Monday, July 13, 2020

Recent Road Trip To Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Part VI; The Farms and The Land


Just before sunset, we were driving the back roads of the county looking for things that would make interesting images.  My friend Dave Hileman (TwoLaneTouring.com) and I first noticed the sky then quickly looked for a worthy subject to place in front of it.  I spotted this tree, we stopped, parked and each of us went about photographing.  I made several images from different perspectives using different focal lengths to vary the composition.  This one and the one below are two of my favorites from that small series. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark III; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 70mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 250
I think one of the most outstanding aspects of our week in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania was, each afternoon and into the evening, watching the cumulus clouds build into potential thunderheads.  Every night we were treated by these skies.  Even if I didn't get the opportunity to make photographs, just watching the clouds form, grow, morph, and take on the color of the setting sun brought a lot of satisfaction.

Same tree, but standing in a different place.  Is this image about the sky or the tree or how they compliment each other? (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark III; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 50mm; 1/640th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 250

Just about every farm had clothes hanging on several lines, from building to building as well as across porches.  Hanging clothes in the open air is the natural and time-tested way to dry clothes.  That said, I wonder how much dirt, dust and pollution from the air clings to the damp clothes and is then dried into them.  With today's dirty air, washing, then hanging out clothes to dry may be an exercise in futility.  (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark III; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 41mm; 1/400th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200
These "old school" windmills, which are water pumps to fill the troughs so the farm animals can have water available whenever they are thirsty, are dotted everywhere around the county. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark III; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 12mm; 1/320th sec. @ f/4; ISO 250

Typical scene around many of the about 30 covered bridges in the county.  Most are painted white but this one, the Kurtz Mill bridge, is painted a nice shade of dark red. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark III; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 12mm; 1/500th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200
This image was made because the sky was gorgeous with building thunderheads.  It wasn't yet near dusk and my wife and I drove around a few roads as I wanted to capture a farm with the clouds in the background.  While standing in the roadway pausing to determine what composition I desired, two Amish buggies approached from my right.  The first was a family and the second was an open buggy with a young Amish couple.  Courting maybe?  For a brief moment I thought that having a buggy pass by the farm as I made the image would really be the element to make my photograph better.  But, I could see them each looking at me with my camera in hand and having no choice but to pass in front of me, that there was a bit of angst on their faces as they anticipated I would include them in my photo.  I did not.  As close as I was to them I'd rather pass on including them out of respect for them and their way of life. If you like, you can imagine a wider angled view, with me standing back on the opposite side of the road and a buggy with an Amish family passing by, right to left, right of center, in front of the corn.  That is where I would have positioned.then.
(click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark III; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 29mm; 1/500th sec. @ f/11; ISO 200
One of the many wheat fields in the county.  This one has been partially cut. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark III; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 41mm; 1/125th sec. @ f/8; ISO 250

Olympus E-M1 Mark III; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 54mm; 1/20th sec. @ f/13; ISO 250
Just a small sampling of the mounds of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables, grown locally, available at the Central Market in the center of downtown Lancaster. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark III; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 35mm; 1/60th sec. @ f/4; ISO 800
These landscapes and farms are typical of Lancaster County.  They are neatly kept, efficient, productive and, I suspect, profitable.  After all, with everyone in the family working daily on the farm, no appliances, utilities or modern machinery to buy and maintain, costs are minimized.  What is maximized, however, is hard work!

Join me over at my website, www.dennismook.com. 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

All content on this blog is © 2013-2020 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.

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2 comments:

  1. Eric LawsonJuly 13, 2020 at 7:38 AM

    I've noticed in all your recent posts the photos were shot with the EM1 Mk III. Are you considering a comparison post between the Mk II & Mk III? I'm sure the new one has the same beautiful image quality since it uses the same sensor but I'm also sure there are plenty of more functional updates in there like the joystick for example that some might like your thoughts on. I for one would be very interested.

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    1. The Wandering LensmanJuly 13, 2020 at 9:14 AM

      Eric, thanks for your comment. I rented the E-M1 Mark III for the Lancaster trip as I was curious how much difference the camera's would make to my types of photography. I especially was interested in the joystick, handheld high resolution mode, Live ND and My Menu. I wasn't thrilled with Olympus when they first introduced this update of the 1.2, but after using it for a full week, I felt that a) the differences were enough for me to justify an upgrade and b) if Olympus makes the deal with JIP (most people have it wrong; they have not yet made the deal but hope to by 9/30) and the possibility that future sophisticated m4/3 cameras from Olympus may not happen, buying this one is my hedge against the future. So I bought the rental copy. I figure this camera can serve me for many years to come. My 1.2 will serve as my backup.

      That said, with my wife and I pretty much staying home, I feel I need to use it more and more often than I now can to give a better report on how different or how much better it is than the 1.2. I will say, that "it seems to me," with no empirical way to quantify my feelings, the image quality is a tad better than the 1.2's. Same sensor, but I think the images are just a little better. My gut tells me that Olympus may have tweaked the image processor in between the older camera and this one.

      If you want more information, email me and I'll give you some additional info privately but, for now, I haven't used it enough to make a full judgment to publish.

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