ITS BEEN AWHILE!

Hello out there to my Followers.  I know that I have not Posted here for quite some time, but there has been a valid reason for this.  To make a long story short, I've been having computer issues in the past.  Some of the Web pages I frequent would not appear on my screen.  On the other hand, sometimes they would.  Did not understand why.  After much aggravation with this, I took this Laptop to a computer repair business here in my area.  They had my Laptop for a few days and finally called to say it was repaired and working just fine.  I paid the hefty cost and was told that I had gotten a nasty virus.  Was suggested to me that I use a recommended virus program.  I have done so, and I'm hoping this does not happen to me again.  It is very aggravating, to say the least.  So, I'm still here so far.

So, now on to present time.  Before I had all this trouble I have been playing around with 2 Photo Editing Programs that I've had for a few months before.  I have purchased Lightroom CC & Photoshop CC to learn how to use them to their full compacity.  Lightroom CC does so very much and it's a bit hard to learn.  I've gotten the jist of it, but not fully.  Photoshop CC is nuts!  I didn't understand just how to use this.  I could only do a few basic things with it.  It had me frustrated until I found out about Photoshop Essentials.  This web-site lets me down-load instructions on how to do editing step-by-step.  I tried it out.  It worked just fine, so far.  I can look-up how to do something and then follow what it tells me to do.  How bout' that!

Here is one of the Images I learned on how to make B&W Photography more vivid and better than just a plain Image.  It's not really hard to do.  Just takes a bit of time to get it the way you want the Image to be.  Following what I was told to do, it still took me 3 times to get this the way you see it.  I think it looks so much better than plain B&W.  I must state that this is not my Image, but I could use it with permission to learn Photoshop.

Now, this one is my Image, taken with my Nikon D7000 camera of the old Textile Machine Works Building that is now being made into fancy apartments.  With a bit of practice, I seem to get better.

Here is the last one.  It's another building of the Textile Machine Works.  I do like B&W photography, but I still think that it has its place.  When photographing subjects that are old and from the past, I think it works well.

Thank you for reading.

Les

DOING SOME PRACTICE.

A few day's ago the weather was not so good.  It was cloudy, wet, dripping rain, cold, and foggy.  Thought that this would be a good time to get "out there" and try to capture a foggy Image.  Driving over to a favorite place that I often go too, I observed this while driving slowly by.  Had to back up the car and park alongside the road.  Set the Pentax for Cloudy, focused the Image, and pressed the shutter.  It didn't turn out too bad.  I think that Fog looks better when captured in B&W.

Here is another one that I shot with the Pentax.  The old Bridge over the Dam is no longer used.  Considered un-safe for traffic.  It's been this way for many years.  It's ok for walking on, but traffic would be a bad thing.

Here is another one that was taken at a favorite place that I go too once in a while.  Tried to capture the Fog over the wet lands, plus the dripping water from the trees.

I'm not really all that great with B&W Photos.  I need practice.  It comes with time.

SOMETHING NEW FOR ME

About 2 weeks ago, I happen to come across an article on using a Crystal Glass Ball for Photography.  I found this to be an interesting thing to do, so I thought I'd give this a try and see what it's all about.  I went to Amazon and ordered one of these Balls and it came to me via UPS truck.  Kinda neat, I think.  It looks just like the one pictured above, but without the Acrylic stand, you see.  That has to be ordered separately.  However, a small nice little polished wooden stand did come with it.

So, with my NEW thing, I decided to go give this a try.  I found it it's not quite as easy to do as you might think.  First, I had to find a place to put this and what to put it on.  I used one of my Tripods that was broken to set the Ball on and it would reflect what was behind the Ball.  Set up my Pentax K10d and set it to Micro so I can get up close to it.  Not really knowing what I'm doing, I kept trying.  Got everything right and using a Remote Shutter I pressed the button.

This is the 1st Image that I took.  With a small amount of Post Processing in Lightroom CC, I got it to look like this.  Not too bad for the 1st time!

Here is the 2nd Image I took.  Much better I think!

I'm going to keep playing with this and see what I can come up with.  I think that there are many possibilities.

Until next time.

Les

FALL IS HERE!

After a sometimes Hot Summer, Fall is finally here.  This is my favorite time of the year, when Nature gives off all her splendor for one last "look at me" before old Man Winter set's in.  For some reason, Fall is a bit late around here.  The Colors are very sparse.  Depends on where you go.  Further up North from my area, the leaves are changing more than here.  Normally, by now, there would be a lot more color.

This is what I mean about sparse color.  This Image was taken about a week ago.  There is very little color compared to the other one.  Maybe because of all the rain we've had over the past few weeks.  However, I was under the impression that the more rain you have, the better the color.  Guess that's not the case here.

As you can see I have a NEW image Watermark.  I think that this Signature Watermark makes my Images more professional looking, even though I'm no Pro Photographer.

Until later.

Les

HAUNTED SCHOOL

For a number of years now, I have been told that my former High School is Haunted by 2 Spirits from it's past.

Pictured above is what my old HS looks like today.  It truly has not changed much since my day's here back in the early 60's for my 7th, 8th, and 9th Grade.  The outside has stayed the same, the trees in the background have gotten bigger, and there is some more sidewalk here for the NEW HS that was built just behind this frame I took.  Oh Yes.  There was no yellow rail next to the school then, either.

The inside of the building is a different story.  After walking around the outside and shooting some more Images, I wanted to see the inside of this Hallowed old building.  I went in the white door you see in the center of the Image.  Went up the 5 steps, thru the open double doors, and then into what looked like a new small reception area.  The school is now the Administration Building for the Oley Valley School District.  A nice Lady came out and asked who I was.  I told her and asked if I could Tour my old school and take some Images.  She told me that I could, but would have to wait for a "Escort." that would take me thru the 2 floors!  Could not do this on my own.  School Laws have changed a whole lot!!

Another nice Lady came out and told me to follow her, as if I don't know where I'm going?  Anyway, I asked her point blank if the school is Haunted.  Her response was "Yes. I know it is.  I've seen it for real.  Many strange things happen here."  What!  So, it is true what I heard.  "Yes, it is."

This is looking down the 1st Floor Hallway.  The Old lockers are gone from the wall and Classroom doors are kept open for a reason.  I was told that the doors open and close for no reason.  Lights come on and off and voices are heard from no-ware.  The Circuit Breaker on the wall to the right is disconnected from any electric.  Interesting!  These were my old Classrooms years ago.

 Looking down another Classroom Hallway.  Notice the doors.  Footsteps are heard here in the Hallway and there is no one here!  The Wall color has changed.  They were not as bright back then as they are now.  These Hallways used to be filled with kids going to and from Classes years ago.

This is what used to be the Gym years ago.  Now, it's a storage area for old records.  Those red walls were not there when I was here.  They were built later on for some reason.  The original Stage is still here with just one of the basketball nets hanging in front.  There is still electric service in here yet.  The Gym floor is gone and so are the bleachers that were on each side where the red wall now is.  Sometimes, the lights turn off for no reason that can be explained.  There used to be HS dances here on a Saturday night, basketball games, and also a Cafeteria were once all here.

Looking to the front of the Gym.  The 2 doors in the back led to the outside.  I can view this Image and remember back from what was once here.  It's different.  I sort of wished it would have stayed the same, but nothing remains the same as it was.  I used to eat my lunch in here.  I had to pay a whole 35 cents for lunch!!  It was always a hot meal.  The new tables and chairs on the left are from a later time.  Not mine.

I know, what's up with this?  Just a chair and a toy piano, right.  Well, I was told a story about this.  4 day's ago this room was empty.  Nothing was in here at all!  2 day's later this appeared in the center of the room!!  No one else was in here.  It's a locked room.  Where & how did this get in here?  No one knows.  It was left as it was found.  Rather strange!

As I walked thru my old School, my inner mind went back in time visualizing what used to be here.  Back to the day's when Life was so much more simple for me.  I could look into the Classrooms that I used to go into for different subjects.  Now, these rooms are bare and tore up.  Blackboards still hang where they were, but no one writes on them anymore.  In the future this old school will be torn down to make way for a new Park.  The History of this school will be preserved in the NEW HS for another generation to see how we used to go to school so long ago.

Thanks for stopping by.

Les

NOTHING HERE ANYMORE!

This is all that remains of the Main Building in a Recreation Park that once used to be here.  The bright squares you see are all made of square blocks of glass.  I'm surprised that most of them are still here and not stolen as a souvenir of what happened here years ago.  This is in the same place as the previous Post where 2 teenagers were murdered.

There is not much left of the once popular place.  The roof has fallen in, and left just a huge pile of rotting wood.  Some of the brick walls have caved in.  Lot's of junk is in the inside.  You can't even tell this had a arcade in it with lot's of kids.  It truly is a strange place to visit ever since those teenagers were killed here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Les

MY OLD HOME

Here is a Image of my old home from back when I was a teenager in the early 60's.  I shot this picture last summer when it was a bit on the warm side.  Looks like a barn, doesn't it?

It really does not look like it now, but there is a whole lot that went on here in those years long ago.  The house did not look like what you see now.  A whole lot of work, sweat, and time went into making this home what it is now.  When my Step-Father and Mother first bought this place it looked like a broken down home that no one wanted.  However, my Mother & Step-Father saw possibilities with it, so they decided to buy it and fix it up.

There was hardly any roof to it,  the stone walls on the outside were crumbling at places, the windows were broken, the front porch was not there.  Just a big open space that had all kinds of junk in it, the land was full of weeds and trash.  There is a garage there under the porch, and it had no door.  This is just part of the outside.  The inside was a total mess, to say the least.  The floors needed new wood, the walls were a joke.  There was dust, and dirt everywhere you looked.  I was told that a rat was on the living room floor that I never saw!  The 2 lane road that you see now, was nothing but a dirt road that kicked up dust when it was dry.  Now, it's macadam.

Here I am, just turning 13, and had to work my butt off to help build and repair this home.  Everyday, there was work, work, work!  Cleaning up the land was one of my jobs.  My Brother Jamie, did not come around until 1960.  He was just a baby back then.  My Step-Father did allot of the work, plus outside contractors that were hired to perform some of the work.  New Windows, roof, singles, lots of painting were all done over a large period of time.  Finally, it looked like a nice home after working so much on it.  To have this much repair, my Mother must have taken out a loan to pay for it all.

Then, in April of 1960, my Step-Father passed away from a massive heart attack.  There was no one there anymore that could earn a living to support the expense of the house.  In a short period of time, my Mother sold this house and moved into a new House Trailer on the outside of Fleetwood.  The house was sold for $10,500!  Back then that kind of money was pretty good.  Since then, the new owners have stayed here since they bought it.  They added a new 2 bay garage, which you see in the back part of the Image.  They must have liked how we fixed the place up.

So, now you know that my Life when younger was full of work that taught me a lesson.  If you want something to look nice, you have to work for it.  It's not handed to you!

Thanks for stopping by.

Les