Fading Summer

Today is the last day of meteorological Summer, and tomorrow is the first day of meteorological Fall. The weather has been cooling lately; despite today's heat we're supposed to drop back into the lower 80s again next week. The Fall flowers are starting to appear, as well as various nuts and berries. Harvest approaches. 

I walked along the Dykeman Walking Trail today in the course of my day off errands and got these macro shots of fading Summer: a Pearl Crescent butterfly sipping on Boneset flowers; Jewelweed growing next to one of the wooden bridges along the trail; some Spotted Knapweed; and Flowering Dogwood berries. (View as web album here) Enjoy!

© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Work Scene

I took this shot of a Clouded Sulphur butterfly on a Pincushion Flower in the garden center at work with my cell phone. It came out well enough that I thought I'd post it. Enjoy!

© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Around Back

Views of the back streets, back alleys, and backyards of Shippensburg as I took the back way to the grocery store this morning. These are just some of the shots; view the whole web album here.

© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Cemetery-Hopping in Black & White

I went to the three historic cemeteries in Shippensburg today for a shoot in black & white, all of which we've visited on this blog before: Spring Hill Cemetery, the main burying place for the area; God's Acre on Prince St., which honors those who served in the military in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War; and the Locust Grove Cemetery, which served as the only  public cemetery open to African-Americans until late in the 20th Century. I kept to shooting in black & white as it seems to be the ideal medium for capturing graveyards; and I'm also staying with ISO 400 to try for the Kodak Tri-X 400 feel.

I took a lot of photos today. For this post I included the two best shots from each cemetery; if you want to see the best of the entire shoot, click here for the Picasa web album.

Spring Hill Cemetery 

God's Acre 

Locust Grove

© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

On the Rail Trail in Black & White

I decided to hike up the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail today. I also decided to shoot in black and white again, this time using my circular polarizer filter because it was a fairly sunny day. And once again I shot in 400 ISO to get the feel of Kodak Tri-X 400 film. I focused on the trail itself, the surrounding farms, and made a special trip down Duncan Rd. to take more pictures of the Old Order Mennonite meeting house there. Plus I stopped by a farmer's front yard produce stand to pick up some fresh peaches and tomatoes! Here are some shots; you can click here to see all the shots that passed quality control. Enjoy!

© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

To Mongul and Back

Ever since a friend at work told me he lived in a little place called Mongul, a few miles up Roxbury Road from Shippensburg, I just had to go see it. I took the scenic route to make it a loop, up Orrstown Rd. to Mongul Hill Rd., which goes up to Roxbury Rd. and the little town (or maybe village?) of Mongul itself, and then back down Roxbury Rd. to home. On the way there was plenty to see, from goats and geese to barns, creeks, and spectacular views of mountains, especially the view from the top of Mongul Hill (the hike up Mongul Hill Rd. is enough to make any cardiologist happy!). I've included a few of the best shots here, but to see the whole hike in sequence, and maybe even watch it as a slideshow, click here to visit my Picasa album of the hike.

© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Channeling Ansel Adams

From August 3, 2012

I hiked over to the Dykeman Springs Wetlands Park and Walking Trail after laundry this morning with a specific goal in mind: black and white photos in Nature. But this time I wanted to experiment. Usually I take pictures in color and convert to b&w because I really haven't liked what my camera's b&w mode produced. But on thinking it over, I realized I'd just been setting the camera on b&w and doing the old point-and-shoot. So today I fiddled until I got what looked like credible b&w shots in the viewfinder; I set the ISO on 400 in an attempt to get the look and feel of Kodak Tri-X 400, the workhorse film of professional photographers (including Adams) in the golden age of b&w photography, and I fooled with f-stop and shutter speed (just as I do in color shooting). To my delight, they produce the same quality as the photos that I convert in Photoshop. Of course I did the usual tweaking in Photoshop, as any old-time photographer would tweak things in the darkroom. Five shots ended up passing quality control: the Cabbage White butterfly on Thistle above; some Daisy Fleabane; Swamp Honeysuckle; two juvenile Mallards on one of the duck ponds; and a shot of vines and other foliage gradually enveloping an old concrete wall in Middle Spring Creek. Enjoy!

From August 3, 2012

From August 3, 2012

From August 3, 2012

From August 3, 2012

© 2012 by A. Roy Hibinger