The National Apple Harvest Festival

It’s more than just about the apples, but that’s certainly a good reason to go! This will be my second year at this very fun event. It runs for two weekends (Oct. 2-3 and Oct. 9-10). The festival is out in the Gettysburg area in the center of apple country here in Pennsylvania. It’s beautiful country out that way as well, full of apple orchards and farm land. The weather this first weekend looks to be ideal and I am excited to get out there. Check out the festival’s website here for more information – National Apple Harvest Festival

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Hawk Mountain Wildlife Art Show – Sept. 25-26

This weekend I will be exhibiting and selling my work at the Cabela’s in Hamburg, PA to benefit the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton, PA. Hawk Mountain is a busy spot during the fall as hundreds of raptors migrate through the valley. Visitors from around the country and the world will sit on the lookout rocks and glory at the sight of these amazing birds flying overhead.

The Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in cooperation with Cabela’s presents regional artists for a special show this weekend. The artists will be set up in what’s called “Deer Country” inside Cabela’s both Saturday and Sunday.

Art Show at Cabela's, Hamburg, PA

Founder’s Award Hanging

It was a beautiful day here in Bucks County, PA and so the family headed out to the Scarecrow Festival at Peddler’s Village in Lahaska, PA. While we were there we took it as an opportunity to see my framed print “Three’s Company” hanging in the Golden Plow Inn. This was the piece that won the Founder’s Award at the Peddler’s Village Fine Art and Craft show this past June. The Founder’s Award is a Purchase award and I had been told where the piece would hang. It was nice to see my work hanging prominently in the reception area.

Golden Plow Inn Reception Area

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Luna Sea

I think this will be my last post of the nocturne images from North Carolina. Having some fun with the post title, but this is a serious image to me. The moon light shining on the waves glimmers silver and is quite evocative. But also, the way the clouds and reflective elements (shells, stones) on the sand pick up the moonlight, keep the image from going too dark.

The exposure was about 15 seconds long which would normally blow out the sky due to the full moon shining brightly. In order to hold back the moon a bit I performed a some darkroom dodging right in the field. By simply using my hand to block the top part of the lens during part of the exposure, I was able to keep the reflected moon light from overpowering the image.

This image is now available as a print approximately 9.75″ x 13.75″ and matted to 16″ x 20″ for $79.

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Chadds Ford Days – Sept. 11-12, 2010

Chadds Ford Days is this weekend, Sept 11-12 from 10-5pm each day. The third time looks to be the charm for me at this great event in the Brandywine Valley. The forecast for this weekend looks wonderful! Yes, my fingers are crossed anyway.

Held on the grounds of the Chadds Ford Historical Society in Chadds Ford, PA, this outdoor event has fine art, fine craft, great food and excellent music. See their website here for directions and more information.

Historical Society barn

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Star by Moonlight

During my trip to the Outer Banks of NC last week, we had several clear evenings. With a moon lit beach, I began to consider basic landscape compositional practices. The light reflecting off of the ocean was great and I knew that with a longer exposure that moon lit water would become liquid silver. What I wanted was an interesting element on the beach itself that could anchor the image and place context to both the beach and the night-time setting. What I found, was a “star”. OK a starfish to be exact.

I selected an exposure that was long enough to “light” the scene including the star which was on a darker part of the scene. I also needed a bit of surf action to add that silvery liquid element. The previous wave met the starfish and drew some sand back from under it. This gave the starfish the feeling of being a part of the ocean and not just a stagnant prop.

Working at night is tricky, even with good moonlight. Focusing in such minimal lighting is challenging as is visualizing a final image, especially when that image has moving parts (the waves). But, as soon as the idea struck me, I had to give it a try.

(c) 2010 Paul Grecian

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Outer Banks, NC at Night

Watching Hurricane Earl on television as it’s just offshore of the Outer Banks in North Carolina, I feel for the people who are being forced to leave the Outer Banks and their homes. Parts of Route 12 can be difficult even in good weather and driving in miles of traffic congestion has got to be scary when you know a storm is coming. I wish all the evacuees the best.

I am thankful that we had calmer weather during our stay around Duck, NC last week. In fact, toward the end of the week we had a few starry sky nights that allowed me to do some work on a moon-lit beach. The combination of moonlight and artificial light sources from the beachfront properties, made for interesting and evocative conditions.

This image was made looking north along the beach in front of where we were staying. The houses are all lit with their interior lights and the beach is a wash with moonlight. I tried several different exposures using the Bulb setting and counted out loud while holding the button on the cable release. Using a Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon 17-40mm L lens wide open at f4, this was about a 15 second exposure. The RAW image was then processed in Photoshop CS4 with levels and perspective adjustments made. I was pleased to see a very clear Big Dipper evident in the sky, but a close look shows a sky full of stars. Still, the Big Dipper is iconic and I emphasize that constellation in the image to make it as clear as I remembered it.

Outer Banks, NC at Night

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