Tag: Pennsylvania

Hollow Earth Brewing

Name: Hollow Earth Brewing
Location: Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania
Beer to try: Riot Juice
Notes: Taproom offers guests the choice of table or bar seating in the front of the house, or you may watch the art of brewing as it occurs at the open brewhouse bar. Parking lot located in the rear of the brewery. More parking on the street.

Last weekend Bhavna and I drove a few hours out to Oxford, Pennsylvania. We wanted to visit Hollow Earth Brewing and try the New England style IPA. A few weeks earlier -- maybe even a month or more -- we met one of the brewers sitting at the bar at Brick Farm Tavern. He was there with his girlfriend drinking some of the craft ales produced by Troon Brewing. He had seen on Untappd that Troon was rising in the popularity rankings. It's currently rated among the top 25 breweries in the United States on Untappd.

We talked about the town of Oxford and the sort of beer he likes brewing. Bhavna and I promised we would travel out to visit the brewery. We were happy we found the time to make good on our promise. The ales were excellent.

Bhavna and I arrived just around noon. The friendly staff showed us the menu and recommended the mushroom tacos for lunch. That worked well for both of us. Bhavna is a vegetarian.

We each sampled four 4oz pours (16oz total or one pint). My favourite was the Riot Juice. Delicious! We liked it so much we took some home with us. Hollow Earth Brewing prepared cans of beer while we waited. Right in front of us. They have a canning machine at the bar. We watched as our server filled each can and sealed it and put a date label on each. How cool is that?

We got in the car and drove toward Ardmore to Tired Hands Fermentaria, the next stop on our road trip.

Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO3200), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO500), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO640), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO1000), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO560), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO720), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO1250), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO560), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO720), © Khürt L. Williams
Hollow Earth Brewing —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.005 sec at f/4.0, ISO5000), © Khürt L. Williams

New Hope and Lambertville Friday Night Fireworks: Goat Hill

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Lambertville, New Jersey & New Hope, Pennsylvania will again be doing their First Fridays fireworks shows again this summer. I photographed the fireworks last year. At that time, I was down at The Station Inn on the bank of the river, just the near the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge. I did not like the vantage point. I felt that I was too close to the water. I had to tilt my camera straight up and shoot with an extremely wide lens (11mm). The crowd was also not appreciative of a phalanx of photographers blocking the view and a few people yelled at us. Someone threw small pebbles. I got some decent shots but I decided that I must scout for a different location from which to shoot the fireworks.

fireworks, new hope, Pennsylvania , Lambertville, goat hill, overlook[exif id="27539"]

This year, the Photografriends Meetup Group planned a field trip to shoot the fireworks. The location for the shoot was the Goat Hill Overlook in Lambertville. As you can see in the photos above, it has a fantastic view down onto Lambertville and New Hope.

I arrived early (around 7 PM) to make sure I could secure a spot for my tripod and to pre-focus the lens. I think it's challenging to focus on objects in the dark.

The parking area is at the bottom of the hill and there is about a half-mile walk from the parking area to the overlook. The path is not paved but rather covered in stone. I brought my headlamp and flashlight. I could see from the thick tree cover on either side, that the walk back down the hill would be in complete darkness.

fireworks, new hope, Pennsylvania , Lambertville, goat hill, overlook
New Hope and Lambertville Friday Night Fireworks
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Sunset on that day was around 8:40 PM, and we have a good view of the sun setting almost exactly behind New Hope that evening. I experimented a little. Typically I shoot in manual mode, with the lens set to f/16 and the shutter speed of fifteen seconds at ISO 100. I started out with that setting but then tried stopping down to f/18 and f/20 and increasing my exposure times to twenty seconds and thirty seconds.

I think these came out quite well. The longer exposure allowed me to capture more streaks and multiple explosions in one exposure. However, I wish the photos were a bit sharper. I think the streaks are a little soft. I'll have to work on focusing for the next time. Hey, I have the whole summer to practice on this.

fireworks, new hope, Pennsylvania , Lambertville, goat hill, overlook
New Hope and Lambertville Friday Night Fireworks
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