Lancaster Central Market

Breakfast on the second day of the Pennsylvania Environment Ride afforded me the opportunity to visit Lancaster Central Market, the oldest continuously operating farmers’ market in the country. (Read my previous blog post about it here.) In addition to eating too many of the best doughnuts I’ve ever had, my objective was to photograph the riders as they enjoyed their breakfast amid the bounty of the market. I was able to squeeze in these few shots for myself. I’d love to return someday and make the market the primary subject of a shoot.

Portraits from the Pennsylvania Environment Ride

Making photos of the riders in action was not my only priority on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride. To advertise the next year’s ride in print and on the website, the event producer uses rider testimonials paired with their photos. So it’s important that I get a good portrait of every participant in the ride. Here are some of my favorites. Especially the last one. Our bike technician enjoys dressing in costumes to perk up the riders’ moods while he fixes their bikes. On the final day of the event, he channeled Snow White, and apparently he accepted tips!

Read the other posts in this series:
Day 1 on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride
Day 2 on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride
Day 3 on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride

Click here to see the galleries of all photos from the ride.

Day 3 on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride

There was great excitement on the third day of the Pennsylvania Environment Ride. The 17 riders from the first two days were joined by about 30 more who chose the one-day ride option. The smaller group started out from Reading and joined the new riders at French Creek State Park to complete the ride along the Schuylkill River Trail, ending at the Fairmount Waterworks Interpretive Center in Philadelphia.

There was light rain and chilly temperatures the entire day, but the riders and crew smiled the entire way.

Read the other posts in this series:
Day 1 on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride
Day 2 on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride
Portraits from the Pennsylvania Environment Ride

Click here to see the galleries of all photos from the ride.

Day 2 on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride

The second day of the Pennsylvania Environment Ride began with breakfast at the Lancaster Central Market, the country’s oldest continuously running farmers’ market. Each rider got a five-dollar voucher to spend at any combination of vendors they wanted. I’m not normally a fan of doughnuts, but I was converted by one vendor’s chocolate glazed, custard filled variety, as well as their apple fritters.

Fueled with doughnuts and coffee, I set out to photograph the 17 riders on their approximately 80-mile ride from Lancaster to Reading, along country roads, through covered bridges, and past fertile farmland. The weather was great for photography until the end of the day when we encountered some showers. The lightly overcast skies provided a soft light that made everyone look great, with no harsh shadows on their faces.

Read the other posts in this series:
Day 1 on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride
Day 3 on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride
Portraits from the Pennsylvania Environment Ride

Click here to see the galleries of all photos from the ride.

Day 1 on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride

The Pennsylvania Environment Ride is a three-day journey from Elizabethtown to Philadelphia. Riders enjoy Lancaster County Amish country, farm vistas, and covered bridges. The ride features the region’s history and bounty, treating participants to an unforgettable weekend. The ride supports the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and their efforts to develop bicycle trails in southeastern Pennsylvania. This vital network of trails is used extensively for commuting, recreation, and sightseeing throughout the region.

For the third year I photographed the event, both from the ground and from a moving car alongside the riders. This four-part series covers the three days of the ride plus a bonus post. The first day-and-a-half featured stunning weather. Clouds rolled in at the end of the second day, and the third day was a little cold and rainy, but it didn’t dampen the spirits of the riders.

The ride started Friday afternoon in Elizabethtown and wound its way through Lancaster County farmland, ending at a former cork factory turned into a boutique hotel where we spent the night. The riders were a mix of people from previous years and some new people who it was a pleasure to get to know.

Read the other posts in this series:
Day 2 on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride
Day 3 on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride
Portraits from the Pennsylvania Environment Ride

Click here to see the galleries of all photos from the ride.

Faces of the Pennsylvania Environment Ride

This is the second in a six-part series on photographing the Pennsylvania Environment Ride. In the first post, I gave an overview of the event. Here I focus on my portraits of the riders. The website and print materials that advertise the event feature testimonials from the riders and crew. It was important to get portraits of everyone in case their testimonial is used. I concentrated on this in addition to getting shots I thought the participants would enjoy seeing.

The weather was sunny all weekend long, so everyone wore sunglasses. I announced beforehand that I’d prefer people to remove their sunglasses when possible for my photos of them. Most people complied, but some had to be reminded. To one rider I said,”Please take off your sunglasses. The eyes are the window to the soul.” As she removed her glasses she replied,”I’m a lawyer. I don’t have a soul.”

Read the first post in the series: Hit the Road With the Pennsylvania Environment Ride.
Read the third post in the series: Ephrata Cloister Welcomes the Pennsylvania Environment Ride.
Read the fourth post in the series: You Don’t Need a Desert to Find an Oasis.
Read the fifth post in the series: Personalities of the Pennsylvania Environment Ride.
Read the sixth post in the series: Pennsylvania Environmental Council Celebrates a Successful Fundraising Ride.

Hit the Road With the Pennsylvania Environment Ride

The Pennsylvania Environment Ride is a three-day journey from Elizabethtown to Philadelphia. Riders enjoy Lancaster County Amish country, farm vistas, and covered bridges. The ride features the region’s history and bounty, treating participants to an unforgettable weekend. The ride benefits the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and supports development of the bicycle trails in southeastern Pennsylvania. This vital network of trails is used extensively for commuting, recreation, and sightseeing throughout the region.

In May I had the pleasure of photographing the event for the second time. The week began with a few days of severe thunderstorms, but the weather cleared up in time for the ride, and the weekend was mild and cloudless with brilliant sunshine. While the weather was ideal for riding, it made photography a challenge. Direct overhead sunlight makes harsh shadows on the riders’ faces, and the dappled sunlight on the tree-lined roads and trails was even worse. At the rest stops I was able to take people into the shade for portraits, but in general I had to do a lot of post-processing to balance the exposure of the photos by darkening the highlights and lightening the shadows. For example, in the photo above, the rider in front was lost in shadow while the trees behind the rider in the red jersey were nearly entirely blown out. Setting a good exposure in-camera was easier when I was stopped along the road, but many of the shots were made on the fly as I hung out of a car window shooting as my driver sped ahead of the riders.

I had a lot to keep in mind as I made the photos, as there were multiple end uses. Not only will the photos be enjoyed by riders and crew afterwards, but they will be used by the beneficiary and the production company to celebrate the ride’s success and to promote next year’s ride in print and on their website. You can see in some of the photos that I was able to conceive them as brochure covers or poster backgrounds, as I put the subject low in the frame with plenty of space above for headlines and text.

This is the first in a six-part series on the Pennsylvania Environment Ride. Stay tuned for posts on other aspects of photographing the ride.

Read the second post in the series: Faces of the Pennsylvania Environment Ride.
Read the third post in the series: Ephrata Cloister Welcomes the Pennsylvania Environment Ride.
Read the fourth post in the series: You Don’t Need a Desert to Find an Oasis.
Read the fifth post in the series: Personalities of the Pennsylvania Environment Ride.
Read the sixth post in the series: Pennsylvania Environmental Council Celebrates a Successful Fundraising Ride.