three planes in the tool room.  One of them had so much dirt and grime that you could no longer see the wood grain.  So I set up the two other ones.  I wanted the handles to echo one another.

I even had a chance to make an abstract photo.  The lights in this abstract are from holes in the wall of the mill.  I used a longer shutter speed to get more length to the streaks.  I was pointed up a little so I think the blue color comes from the sky.

One other thing that deserves more telling than I am going to do is that it was great to see fellow photographers in action and share tips and tricks.  This is the way that friendships are born.  I think some were birthing today!

Well, I hope you enjoyed hearing from me again and also enjoyed the pictures.

More importantly, get out there an keep making photos!

April 3, 2010 - Woody

This weekend, Annette's sister Mary, her daughter Karyn and her daughter Bethany came for a visit. It has been so long since we have had little munchkins in our house. You don't realize how un-kid-friendly your home is until you bring an active 13 month old in for a visit.

This morning as I was finishing my breakfast, Bethany was eating, or trying to eat, some cereal.

I was just sitting there thinking; Look at the light on her face. Look at how it sculpts her cheeks. Look how the background light creates a hair/rim light and separates her from the background. I should get my camera. Shoulda, coulda woulda... I'm getting my camera!!!

The seat that she was in was directly across from a large window and to camera-right, in the far background, was a sliding glass door. This bathed Bethany in some interesting light. Light that I think many photographers go out of their way to create.