Spotlight Awards 2012 at The Sherman Theater

Today I had the privilege of photographing the 2012 Spotlight Awards at The Sherman Theater, in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

This 5th Annual Event honors the high school musicals in the Poconos. The Award Ceremony brings the high schools together to show appreciation for all the hard work that goes into each school’s production throughout the year.

Rich Berkowitz, the Executive Director/founder/ and President at The Sherman Theater, hosted the Spotlight Awards. Dignitaries, former award winners, and a host of other persons presented the awards after listing all the nominations. The high schools performed acts from their respective musicals in-between. It was a fun time of celebration and appreciation for all those involved in the musicals.

The festivities began at 2pm with a Red Carpet event that ushered in the students and directors. Some were decked out in evening gowns and tuxedos, while others sported the costumes of the musicals they performed. It was a local gala that nearly filled the house. The awards ceremony lasted three hours and was filled with recognitions, accolades, mutual support, great music, and wonderful performances.

To see more of the photographs from the 2012 Spotlight Awards, go to the photo gallery index page and click on the link on the left side.

Congratulations to all the award winners, and also to every single performer, actor, singer, musician, director, and co-director! You all did a great job this year!

Sunlit Cow Elk

On a recent photo excursion to Elk County, Pennsylvania to photograph the elk, I captured an interesting photo of a cow. The setting sun was behind this cow so a silhouette was in my thinking. However, the warm sun rays provided enough light to illuminate the visible breath coming out of this elk’s mouth. It was a chilly evening and the condensation of this cow’s breath was visible in the light.

When I returned home, I knew I wanted to use this photograph if at all possible. But the problems were many-fold. There was some nasty sun glare from the sunlight hitting the lens. I thought maybe I could do a little touch-up in Photoshop and was hoping to be able to salvage this photograph in some usable form. I am not sure I succeeded quite yet. However, I thought I would share both a before photo and an after photo to let you see what I’ve accomplished so far. I still have a ways to go.

Do you think this photograph is usable or am I wasting my time?

Before: 

 

After:

More Hurricane Irene Photos – Stroudsburg, PA 2011

I was blown away! No, not by Hurricane Irene, but by the number of visits to my blog yesterday. Over 1,000 people visited my blog to see the photos I captured during Hurricane Irene’s visit through northeast Pennsylvania. It was certainly not the worst storm in our state’s history, but the schools in Monroe County were closed the last two days and many people are still without power. This Hurricane caused some definite destruction.

So I went back through my photographs from yesterday and decided to post a few more today. These photographs are from the same areas I mentioned yesterday–all in the town of Stroudsburg. The effects of a hurricane are far-reaching and lasting in many ways.

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Hurricane Irene – Stroudsburg, PA 2011

Hurricane Irene tore up the east coast this weekend. While it was not nearly as violent a storm as was predicted, it did cause some damage. Power was out much of the day for many in Stroudsburg and the region caused by downed trees, and moderate flooding was prevalent throughout the area. I got my real first taste of photographing the damage caused by a hurricane and it was thrilling to record the action with my camera. The reaction of the people was fascinating and capturing the damage caused by this storm was by far the most thrilling. The wind blew hard at times, nearly taking my baseball cap with it! Rain occasionally fell, but the brunt of the storm had passed by the time I was out with my camera.

I took a lot of photographs of Hurricane Irene, but here are a few of my favorites. As you browse through this collection of photos you will first see the McMichaels Creek violently overflowing and whipping under the Broad Street Bridge. Then you will see a tree that fell right onto a house on Clermont Street in South Stroudsburg. The next series of photographs are from a downed tree on Park Avenue, which took power lines and a utility pole with it, shattering the pole like a toothpick. Finally, you will see a few of the road closures in Cherry Valley.

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