Wintertime at Valley Forge National Historic Park

I pass through Valley Forge a few times a week. This year I have been particularly keen to notice photographic opportunities in the park. Last Sunday, driving along the inner defensive line, I was taking in the fresh snow coating the landscape when I spotted the cannon in the picture. From my vantage point it was about a ten minute walk (in a sub-freezing wind chill, uphill) but I thought it would be worth it. The canon sat atop a small rise on the hillside overlooking a large open part of the park. I had never even noticed it before, but the blue really stood out in the snow. Valley Forge is a spectacular place to visit any time of year and I will be doing a week's worth of blog posts about it soon.

Valley Forge National Historic Park in Wintertime

Nikon D800 Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 32mm f/20 ISO 100 5 image HDR

Veterans Day 2012

Yesterday was Veterans Day here in the United States. To honor those who have fought for this nation, this is one of the first quotes about our country’s first soldiers. It was spoken by our premier president on the fields at Valley Forge National Historic Park. “Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldier.” February 16 1776

Veterans Day 2012

Nikon D5100 Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 12mm f/8 ISO 100 5 image HDR

The Why

Why is such a human question. Why did this happen? Why do things happen to me? Why am I here? Why, why, why...

This small tree is in a row of a dozen trees. They line a road in Valley Forge National Historic Park, and yet all the other trees in the line are green. Why did this one’s leaves change sooner than all the rest? Why was the Sun at the right elevation to illuminate the clouds with such colors? Why did I happen to notice it, or why was I there at that exact time?

We search for answers to these questions to explain the mysteries of our lives. For some people there exists a higher power, for others science probes for answers, for others it’s chance or even karma.

Whatever conclusions we find, the infinity of questions grows.

Maybe we are asking the wrong question...

​The Why

​Nikon D800 Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm f/8 ISO 100 5 image HDR 1/20-.8sec

Recognition

Encouragement is something everyone needs from time to time. Positive feelings conveyed from friends viewing your art is emotionally gratifying. But then, sometimes, “at-a-boy’s” come from mentors, people we look up to, professionals we aspire to emulate. This happened to me yesterday. Every week Kelby training hosts an internet show called The Grid where oodles of photography subjects are bantered about. Sometimes they do critiques. I submitted a few of my pictures for scrutiny yesterday when +Matt Kloskowski asked for submissions to the show for an HDR discussion. Some of my images use this type of post processing. I will not discuss what High Dynamic Range processing is here for that is a lengthy discussion that I will save for a later date. Three of my pictures were selected (I was elated). This is the link to the show: The Grid Episode 71 The State of HDR The first 30 minutes are devoted to the upside and downside to HDR pictures, critiques start at 33 minutes 50 seconds. My reviews are late in the show at 55 minutes 45 seconds.

​This is the first of my three images

Nikon D800 Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8@ 16mm f/9 ISO 100 5 image HDR 1/160-1/10 sec