Alleghany Mennonite Meetinghouse

• Series: Attractions of Pennsylvania • Tags: Amish Countrycemetariesfarmland • Places: Alleghany Mennonite Meetinghouse

The Alleghany Meetinghouse

The historic Alleghany Meeting House was originally built in 1885, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Mennonites, for those who are unaware, are a sect of Christians similar to the Amish. They hold religious services in meetinghouses and have similar beliefs, but unlike the Amish, do make use of modern technologies such as motorized cars.

This meetinghouse is no longer in use and is preserved solely as a historic site.

A Brief Note

site updates

Apologies for the radio silence and missed Photo of the Week posts.

You’ll find a few updates making their way on to the web in the coming days, which are part of a new series describing some local sights in Pennsylvania, my beautiful home state. There will be plenty of pictures.

I’ve had access to a car, so it is certainly more varied scenery.

Additionally, I have pushed some changes that make some minor tweaks to the site. They’re not 100% tested, and they’re pretty minor.

Probably the most notable change is that posts now have a link to “Leave Feedback” at the very bottom. (Note that this is only visible on a post’s individual page, and not on the main blog.)

I consider it my Web 1.0 way of getting comments.

Stay tuned for further developments and thanks again for reading!

Deer

✍️ 🕑 • Series: Photo of the Week • Tags: wildlifeEastern PennsylvaniaHawk Mountaindeer

For the last week, I have procured access to a car. This is great, because it gives me the ability to do things other than watch the same flowers grow on the same streets.

One of the places I visited was Hawk Mountain, which I hope to return to later, both as a topic for this blog, and as a place I physically go to.

The highlight of my visit on this Wednesday morning was no bird of prey (alas!), but instead some deer munching on greenery, who were far less spooked by the presence of myself and fellow hikers than I would normally expect.

So, with three or so deer to point my camera at, and a killer telephoto lens (with suboptimal forest lighting) how did I do?

A deer, close up of her face

Grasshopper

• Series: Photo of the Week • Tags: insects

A photograph can capture a scene, an image, a fleeting moment, and transform it into an object of study.

Macro photography does this, but like super hardcore. By definition, macro photography is a 1:1-scale reproductions, where an object should be captured at life-size relative to the camera’s sensor. The lens needs to be able to focus quite closely on the subject, and it should be able to capture as sharp and distortion-free an image as possible.

Macro grasshopper!

A steady hand is needed, because shake can easily blur an image taken so close-up. Having a lot of light and a wider aperture can help cut down on shutter speed, but due to the closeness of focus, the focal plane also becomes quite narrow, such that you can only focus on a single facet of a complex surface.

With all that technical description provided, I invite you to instead picture me hopping around shoving a camera as close to a grasshopper as possible, framing photos poorly, and having it jump around.

From farther away, the grasshopper on top of an outdoor footstool. This, then is what I was dealing with...
From farther away, the grasshopper on top of an outdoor footstool. This, then is what I was dealing with...

Island: Years of Anticipation and a Review of Music

✍️ 🕑 April 2017, July 2018, and August 2020 • Tags: musicmusic reviewsconcerts i've been toOwen PallettCanada • Places: Toronto Calgary

The stage awaiting Owen Pallett & the Calgary Orchestra, July 2018. Remember concerts?
The stage awaiting Owen Pallett & the Calgary Orchestra, July 2018. Remember concerts?

Not too, too long ago, I was having a great conversation with Sepi in which the topic of what we really cared about came up.

Music was among my answers. My friend was a tad incredulous.

How much did I really care?