Recently in people Category

Seven-year old Katrina Pauling's remarkable work for 'those in need' --she paints stones and sells them-- reminds me of a quote by Elinor Smith: "It has long since come to my attention that people of accomlishment rarely sat back and let things happpen to them. They went out and happened to things."

The York Daily Record did a story on little Katrina, a little sparkplug of a girl whose parents have obviously pointed her in the right direction. Seven-year old girls might not be able to change the world, but they can change their own little corner of it.

Good luck to Katrina, and those who are helping her cause.

Occasionally, we do stories on events, where the people aren't necessarily the stars. While the dance, the vehicle, the building or the scene may be the reason we're there, we nearly always try to use people as a focal point.

Last week, we shot a roller skating fund-raiser. Shooting in a dark rink with disco lights bouncing off the walls made it a a challenge to get an interesting shot without a pasty flash-bash feel. We set up two flashes to get off-camera shadows, used a slow exposure (1/2 second?) to show the colored lights in a blurred background pattern and panned to catch skaters in motion with the flashes.

It nearly worked until the second flash was knocked off the rail and was broken. So we improvised and went with a single flash and continued to use the slow shutter speeds to blur the lights. It worked out.

About a dozen years ago, we traveled to Washington D.C. 's Dupont Circle to do a story on the gay entertainment scene, where we shot the photo above. The scene itself was the story and the subject of the photos. The dance club was drowning in reds, and blues and yellows, but not any real strong white light. So, to show motion we used the slow shutter speeds, but still stopped enough of the dancing, skating, partying with the flash to show what was happening.

Give it a try. It will probably take some experimenting to adjust the f-stops, ISO, and speed to get the right exposure but the picture will be a intersting mix of color and speed.

It's terrific to show all these colors, and but don't forget the reason you're there to start with. Stop the action with the flash.

For Charlie and Barbara Gerlach, building a small sustainable farm in the mountains of northern Pennsylvania was a simple thing.

A few buildings, an organic garden, maybe an animal or two, and a view so beautiful Charlie can only call it "spectacular."

As happens so often, things didn't turn out exactly as planned. The 51-acre Berry Fields Farm has sprouted outbuildings, a bed and breakfast, a restaurant and gift shop.

In this photo, taken decades ago, a trio of York city school students was being shown a hissing cockroach during a visit from a zoo, or visiting nature education group. It's been that long ago, I don't remember.

But these are the kinds of photos we're looking to shoot-- good pictures of good kids doing good things. In thise case, learning new things.

Privacy issues have scared some school administrators from calling the YDR when their students are doing good things. Privacy is not a problem and we understand. If there is a student or two who can't have their photo taken, just point out that student, and we don't take their picture. Period. Don't punish the other students who are raising money for charity, learning new skills, or other visual activities because one student can't be photographed.

We're looking for positive, visual photos of students. We get the bad news from the police scanner, but we need your eyes and ears to find positive things within your school. With your help, we'll come out and take photos.

A little girl marvels at one of the hundreds of butterflies that live in Hershey Gardens' Butterfly House, and in particular, this one that landed on her hand. The house is open this week until 6 p.m., then until September 27, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

As long as Justin Teague had a fishing pole in his hand, he could get splashed all he wanted on the new fishing wharf at Conowingo Dam in Maryland. On these recent miserably hot days, who can blame him for being more interested in being splashed than catching a trophy fish?

Justin laid down his pole for a few minutes and security chased him off the pier. It's for fishing, the security man said, not for wading or swimming.

Tyler Brigham enjoys cooling off at the Graham Aquatic Center during a weekly swim trip by campers from Camp Pennwood. In operation since 1962, Camp Pennwood is sponsored by the Arc of York County, and hosts children with intellectual disabilities ages 6 to 21.

Tyler is one of my favorite people at camp. It's a joy watching these kids start camp at age six and see how they progress as teenagers.

Roger Shaffer is 96 years old, and has hours and hours of stories to tell about growing up in Hanover Junction train station. Trains rolling past at all hours, the passengers wandering the station's lobby. He'll tell you about things that happened nearly a century ago, and he'll sprinkle in details like it happened yesterday.

Here's a video of Roger telling just a bit of what he remembers.

The earliest memory of the station was riding a tricycle around the lobby before the passengers got there. He remembers its color, the sounds of the station and the ambience of the building. And keep in mind much of this happened before World War I, before Babe Ruth, and before automobiles became the Next Big Thing.

Since the York County Park system refurbished the station, he's supplied the station with model-size replicas of the Junction's buildings and other structures.

He's an amazing source of local history.

James Bomberger, left, and Norman Patterson of New Holland hook a catfish during their outing to the base of the Holtwood Dam on Monday. Bomberger and Patterson, along with Liana Whitcraft, fish the Susquehanna River, though not necessarily in the dam area.

Driving over the Norman Wood Bridge between Lancaster and York Counties, drivers don't truly get a sense of how big the Holtwood Dam is. On a quiet day, when the water is barely getting over the dam, fishermen hit the area below, looking for catfish.

Last summer, I drove past Jacob and Aaron Amspacher's home along Delta Road and stopped to photograph the twins jumping on, over, and off the trampoline/raft in their farm pond.

As I wandered down the road Monday, they were at it again. This time, they were throwing an old bike frame off the dock and then diving to the bottom after it. It's amazing what boys will find to entertain themselves.

The raft isn't out yet this summer, but they bounced off a tractor inner tube and into the drink. I can't imagine anyone driving past who didn't want to join the fun.

The boys played with remote controlled boats, lumbered across the pond in a paddle boat and then, with help from older sister Sarah, dropped from their new cable swing into the water.

I've gotta remember to put my bathing suit in the car.

They could charge admission to this place.