Trying to find that last bit of color

Looks like this is it folks. I hopped on a trail I haven’t done before just to check it out. I am sure it would have looked awesome a few weeks back, but now I had to search for small segments of color.

 

 

This is how fast the leaves are falling. Notice the piles of color; red, yellow, orange, yellow. They were dropping fast.

 

A few bushes still has some color.

 

No this was the leaf color. Didn’t have to push these.

 

The only wildlife I saw on the jaunt.

 

This caught my eye. About 70% of the trees roots are exposed.

The Knob

Who doesn’t like crawling around a pile of rocks? I noticed these bad boys just sitting around on the top of the mountain and I thought some of them looked out of place so I decided to take a closer look. As I suspected some of them had to be adjusted.

First off the knob doesn’t refer to this pile of rocks but an area a little farther up on the Appalachian trail.

 

This is what they look like if you were to see them from the trail. Hard to miss and this is only a small portion of them.

 

You start exploring these bad boys by crawling up here.

 

Yes, of course I had to crawl to the highest point, that makes it all worth it. Center of the picture, shadow, me.  

 

 

You are not imagining things, that large rock is balanced on two smaller rocks underneath. They are too large to move even with a group of people. Amazing how they ended up like this.

 

Look closely, center of the picture, a turkey vulture just hanging  out on the rock. He would not tolerate me getting any closer so the best I could do was a 70mm. After this shot I had pushed my luck and had taken a few more steps closer to him and that was it, he couldn’t take it any more and flew.

 

View of the valley.

 

 

Same shot different focal point.

 

You can get a feel for just how many different pillars there were. I tried to snap a few shots from different angles. 

 

They really wanted to hang out on the rocks but I was crawling around them, so they simply soared above. Yup, the same 70mm I had when I started. I didn’t feel like dragging anything larger.

 

As I moved farther down the trail I found more rocks. I have to say it would be a great place to do lunch. 

 

I tried to get the best perspective on the trail below. Yes, these rocks are as high as the tree tops. Enlarge and look down to the forest floor. It’s a good 70-80 feet.

 

Couldn’t quite push this over the edge.

 

This is what happen to the previous photag trying to nab the perspective shot from the cliff edge. The rain washed away the mess, the only thing that remained was the outline. 

 

 

Of course the best way to get a feel for how these bad boys are connected is to see the pans.

As you can see the color is over. I had a great time over the last few weeks. Had taken in a lot of eye candy.

Pebbles

Although there is still some color left the goal of this shoot was to shoot the boulders (pebbles). I couldn’t resist the pond along the way.

 

Simple snapshot of the dark green with the clear blue sky.

 

The pond was like glass so I snapped a few shots on the hike out.

 

I love the way this tree hangs onto the bank. From the base it shoots out at almost a 45 degree angle.

 

The pebbles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first pan looking over the pebbles.

The second doing a full 360. I was too lazy to set the self timer and get out of the shot.

 

 

I played with the ISO on these to catch the water in motion.

 

Almost went for a roll on this shot. I was hanging onto a bank with one hand and had the camera in the other. Looking straight up from underneath the tree trying to nab that angle I almost bit it. I had about an 18 inch ledge to stand on underneath the tree. I like the perspective.

 

There were still a few trees that had their color.

 

Ok this ain’t a Warhol collage but I overexposed some images and wanted to play with the results to see what I could use. Nothing spectacular, but different.  

 

Still struggling with those perspective shots, I’ll get there.

 

I liked this so I decided to do a vertical and horizontal pan of it.

The vertical (4 frames)

 

The horizontal (16 frames)

Reflections

I do believe I hit some peak color at this location. Once again it is a place I have never been so I had to check it out.

There was one unique perspective in this area that I could not get in many of the other places I have recently shot, and that is reflection. So the theme of this shoot is reflections.

Link to complete set: Photo Album

I started out no differently than any other shoot, I started with a few snapshots. About half way through the sun came out and a reflection caught my eye. From that point forward I changed my point of view for every shot afterwards. I had taken advantage of a large body of still water.

 

The trail

A different section of the Lehigh river than some of my previous shots. A section that still has a good portion of the old canals intact.

 

The Locks

Cemented up now but most of the structure is still there, less the wood of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Reflections

Ok this is the main theme. The color was there and I tried to eyeball a decent angle for each shot. I was of course limited unless I wanted to swim and stir up the water.

 

I always try and nab a few close ups, so here they are.

 

About the only wildlife on the trail. If you look closely you may be able to see 10 mallard males. Click to enlarge or look at it via the album.

  

Hope your eyes are more relaxed now after gazing at all the eye-candy.

October Morning

Yeah, yeah, yeah, another thread about some snapshots I’ve taken. Once again this was a place I had never been – they’re always the best.

Absolutely gorgeous morning so the bike had to come out. Along with the bike I had taken the camera and camcorder.

I had to push em a bit. I love that smack me in the face color.

 

I normally don’t do clouds but the space caught me eye, both of them.

 

I was going for tree color and sky interaction here. Don’t focus too much on the drab looking road, I had to get there somehow.

 

Ok so I went crazy on one. I did not push the red!

 

While pedaling along I noticed a few beaver dams. Looks like those little critters are using concrete now. 

 

 

The snapshots are great but nothing like the pans to get a feel for what I saw. These are straight as shot, no pushing em.

 

If I breakdown and create a YouTube account I’ll push up some of the videos, otherwise I’ll just upload a few that can be downloaded then viewed.

Locks

This trip was slightly different. On a previous outing I had taken the camcorder and decided that this trip would be almost all camcorder with stills speckled in.

I’ll name the videos something meaningful so you can pull only those that may be of interest. Sorry still didn’t get around to YouTube.

The videos: Video of Trip 

 

This is one of two locks, the other is in the video only. I am guessing it is about 70 feet from top to bottom. I have no idea what that little crawl space is to the left of the entrance. Both locks had one.  

 

I am still struggling to figure out how a lock this high above the water level worked. I have to be missing something, unless the lock was a lot deeper and they backfilled it.

Pan of shot above.

 

Here is a view of the back wall.

 

Anyone know what purpose this little tunnel served?

 

Some close ups. Someone went through a lot of trouble aligning those rocks.

 

Just some snapshots of a waterfall nearby.

St Nicks–Recap

First I’d like to thank the folks for leaving in most of the steps. Without these access to the upper levels would be extremely difficult.

I have been here twice, first on the scouting trip and the second time to shoot. On both visits folks were exploring this place. Let’s face it, where are you going to see this stuff? About the only place you may is around Pittsburgh in an abandon steel mill or old rock quarry. This is from an era long since gone. The only reason this is still standing is because it was built so well and they haven’t decided to reclaim the metal. I’m sure they will one day.

I shot some video to help augment the stills. Watch these first and then you’ll have a better idea of what you are looking at with the stills.

Here are all of the photos from the outing.

Now some of the shots.

 

Yup, this is what they did before computers. Look at the date, it is over 50 years old. That is what I love about this place. Hardly any vandalism after being abandon for over 30 years.

 

Heck, these look better than my boots. I should have swapped mine with a pair of these. But I couldn’t… the photag in me said look, frame up, click, and leave it exactly the way you found it.

 

No I didn’t look in the cans to see what was in them. However it looks like someone opened the bottle and dumped some of the contents out right next to it.

 

The pipes didn’t blow me away with color but they were an opportunity for a close up detail shot.

 

I kept these together so you can get a feel for what they look like on the outside and inside. There are several of them throughout the building. I am going to guess they filtered the coal while breaking it into smaller pieces. All of them have some sort of pump attached which must have pulled off the very fine coal dust, maybe slurry as I have heard it called. 

 

I was half tempted to crawl around the edge but with the gear I had on it wasn’t worth the shot. You barely have a foot of clearance.

 

The closest thing I could find to the helm. Electrical in nature I am guessing this is what controlled what was on and what wasn’t. Each major section had one.

 

For the most part the building was symmetrical. Whatever you had on one side was duplicated on the other. Makes sense from a maintenance perspective, repair one side while the other remains up. 

 

Probably not something you want to drag over your head. I’m guessing these pulled off the coal floating on top from one of these separating devices. From what I read the unwanted slate and other heavier stuff sank while the coal tended to float towards the top.

 

The next time you complain about your office job just think of what it was like working here with all these things turning and grinding. Long before the days of OSHA. I doubt they even wore ear plugs.

 

Certainly air related. I‘m guessing these bad boys pulled the dust out of the place so one could see.

 

This appeared to be the main driver of the main conveyor that pulled the coal up to the 10th floor. I am guessing this was the start of the process and everything beyond that was driven by gravity or some smaller chute/conveyor.

 

Definitely would not have wanted to be an electrician in this place. Every electrical closet was dark with a minimal amount of space behind what appear to be open wires. These closets probably had to be closed off due to the amount of dust throughout the place. Each one is dark with a few light blubs hanging overhead. Talk about safety hazard.

 

All the copper had been removed most likely due to the fact it had a fair market value and was worth salvaging. However, if you look closely you can see they left some. You barely have two feet of clearance to navigate behind this panel. The wires, I can only assume full of current, are attached to bolts sticking out the back of this panel. Imaging walking into this closet with a wrench.

The front of the panel shown above.

Yeah they look like solenoids to me. Pretty big ones. Must have been some serious juice running through those terminals.  

 

I wasn’t about to venture too far down this bad boy. Most of this building is solid, except for this conveyor. If you look closely you’ll see sections of the floor missing. Yup, that is why I  remained satisfied with the shot from exactly where I took it. I walked down the shoot about 15 feet and decided the floor wasn’t exactly something I felt comfortable with. One of the few places that had wood.  

 

Hey look at that little toy shovel down there. Looks like a Tonka.

 

EASY! Check out the video of the elevator. You’ll get a better feel for the drop. Whew, making me dizzy just looking at it.

 

I don’t know what this thing did. The pipe was full of silt so I am guessing it was some sort of filtering device.

 

This must have been their mail room. It was one of two areas that closely resembled an office. 

 

I like these perspective shots, never get tired of them.

 

And that was it… I found my door. You know I had to walk through.

 

This was a great shoot. I had never done anything like this before (excluding the scouting trip). If I do go back I’ll be shooting nothing but video. It is the only way for the viewer to get a sense of the immensity of this place. 

If you recognize any of this equipment and know how it works I’d be interested in hearing from you.

The Quest for Color–Results

First of all thanks everyone for coming out. We had a safe trip and all cameras returned home safely.

As with every trip I learned something new. I actually learned quite a few things on this trip – thanks for letting me pick your brains!

If you were at the event and you want to post a few of your masterpieces let me know and I’ll grant you access to update the thread. Or you can pop me a link to your pics and I’ll update the blog with your link.

Now as promised here are some of my shots. Double click to expand.

The trail.

Contrasting foreground and background. Played around with the short depth of field when I saw the opportunity.

How could I resist the moss?

I never get tired of these. No matter how many times you shoot them, no matter how many different perspectives. They are always different and always easy on the eyes.

The falls.

The bike trail down below. Yes, if you double click and expand the picture you can see it. This is a small section of the trail. Within the next week or so I’ll be exploring other sections. Bring your bike as well as your camera.

The Pans. I love these. Every one allows you to step into the picture.

Link to all the pictures: Album

Hope you like them. I had a great time taking them.

For those on the trip: Yes, I did look into nabbing the windmills. I have a venue but it is a pretty good distance and will require some walking. I cannot guarantee we will not enter some restricted zones. PM me and we’ll hammer out a date and meet up point.

LV Gorge Bike Rides

Northern Trail: Done, see the pictures below or the thread “This is why I get up in the mornings”.

Southern Trail: Done, see the pictures below.

Yes the human powered bike.

I will be eyeballing the weather and post a GO/NO GO the mornings of. The leaves are peak and I want to take advantage of every day. There are two rides scheduled. I’ll pick days with the MOST sun. I’ll update the blog the night before with the time.

Trail North: TrailNorth

Trail South: TrailSouth

I take many pictures so I’ll be stopping along the way on both trails.

Trail North Start—

 

The first lock.

Trail North End—

Trail South Start—

Some quick snaps of the river.

 

Not sure what this was but there are always little structures you find on this trail. All made of stone so you can assume they were all built back in the 1800 or early 1900s.

 

After the frost the leaves started dropping like crazy. Gotta get those last few jaunts in before they have fallen.

I have quite a few snapshots of the trail (see TrailSouthAlbum the end). Nothing in the shot just a snap of the trail to give you a feel for what it looks like.

Yeah, yeah, always have to find some shrooms. Surprisingly there were only a few. Unless of course I missed most of them.

 

Had to sneak down to the river again, wanted to get a better shot at the bridge. Yes these are still in use.

 

Not sure what kind of moss was on the rock formation but it had a neat looking green color. I am sure it was something in the rock, the rest of the shots are of the moss wall. 

 

I decided to move under the rock to get a better angle. I was dodging the water drops as I focused. Didn’t stay under it for long.

 

Played with the ISO settings on the first shot. It gave me a nice clear edge on the bark.

Yes, there was a lot of yellow.

 

I couldn’t resist crawling around on this rock. First shot give you a feel for what it looked like. The rest are just different perspective shots once I crawled out on it.

 

This is about the only red I found.

 

Always a nice peaceful ride.

Trail South End—

Link to album: RockportSouth

This is why I get up in the morning…

I had to use the bike, no not the motorcycle, the manual one.

It looks like the start of peak color.

I placed the slideshow a little farther down in the blog. I added a few pictures to give you a feel for the color. It was awesome.

The trail. 1 on a 10 scale. Flat, less than a half of a percent grade. Well maintained.

Eye candy along the way.

The Incan terraces. My guess is this was some sort of lock many moons ago. The slide deck has more images of this.

Spotted a few shrooms along the way.

Couldn’t resist this moss wall.

 

Link to slideshow: Album

I wouldn’t mind doing this again. The leaves will be gone in a few weeks so if I do decide to do it it will be within another week or so. There are also many tributaries feeding into the river that are nice stops.