Snowy Downtown Shippensburg

As I mentioned in the previous post, we've been having a significant snow storm here today. I took a walk downtown, an aborted attempt to get to work. I ended up going back home and calling off. The sidewalks in the commercial district downtown were mostly shoveled, but outside that three block area walking was just a mess. But I did get pictures in the process, so all was not lost! Rather than give you pictures of some of Shippensburg's picturesque buildings in the snow, I thought I'd show you scenes that show how much snow we got. At that point I figure we had about 10 inches. It was an interesting walk, to say the least. Enjoy!

Walking down West King St.

Branch Creek at King St., looking south

Snow-clad evergreens at the corner of King and Prince Streets

God's Acre cemetery on North Prince St.

Branch Creek at King St., looking north

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger

A Busy Day at the Feeders

We got hit with a significant snow storm today. I knew it was coming and made sure my feeders were filled before I went to work yesterday. Today during the storm the birds showed their appreciation. The visitors were mainly Dark-eyed Juncos and Mourning Doves. There were also some House Sparrows, but they always flew off when I came to the window with the camera, so the Doves and the Juncos got to be the stars of today's show. Enjoy!

A snowy, and busy, day at the feeder station

A Dark-eyed Junco at the flat feeder

A Mourning Dove feeding on the ground below the feeders

More Juncos on the flat feeder

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

An Attempted Sunday Stroll

Having today off and having a brand new camera to give a workout, I decided to visit the Dykeman Spring Nature Park. Bad idea. The snow here is over-the-ankle deep, and when it fell it was very wet and heavy; then it froze up overnight, and then we had a day of sleet and freezing rain to top it off. So what looks like a beautiful, snowy winter scene is actually a hazard. In many places you can walk on top without breaking the crust, but sometimes you break through, which makes walking difficult. And where the crust is hardest it's slippery on the surface. I made it through the wetlands part of the park with much difficulty, but getting up on the meadow proved impossible. So I only got a few pictures. But the camera is proving its worth, and especially that Hemlock branch with the cone is showing that I'll be getting my signature macro shots again. Hooray!

Branch Creek at King St.

A stream in the Dykeman Spring wetlands winding its way through the snow

A Hemlock branch along the Dykeman Walking Trail

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger

First Shots with the New Camera

My new camera arrived yesterday - a Canon PowerShot SX510 HS, one of their "bridge" cameras, meaning the bridge between a simple point-and-shoot and a DSLR. That's what my old camera, the one that drowned back in November, was, and this is the latest version of that. I spent some time trying to figure out how to get the shots I used to be able to get with the old camera, and then went to the kitchen to get what I haven't been able to get since November: shots of the birds at my feeder station. Here are the best of that shoot.

A Dark-eyed Junco feeding on the spillage

Mr. Red staring off intruders on his spot

A very busy feeder, with a Mourning Dove and some Sparrows

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Groundhog Day

They dragged poor old Punxsutawney Phil out of his den this morning; supposedly he saw his shadow and retreated, meaning six more weeks of winter. I don't know how he saw his shadow; it's been a solid overcast all day, and Punxsutawney is only about 150 miles up the road. The kleig lights from all the TV cameras must have freaked him out. But the prediction looks to be good. It certainly looks and feels wintry here, and we have more snow heading here early tomorrow.

I went walking in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park this morning to get Groundhog Day shots. I was undecided between color or b&w, and decided to go with both, but only post the color ones here because in this post I want to emphasize Mama Gaia's paintbrush at work in the midst of a typically nondescript season. If you want to see the b&w versions as well, click here to go to the web album. Meanwhile, enjoy the colors of winter here!

The wooden bridge over Gum Run, which joins up with Branch Creek a little farther downstream

Branch Creek in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park

Looking across the north duck pond

Looking north down the length of the north duck pond

The wetland north of the north duck pond, with Martin house

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger

While Walking Around

These are things that caught my eye while walking around on errands today. I'm really liking black & white photography lately; in great measure that's due to having lost my good camera and having to learn to deal with the limitations of the camera on my cell phone. Black & white photography turned out to be the best way to present photos taken with the phone, and I've been having so much fun with it that I'm almost tempted to not buy a new camera. Heh, heh! The operative word in that sentence is almost; there's no way I'm going to give up taking my macros, and my bird portraits, and other things that the cell phone camera just can't do. But this experiment in working within strict limitations has been very good for my photography, and the cell phone photos will keep coming even after I get my new camera in a couple of weeks. For now, here's the latest batch.

Branch Creek on the other side of King St.

One of the narrow alleys of Shippensburg

An abandoned factory complex

The stairs, rails, and windows on the side of Messiah Methodist make an interesting pattern.

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Deep into Winter

We're deep into winter now. The temperatures here haven't hit the freezing point for over a week, and there's a front blowing through as I type that's forecast to send the temperature plummeting and, with high winds blowing, send the wind chill index down to -10º to -20º F (-23º to -28º C) tomorrow morning. I went walking in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park late this morning and got the following photos; the bare trees, the grass stalks poking up through the snow, the snow-draped forest floor, but most of all the dramatic clouds heralding the front. It's winter, folks!

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

More Snow in Spring Hill Cemetery

I knew the snow I showed you yesterday would have some photogenic effect on the local graveyards, so I went to look this morning. Long-time readers know my love for cemeteries and gravestones, and also of my love for photographing them in the snow; this was one more excuse to indulge that love. Heh, heh! I got some good shots in Spring Hill cemetery, but none of the shots I took in God's Acre downtown on Prince St. worked out. So here are the good shots from Spring Hill. Enjoy!

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger

The Park in Snow

We got a really good snow yesterday - 5 or 6 inches of dry, powdery stuff. And today the high only made it to the mid teens, so nothing melted, and since the temps aren't supposed to get up to the freezing point in the foreseeable future, this snow should be around for a while. I went over to the Dykeman Spring Nature Park to take a look.

The Dykeman Walking Trail in snow

The bridge over the creek

Fox tracks and shadows along the Upland Trail

The bench looking out over the upland meadow

The view of Blue Mountain from the upland meadow

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Benches

I had a strong urge to sit on a bench and contemplate Nature today. So on the way to the grocery store I walked through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park and visited a bench on the shores of the north duck pond and a bench on the Upland Trail at the edge of the upland meadow. I sat on that last one and contemplated the view.

"The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth."

 – Chief Seattle

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."

– Rachel Carson

"Man's heart away from Nature becomes hard."

– Standing Bear

Photos © 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger

The Bachelor

Male. 60 years old. Single. This is what that looks like. The guy on TV? Yeah, right! This is reality.

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger

A Gray Sunday Morning

Overcast, gray, gloomy, empty, lonely... Sunday morning in Shippensburg, PA, before anyone is up and heading for church. I put my clothes in the washer in the laundromat and went for a walk, and this is what I found. I hope I've captured the mood in these shots.

My friend Arleen Hodge says I'm the one who got her into black & white photography and calls me one of her mentors. Well, she's a helluva better photographer than me; she's gone on to document the homeless in her town in a way that moves people. Me, I'm not so good with people, although I do okay with places and things. At the moment I'm limited to my cell phone camera, and I'm finding these simple types of shots, that fill the frame with no zoom and no severe cropping, work best with the limits of the lens. And they work especially well in black & white. I'm hoping I'm being as successful projecting the mood of what I see as Arleen is in telling the stories of her homeless friends.

Laundromat, Sunday morning

Portrait of the artist, reflected in the window of the Robert T. Henry Pharmacy

A lighted lamp and reflections in a window on King St.

A messy backyard and garage on Burd St.

Old graves on the site of the original German Reformed and Lutheran congregations, Orange and Queen Streets

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger

A Long Winter's Nap

We got 2014's first snow of the year on Thursday night, but today was the first chance I had to go get photos of it. Naturally I went up to Spring Hill Cemetery to get those shots; I really love shooting in snow-covered graveyards! The title of this post refers to a post I did five years ago in Newport, RI, talking about the dead sleeping, tucked under a warm blanket of snow.

© 2014 by A. Roy Hilbinger