Tag Archives: Laurelville

Not Enough Posting

With the craziness that 2020 was behind us, I’m trying to find time to get back into my photography hobby.  While I never let the camera sit too long on the shelf, the majority of reaching for it has been for family shots only.  The times I have managed to get out have been fewer, but still needed.

Now that 2021 is here, I thought I’d start off the year right with the return of an old friend.  A few years ago, I made the mistake of selling off my Fuji X kit to move to Sony.  Exactly 1 year later, I swiftly moved back to Fuji because the Sony just didn’t feel right.  Last week, I finally came full circle by picking up an X-Pro3 to replace my beloved X-Pro2.

The color is the Dura Silver finish and I love it.  This camera just makes me want to get out and shoot.  Everything about it is so intuitive and simple.  The new optical and electronic viewfinder is better than the X-Pro2 model in both resolution and overall size.  It does not have the dual magnification like the X-Pro2, but I haven’t found myself missing that yet as my main lenses, the 23mm, 35mm and a 56mm all work quite well with it.  I went out for my first short hike with it this afternoon in below freezing temperatures and couldn’t have been happier with it.

It took me 2 years of mistakes and learning, but I finally came back to where I should have been all along.

Laurelville in Autumn

Laurelville is a place that my family enjoys spending time at.  My wife grew up going to camp there and now we are Association Members.  Twice a year, the members go and visit the grounds and spend time together and help out with volunteer projects.  It’s always a wonderful weekend of fellowship and slowing down.  I normally try to sneak in a quick hike to revel in the nature of it all.

Near the high point of the property is Split Rock, which can be reached by following a trail to the top.  Coming back down to Jacob’s Creek, a small waterfall rushes.  This trip was preceded by an abundance of rain, so the creek was quite high.

There is also a kiln on the property which was in use for the entire weekend.  There was a crew from a local class that were stoking the fires every hour of the day and night.  I stopped down Saturday night to check it out.

The temperature was roughly 1,600 degree’s at this point, and they still wanted to take it even higher to around 2,500.  The heat output was intense and getting close was quite hot.  It seemed like the kiln’s appetite for wood never let up, every few minutes, more logs would be tossed into the inferno within.

The weekend came to an end and my family and I are back at home.  Now we have to go back to the real world.