Once again I dropped my daughter off for her sports practice and went off for a short hike around Cedar Creek Park along the gorge trail. Wanting to pack light, I only brought the Leica M10 and the 3 tiny primes I own for it, a 21mm, 35mm and 50mm. Of course, since I left my big telephoto at home, the first thing I see upon exiting my car is a Belted Kingfisher flitting about. Oh well, next time.
The rain finally gave us a break for the past 2 days and that allowed me to spend quality time with my chainsaw and clear some downed trees then go for a short hike after on Saturday. Sunday I brought the camera gear to Church to get updated imagery for them to have. Being able to volunteer and capture these moments is a blessing.
I was all set up for the eclipse today with the big Nikon 180-600mm and a 1.4x teleconverter on a sturdy tripod and a solar filter on the front… and south-western Pennsylvania weather laughed at me. A few minutes before totality, the clouds rolled in and block all of it. 20 minutes after that, the sun was mostly back out. At least while hiking in the evening I found some wildlife to photograph.
So the gate is normally the entrance to my hiking around the upper area of Bridgeport Dam. This used to be a road that would cross the lake, but it’s long been shut down. Well, when I went out there today, I realized my knee high rubber boots wouldn’t be enough to keep me dry. Not giving up, I drove the 15 minutes home and strapped a kayak to my roof and came back. It was well worth it.