One Windy Morning /  by Todd Henson

Looking Back Along the Abandoned Rails

I woke early one late June morning while on vacation with my father in New Hampshire. I wandered out behind the inn we were staying at to find this lovely little scene with a range of wildflowers and grass around a large boulder in the foreground and set against a wooded background. It was a very windy morning which made photography a challenge. But I decided to embrace the wind and intentionally included evidence of it within this image.

Processing the Image

Initially I tried using a fast enough shutter speed to still as much of the wind-induced motion as I could, given the low light of early morning. That resulted in the photo below, which was made with a shutter speed of 0.4 seconds. There is still some motion blur, but it’s at a minimum.

A 0.4 second exposure to try to minimize blur caused by the wind.

That’s when I decided to fully embrace the wind, so I set my camera with a shutter speed of 63 seconds and created the photo below which is full of motion blur both with the trees in the background and with the flowers and grass in the foreground. There is also a touch of blur to the boulder, not because the wind affected it at all, but likely because even on a sturdy tripod the wind was able to vibrate my camera just a bit.

A 63 second exposure to embrace motion blur caused by the wind.

When I recently began processing these photos I decided to combine them, keeping the long exposure motion blur on the background trees and grass, but showing the shorter exposure and slightly more crisp foreground of flowers and boulder, resulting in the first photo up top.

Which of the three images do you prefer?

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!

Waynesboro Model Railroad Club Open House - 12/20/2025 /  by Todd Henson

On December 20, 2025, my father and I were fortune to visit the open house put on by the Waynesboro Model Railroad Club located on Waynecastle Road in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. I was extremely impressed by the scope and detail of their layouts. In fact, we felt a bit overwhelmed and I often didn’t know what to look at or what to photograph. Looking back I wish I’d tried more perspectives and different angles, different shutter speeds and apertures, but that’s always the way of things.

The home of the Waynesboro Model Railroad Club

The club building has two floors, with the HO-scale layout filling a large room on the main floor. On the second floor was the N-scale layout in one room and two O-scale layouts in the second room, one 2-rail O-scale and one 3-rail O-scale. If you’re not familiar with model railroading then some of that description may not mean much. The different scales represent the sizes of the model trains and layouts as compared to reality. N-scale, the smallest of these layouts, is 160 times smaller than the real thing, so 1:160. HO-scale is 87 times smaller than the real thing, so 1:87. And O-scale, the largest of these layouts, is 48 times smaller than the real thing, so 1:48. Power is provided to the model trains over the rails they run on, ie, the railroad tracks. A 3-rail system means there are 3 rails, the 2 the train sits on and a third in the middle. This is how model railroading started. But these days most systems use 2 rails.

HO-Scale Layout

Their HO-scale layout is spread out over a large room with several sections all connected and weaving along the walls and around beams. There are some raised platforms you can step onto to see the layout from a higher perspective. I love how the seasons change as you move along the layout with scenery reflecting the season.

N-Scale Layout

The N-scale is the smallest of the scales in these layouts, which means you can fit more in a smaller space. The layout fills one room of the second floor. It was actively being worked by club members when we visited.

O-Scale Layouts

The 2-rail and 3-rail O-scale layouts fill the second upstairs room. These are the largest of the scales in the layouts so they take up more space. The 3-rail layout was on an island in the center of the room and the 2-rail layout wrapped around the walls.

O-Scale 2-Rail Layout

O-Scale 3-Rail Layout

All of these layouts were impressive with incredible amounts of detail. I saw a group of mountain climbers on a rock face, Bigfoot walking across the top of a mountain, tunnels and bridges, skiers on slopes, a cemetery, emergency personnel responding to a crash, a house being built… the details just went on and on. But these sorts of layouts are almost always being worked so if you visit during one of their future open houses it’s possible you may see something different from what we saw. And I do encourage you to visit them if you’re ever in the area when they are holding an open house. Or if you live in another area then search for any model railroad clubs in your area and see if they have open houses when they invite the public to view their displays and see what their hobby is all about. And please consider leaving them a donation on your way out so they can continue to fund these incredible model railroad layouts.

Click here to learn more about the Waynesboro Model Railroad Club. You can find their current open house schedule and information about the club and how to become a member.

Thanks very much to the members of the Waynesboro Model Railroad Club for opening their doors to the public during these open houses and sharing a little of their hobby with us. We were very impressed with the obvious passion they put into creating each of these layouts.

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!

Best Photos of 2025: My Favorites of the Year /  by Todd Henson

Each year, at the end of the year, I like to look back at the photographs I’ve created and try to narrow in on my favorites. I can’t say these are my best as that’s for you to decide, but they are some of my favorites. I hope you enjoy looking through this selection whether it’s a look back at photos you’ve seen earlier in the year or your first time seeing them.

Included with each photo is a link back to the blog post where it first appeared, along with a link to my online store where you can purchase the photos as prints, puzzles and a number of other products. Thanks very much for your support.

 

Thank you again for all your support in 2025, and all the best to you in 2026!

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!