Strasburg Visitor Center and Museum (Virginia) /  by Todd Henson

The entrance to the Strasburg Visitor Center and Museum

In a previous post we toured the Strasburg Museum in Strasburg, Virginia, which included a fascinating and eclectic look at artifacts collected in the town. Today we look at the museum within the Strasburg Visitor Center, which takes a wider view of the entire area and how it fits within the history of the country.

Naturally, there is a lot focused on the Civil War, but the history of the area extends further back to Colonial times. And of course, there were people living in the area before the colonists ever stepped foot on North America, so there are also displays with artifacts from native peoples. One highlight is the long hand painted mural along the back wall that was created by local artists. It steps through many moments in the area’s history.

It’s a small museum, but very well laid out with plenty of educational and interesting displays. And the displays are spaced apart nicely, making them all very accessible and accommodating multiple groups of people without folks getting in each other’s way.

The Visitor Center, in addition to any number of items available for purchase, even contains an active bee hive in the corner which has an entrance of its own to allow the bees access to all the flowers planted just outside. There’s also a small park on the premises with a Civil War trail.

A small park outside the Strasburg Visitor Center with a short Civil War trail

The Strasburg Visitor Center and Museum is well worth a visit if you’re ever in the area.


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Motions of A Great Blue Heron at Great Falls /  by Todd Henson

A flurry of colorful motion as a great blue heron takes flight, as seen with a slow shutter speed.

Most times I’ve photographed birds, and birds in flight, I’ve opted for fast shutter speeds to capture as much detail as possible. But sometimes it’s fun to slow everything down and allow motion blur into the finished photograph. The two photos in this post are examples of this. They were created at Great Falls on the Potomac River as viewed from the Maryland side. Both were at 440mm and a fairly small aperture of f/16, giving me a shutter speed of 1/30 of a second. This allowed a very nice amount of blur when the great blue heron took flight.

With a slow shutter speed, a flying great blue heron can take on a ghostly appearance.

In one case I held the camera fairly still, keeping the rocks mostly in sharp focus. But in the other the tripod head was more loose and the camera moved, making the rocks look softer and out of focus, though not as much as the heron. I love the beautiful gradations of blue and gray, and the bright whites and dark blues resulting from the different colored feathers of the heron. It’s also interesting seeing the bits of blurred yellow and orange from its feet.

I think there’s a lot of potential in this style of photography to create some interesting and pleasing images. And it could easily be applied to many different genres, not just wildlife photography, but to anything that moves. Have you ever intentionally used slower shutter speeds to capture motion blur? How did it turn out? And if not then give it a go one of these days.


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Village Cemetery - Stark, New Hampshire /  by Todd Henson

The Village Cemetery of Stark, New Hampshire

Just across the street from the iconic covered bridge and church in Stark, New Hampshire, is the Village Cemetery. It was an overcast and rainy day but this worked out well for photographing the area.

Up the steps to the cemetery

The top of the hill of the Village Cemetery in Stark, New Hampshire

A view from the roadside, with the stairs leading up to the cemetery

The roadside stairs to the cemetery

Up the stairs to the cemetery


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