Sonic Sunset
Rode to Ephrata to meet my friend Dan at the Sonic. Sun was setting, and the lighting was beautiful with the neon lighting.
SmithCreate
Jonathan Smith is a web designer, graphic designer, and photographer in Harrisburg, PA.
Archive for the ‘ Photography ’ Category
Shooting Lightning
An amazing storm just passed over Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with an outstanding lightning show.
This was my first attempt at photographing lightning. The trick was to set my Nikon D70 at a wide angle to catch as much of the horizon as I could. I also set the focus at infinity since there really wasn’t anything to focus on.
The Nikon D70 was mounted on a tripod for stability because I would be taking a long exposure. By putting the Nikon D70 in Manual mode, I’m able to turn the shutter speed open as far as possible. This puts the camera in “Bulb” mode. Meaning the camera would expose as long as I held the shutter button down.
Playing with the aperture, I was able to watch the horizon for the lightning and hold the shutter button down until I felt I captured a few strikes. It’s a lot of luck and practice to capture lightning.
These were taken from my balcony facing east. Not the most un-obstructed view or the prettiest, but it’s the way the storm was heading. Probably not the wisest thing to be standing on a metal rood holding a metal tripod. But a photographer has to get his shot!
1863 Map of Perry, Juniata, and Mifflin Counties
Several years ago one of of my aunts was moving. While I was helping her move she gave me this old canvas map. I haven’t even unrolled it until recently. It always made me nervous touching it or moving it because pieces would flake off.
She told me it was an old map of Perry County, Pennsylvania. I’ve seen plenty of old maps of Perry County before. But they were always old paper maps. This map is made of canvas. As I unrolled it I finally saw how large this map is. It measures approximately 5′ x 5′. Then after closer inspection I saw the date of the map, 1863. This map dates back to the American Civil War (1861 to 1865)! What an awesome piece of history I have in front of me!
I just don’t know what to do with it though. I love history and this map is very cool, but it’s in very bad shape. I’d like to find a way to preserve it.
You can view more photos of this map on my Flickr set.
The Gas Station Gastro-Pub Photo Shoot
My latest project was to photograph The Gas Station, a gastro-pub in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. The client wanted both interior shots and food shots for multiple uses.
View a sample of these shots on my Flickr Gas Station set. Check out their web site or pay them a visit and try out their food.
Trans America Trail Visitors
Back in June I was kind enough to host Questor and Motoadventuregal as the travelled from Connecticut to Tennessee where they would start their journey on the Trans America Trail. I just recently received a post card from them thanking me for the accommodations. Here’s the entire post from Questor with photos detailing their entire journey.