Category: Nature

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Blogging Chester County Creeks Glenmoore HDR Nature Panoramio Photo Journal Photography

Creek Road in Glenmoore during the Fall

Brandywine Creek HDR 11a - Glenmoore
Brandywine Creek HDR 11a – Glenmoore

Because of some scheduling conflicts, I was able to spend the afternoon doing some photography along Creek Road in southern Glenmoore, Chester County PA.

The parking lot was the same one I used during my summer venture, when the heat was 101°F, and I thought I was going to pass out, but I managed to survive, and even post a few pictures along with my blog entry of said adventure.

Brandywine Creek HDR 10a - Glenmoore
Brandywine Creek HDR 10a – Glenmoore

Initially, I went to the right (south) as I did in the summer, but this time my intent was to go further down creek, beyond the picnic bench that I had seen during the summer.

This time, the bench was still there, and I quickly walked past, and to unknown territory.

As I walked along the trail, the water began to descend to my left, as the path continued horizontal.

There was a thick brush line that separated the dissent to the creek, which was going to be all that harder.

I must find a path down.

It was good to see, that this trail had been used heavily before, but in a fairly limited fashion recently. There were several fallen trees, and the low to mid weeds and brush, were an easy brush back as I walked along.

I also noted, that from the trail at least, things seemed still very green on certain trees in the area. There were patches of colors but tended to be in the brush group of foliage.

Brandywine Creek HDR 09 - Glenmoore
Brandywine Creek HDR 09 – Glenmoore

Across the creek, I could see more interesting colors, but as I reached the water’s edge, I could see signs that said quote “Do Not Trespass”.

As I surveyed the creek in front of me and how things were flowing, I started back up-stream, taking the occasional single image as just a keepsake of my adventure, and eventually I was walking pass the picnic table, and to the trail head from which I started.

I decided to head further North up the trail, and see what I could find.

The trail eventually opens up into a small little field where there are several other picnic tables and a fire pit or two.

In this area the creek slows down just enough that I saw some good reflections and I was beginning to see some color.

I continued walking north along the creek’s edge, stopping several times and capturing five exposure HDR images.

Brandywine Creek HDR 06 - Glenmoore
Brandywine Creek HDR 06 – Glenmoore

Several times I found myself knee-deep in water, and I was reminded that the colder months are coming, and I need to seriously investigate some fishing waders.

Finally I got to the northernmost point along the trail, and was faced with more “No Trespassing” signs, at which point, I looked at my watch, and started heading back.

It has been a very mediocre year for leaf colors in my opinion. A lot of rain and warm temperatures have definitely not helped. The lowest temperature lately has been 45°F.

I do have a feeling that were going to get a lot of snow this year…

– Andrew
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Columbus Day Photography

Looking down the Brandywine - Hibernia Park
Looking down the Brandywine – Hibernia Park

I was lucky enough to have a free day to go out and do some shooting.

The later Summer, early Autumn weather has been relatively warm, and no cold snaps to set the leaves into colors yet, but I was still going to go out.

If anything, just to do some scouting.

So off I went…

I love having a GPS!

After about an hour of just driving around, enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Morgantown, Churchtown and Honey Brook areas, I headed toward Hibernia Park to find the spot I had surveyed earlier in the Summer on another GPS drive.

After parking in the small little lot, I equipped myself, crossed the bridge and down the trail to find a way to creek edge.

What had caught my eye about this section before, was the bigger rocks and swifter water flow.

I was hoping for more color in the canopy over the water, but it was not going to be…

Looking up the Brandywine - Hibernia Park
Looking up the Brandywine – Hibernia Park

Even without the real reds and oranges of Fall, this part of the Brandywine presented many nice sections of water action, and found myself setting up and capturing several section during my creek walk.

As I crawled across a fallen tree, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a single small white mushroom, growing in the hollowed out root ball of one of the trees.

Tree Stump with White Mushroom - Hibernia Park
Tree Stump with White Mushroom – Hibernia Park

Setting up my tripod for this shot, was very difficult because of the angle I needed to see into the stump, and having a stable platform to do the multiple shoots needed for HDR, but I think it was worth it.

– Andrew
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Chester County Downingtown Events Nature Photo Journal Photography Tone Mapping Weather

Panorama of Kerr Park Post Hurricane Irene

I finally finished this MONSTER!

As I blogged before, this image is composed of 42 images stitched together in Photoshop CS5, and then some Tone Mapping.

NOTE – By Clicking on the Image Twice (2 Times) you can see the FULL image!

Kerr Park - Post Hurricane Irene - Panorama
Kerr Park – Post Hurricane Irene – Panorama

At one point, this file was 3.7GBs in size!

But I have been able to get it down to a little over 7MBs as a JPEG file.

It has been interesting to see which sites are having problems with the size…

 

Sites having issues with the FULL size image – 11336×1000 (157.4″x13.8″)

Sites NOT having issues with the FULL size image – 11336×1000 (157.4″x13.8″)

Hope you enjoy!

– Andrew
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Chester County Creeks Downingtown HDR Nature Pennsylvania Photo Journal Photography Tone Mapping Weather

Post Hurricane Irene Nature Walks

About an hour ago, we finally got our power back!

We lost it Saturday night around 10:32pm during “Dr. Who”… I mean Hurricane Irene.

I was monitoring my various networks, watching for things related to the storm that was all around us.

The TV was nothing but an Emergency Broadcast transmissions for tornado warnings all over the area.

The first alert was described as strong storm, with possible circular rotation for areas to the south, starting in New Castle and heading towards Kennett Square.

About 5 minutes later, there was another warning that included the King of Prussia area.

We are right in the middle, and needless to say, I was a little nervous.

At 10:31pm, I posted to Facebook that our lights were browning…

Then the Power was gone…

I turned on the radio and listened as I paced the house, moving from the front to the back, and occasionally into the garage to look out into the night from one of the opened doors.

Sometime around 3:30am, I finally laid down and continued to listen to the radio before I falling asleep.

I was woken up by my wife, as she prepared snacks for the kids, who were upstairs watching a movie on the iPad.

They were happy.

Walking around the house, I surveyed out all the windows to see what the outside looked like, and how many branches would I be picking up later.

I also watched for cars to gauge how the roads were, and as I saw more, I wanted to go out to see for myself, and so did Madison.

We got down to Kerr Park around 11:30, and saw several other people already exploring what Irene had left.

Kerr Park 003 - Small Bridge
Kerr Park 003 – Small Bridge

After parking, both Madison and I walked across the water-logged grass, and headed toward the Brandywine creek, which was well over it’s banks.

Kerr Park 013 - Flooding
Kerr Park 013 – Flooding

The small little stream and bridge in the middle of the park were covered with several inches of water.

Kerr Park - Fallen Tree - Hurricane Irene
Kerr Park – Fallen Tree

One could also see that one of the older trees and fallen over during the heavy winds from the night before.

Madison on top of fallen tree root ball
Madison on top of fallen tree root ball

After walking around some more, we headed back to the car, and off to the Dam along Struble Trail.

Kerr Park 096 - Trees and Flooding
Kerr Park 096 – Trees and Flooding

When we got to the small little parking area, there was another family already investigating the dam and all the water that was flowing over it.

Struble Trail Dam 01 - Downingtown
Struble Trail Dam 01 – Downingtown

We finished taking our pictures, walked back to the car, and on to home.

Once there, Logan was now ready to see the outside world also, so we jumped into the car, and headed to the Dowlin Forge Road entrance to the Struble Trail.

I was actually a little surprised to see as many folks walking the trail, but considering that the power was still out, what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

As Logan and headed West, we found our little trail that leads down to the edge of the Brandywine, but were confronted with a large puddle from earlier flooding. Logan jumped on my back for a piggy-back ride across and we continued on.

It was loud and many of the ‘normal’ creek-bed features, were covered in several inches of deep water.

I wanted to find the “Creek Claw“, but with all the water, I knew that it was not going to be, but I was able to find the “Hobbit House” tree.

110828 Struble Trail - Hobbit House Tree
Struble Trail – Hobbit House Tree

As I took several different angles, I reminded Logan that when the water was lower, he was able to stand inside.

He looked at me with disbelief, and then went back to lightsabering the tree branches.

We continued down the dirt trail, and back up to the main paved trail.

On the way back to the car, we only saw one tree laying across the trail, which was a surprise.

Fallen tree across Struble Trail
Fallen tree across Struble Trail

From the parking lot, we drove along Creek Road (Rt. 282) back into Downingtown, and on to Kerr Park for a quick stop, and no camera.

As we walked around, I pointed out where the water had been earlier and told him I would show him the pictures later, once we had power again.

– Andrew
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Blogging Chester County Downingtown Facebook Fields Flickr Glenmoore HDR Nature Online Life Photo Journal Photography Tone Mapping Weather

Cloud Hunting

As many locals will tell you, the past three days have been filled with some awesome looking clouds, and finally, I got a chance to go out and shoot some…

I had to stop at home to grab my gear, and I also jumped on Google Earth to get a quick idea of areas I wanted to check-out with the clouds being as inspiring as they were!

My first stop, was just East of Shamona Creek Elementary School, which is rather close to where I live, and having just photographed a similar scene just over two weeks ago, I knew that there was a nice overview both North and South.

Cloud Hunting hdr 04 (08/16/2011)
Cloud Hunting hdr 04 – South

The biggest thing that you notice missing, is the big bails of hay, which were one of the focus point in the previous Black and White image conversion.

From this scene, I walked across the street and up a small hill to capture the next image, and I am very happy to have been able to capture one of the birds that was out souring with the various up-drafts.

Cloud Hunting hdr 07 - North (08/16/2011)
Cloud Hunting hdr 07 – North

After this shot, I got back to my car, and headed toward the other side of the school, where I set-up and took some more shoots. (Note: I have decided to wait and HDR process those images when there is real snow on the ground!)

Backing up again, I continued West down Dorlan Mill Road to Creek Road (Rt. 282).

For those that have been following my blog closely, yes, this is the same Creek Road I explored on a Friday in the 101°F heat earlier in July, and very thankfully, it is much cooler this time!

As I drove North West on Creek Road toward Glenmoore, I looked at the Brandywine creek, making metal notes of how the water has risen some, and where I want to explore in the up coming months.

I continued through Glenmoore, and as I was driving and looking, I spotted the following cumulus thunderhead developing, and pulled over to the side as quickly as possible to capture this (7) image HDR capture:

Cloud Hunting hdr 28 (08/16/2011)
Cloud Hunting hdr 28

I took a couple of different angles on this, and as I was, an adult heron fly from right to left in this image, and disappeared into the woods behind the cat-o-nine-tails.

Jumping back into my car, I continued toward Elverson on Creek Road, crossing Manor Road (Rt. 82), and as I started up the small hill, I noticed a group of cows, laying on the ground resting with wonderful clouds in the background.

I quickly turned around, pulled over, and grabbed my equipment.

My fear as I approached the fence, was that all the cows were going to get up and head toward me.

Cloud Hunting hdr 33 (08/16/2011)
Cloud Hunting hdr 33 (08/16/2011)

But alas, the cows seemed content to stay were they were, and I was able to click a few frames before my camera just stopped working.

Damn!

I wanted to continue, so I headed home to grab my AA battery pack, but by the time I got there, and back out my car, the clouds had changed into pending rain, which the area needs, but is no where nearly as interesting as it had been.

I called it a day, and started the process of transferring my images from the camera on to my computer for further processing.

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Updates

After working on the second image, “Cloud Hunting hdr 07 – North”, until 3am this morning, I woke up to find that it had been selected as “Image of the Day” by Parkesburg Today!