Seems like this April in Central Pennsylvania wants to be more like another March. We've struggled to shake off winter's last coat, with all this wind and cold and rain.
But as those friends from Queens once sang, "April, she will come." And when she finally does reveal herself, beyond just the waving tulip heads and the warmer breezes from warmer places, we'll feel our creativity unveil itself like the new green that's appearing on the top branches of the woods.
I dunno what it is about winters in Central Pennsylvania. They're just drab affairs, tedious and shiftless. By virtue of our geography, east of the Appalachians but too far from the Atlantic, we're cursed to endure what feels like endless grays and browns until April finally arrives.
It stifles our creativity. Well, I may not know about you, but it certainly does mine.
I live for color and dramatic scenery. Forgive me. What can I say?
We lack enduring snowy landscapes, ice falls and a winter lifestyle of skis and snowshoes. This area of the country just seems to wait out the long stretch of time between January and mid-April.
Not that I remained idle for the whole stretch. We had a burst of January snow, and I took a brief evening tour of the southern Lancaster County countryside, where I grew up.
In what's become a bit of a winter tradition, I rolled down the Susquehanna River, over the Mason-Dixon to the Conowingo Dam. I brought with me the super telephoto and my hopes to grab an epic bald eagle image.
You stand in the cold at the fisherman's park, just hoping the eagles are hungry for trout. But they weren't too moved to fly out from their oak branches on the ridge above us.
Still, I got one to take a star turn:
And I attended the WPPI conference and trade show in Las Vegas for the first time, which allowed me to briefly play with a Canon R3 mirrorless camera with an 85mm lens.
Plus, I got out to Fremont Street for a few hours.
Now it's mid-April, and I feel the need to dig a little deeper into this photographer soul, do what my therapist encourages, and "get moving."
I'm curious - what do you do to break out of the creativity droughts? What do you do to break the winter blues?
Dave Pidgeon is a seasoned writer and photographer. He lives in Lancaster, Pa., with his three sons. You can contact him at dave@pidgeonseyeview.com.
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