Photography isn’t just my job, it’s my passion. (Or maybe obsession.) Weddings are my first love, but in my spare time I shoot all kinds of stuff. This is where I share the personal work.
Millions and millions of landscape pictures are taken every year and 99.9 percent of them suck. Why should I contribute to this photographic pollution when people are so much more interesting? Faces tell stories.
I love faces, but I’m also drawn to old, decaying things: cars, houses, factories. This 1964 Ford Falcon rests in a field behind Don Stuller Motors in Shirleysburg, PA. Owner Greg Stuller has an amazing supply of parts for cars and trucks from 1979 back. He also restores old cars and trucks.
A 1950 four-door Ford.
In 1967, a Chevy Impala with a 327 was to die for.
Maybe I should get a BIO HAZARD jacket. Maybe I could wear it to weddings.
Or not.
These two photographs are from the Moravian Tile Works in Doylestown, PA. These buildings were completed in 1912. The architecture is fantastic.
This candid portrait is from a high school softball game. I was having fun shooting action with my new Nikon D4, but I turned around and found this fan watching the game.
It’s not the first time I’ve come home from a sports event with a nice portrait. If you keep scrolling down, you’ll come to one I shot while leaving a football game last fall.
Old things are great, and they’re even better if they’re decaying. This pickup spends its days rusting in a salvage yard in Milroy, PA — although there’s not much left here to salvage.
I was just driving around one day when I happened upon a house in Tyrone that has dozens of birdhouses in the front yard. Very cool.
This fence stands along a back road between State College and Potters Mills. The shed with the great blue doors is near … well, it isn’t really near anything.
The Buckingham Valley Railroad used to run through Bucks County, PA, but a few cars are all that’s left. They sit on rusting rails between Newtown and Doylestown.
These wonderful women’s shoes from the early 1900s belong to Margaret McCann, who owns and operates the Margaret McCann School of Dance in Mifflintown, PA.
Shoes like these were probably horribly uncomfortable, which would explain why my great-grandmother was scowling in every picture that was taken of her.
Isn’t this 1921 trolley car fantastic? It used to roll between Lewistown and Harrisburg, but now it rests in a field along Route 522. A great reminder of another era.
When I saw it, I slammed on the brakes, hung a U-turn and ran lickety-splickly to ask permission to take some shots.
About 25 miles away, those railroad tracks pass over this pedestrian tunnel in Mifflin. It looks like it’s out of an old movie, doesn’t it? Do you prefer the black and white or color?
This isn’t from The Titanic; it’s the door on a 1908 vault in what was the 1st National Bank in Milroy, PA. I wish I could somehow haul the whole vault to my house.
The building is now occupied by B’s ScreenPrinting & Embroidery. Many thanks for allowing me in with my camera.
These are from the Hotel Lewistown, which was a grand place when it was built in 1937. It’s now closed and for sale. Check out the dust, footprints and microwave on the bed!
Bet you don’t have keys like this in your pocket.
Cruising for snaps is a great way to spend a day. This trailer stands alone in a field near the village of Van Wert, PA.
People are endlessly fascinating. I found this guy riding his bicycle along Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. I had gone there to shoot a wedding, and I spent the next day walking around with my camera.
This man was selling military memorabilia near the Lincoln Memorial.
The Vietnam Memorial is a very sad place. All those names. More than 58,000 men and women.
These photographs are from the Mifflin County Industrial Development Center, which is undergoing a facelift in Lewistown, PA. The buildings that are being demolished were part of the American Viscose plant, which was submerged in a crippling 1972 flood.
The cost to reopen the factory was prohibitive. Ironically, demand for the polyester fabric manufactured at Viscose skyrocketed just a few years later — the disco era.
The image above, with the Venetian blinds, is probably my favorite on this page.
I spent Christmas with family in Bucks County, PA, and I captured this incredible face at the annual re-enactment of George Washington crossing the Delaware River.
I took a ton of pictures that day, but this is by far my favorite.
I love black and white. It has a little magic. This is from a frosty morning in Tyler State Park in Newtown, PA, a couple of days before Christmas.
I liked this portrait from the beginning. This is Joseph Battista Sr., photographed with just window light at Lily Manor in Mifflin, PA.
The shot above is from a really fun trip to northern Pennsylvania. I tried it in black and white, but it didn’t work nearly as well.
I found a couple of fantastic places recently. I won’t tell you where they are because the owners don’t want to find them crawling with photographers (or vandals), but I’ve had a great time shooting.
Here are a couple of favorites. Stay tuned for more.
Meet Robert W. Yoder. “He’s a special man,” says his daughter, JoAnn McMinn. “89 years old, World War II veteran, worked hard his whole life, generous and a great example for his family.”
I have a fondness for old, decaying objects — things that once were magnificent and proud, but now have a different kind of beauty, like this train in Burnham, PA.
Several of the railroad cars were used as a restaurant, but that was long, long ago.
I caught the image above in Cape May, N.J. A woman was sitting in a rocking chair at Congress Hall, a beautiful old hotel just off the beach. I loved her shoes and knew just what I wanted: a “faceless portrait.” It’s up to the viewer to decide how old she is, what she’s wearing, what she’s like.
I shot this portrait at a Juniata High School football game. It’s a grab shot, entirely unposed. I got one frame before he looked away.
Speaking of football …
I went to the Juniata-Central Mountain game to see if I could capture interesting images without looking at the field. I had a great time, and I’m happy with these shots.
You never know what you’ll find if you look carefully.
I spent years photographing landscapes with a big wooden camera like this. Now landscapes bore me.
