Some cool photos Jennifer took of Simon and I playing with my music rig, or as Simon calls it, the “Gadget Racket Lab”.
Gadget Racket Lab
Tag Archives: Photography
Steaming Into History (2015)
Steaming Into History is a non-profit organization that runs a replica Cival War era steam locomotive in New Freedom, Pennysylvania. Learn more about them here.
The short of it is that you ride on this super cool old train for an hour trip to a Christmas tree farm. Once you arrive at the destination there’s horse drawn carraiges waiting to take you from the train stop to the Christmas tree farm. You cut your tree down, pay, grab a hot chocolate and head back to the train.
It’s a really nice day for the family and it’s looking like it’s going to become a tradition for us. We were even able to take my mom this year! Here’s photos from last years trip, and photos from todays trip are below.
Great way to cap off a fantastic Thanksgiving wekeend. 🙂
Simon is super excited!
Jen is super focused.
Moms first train ride!
Arty Simon shot.
Simon and Pop.
Simon and Pop
Simon telling Santa that the coffee shop is out of snicker doodle cookies
The giant Christmas tree hill
View from the top!
My heart and soul. 🙂
Couldn’t find a tree we wanted
Headed back down…
me cutting down a tree, at the bottom of the hill!
Hot chocolate station!
Nothing beats an elf with a flute playing the Peanuts theme song on a Civil War era steam train!
Weekend Fall Fun
Just some pics from the last two weekends. 🙂
Today at the playground – –
Last week, breakfast & skateboarding – –
— hill bombing… 🙂
Space Captain
Morning Walk
I’ve been eating better and exercising regularly for about 4 months now. Nothing too crazy, mostly just walks of about 3 miles and watching what I eat. It’s really been paying off as I’ve lost about 20 pounds so far.
One of the things I’ve been missing with this nasty Maryland winter has been walking out doors. One of the benefits of being self employed is that I can take off for a walk pretty much whenever I want to. The weather is starting to get warmer and this morning I was able to take off for a walk to a nearby park where I was able to enjoy the cool weather and the morning fog.
These images, taken with an iPhone 4s and processed in Lightroom, really don’t do the scene justice. It’s been a really nice morning. Now it’s time for some lunch, and then back to work.
🙂
Lansdowne Skatepark
Lansdowne, since the 70’s
Steaming Into History
Yesterday Jen, Simon and I tripped up to New Freedom, Pennsylvania, for the Steam Into History train ride. Together with a large portion of Jen’s family, we rode a replica Civil War era steam locomotive from New Freedom, PA to a Christmas tree farm in Glenrock, PA.
The train ride was a little over an hour each way, with about an hour being spent at the tree farm. Horse drawn carriages, from the Victorian Carriage Company, pulled us from the train stop to the tree farm where delicious hot chocolate and cookies awaited us. Simon was even able to sit with the driver on our trip down the hill!
Headed out, on our way from Baltimore to New Freedom!
The loco!
Train wheel
Tight shot of train
Tight shot of the wood car
Simon and Mom having fun.
Simon and Mommy!
Lunch time on the train!
After lunch.
Enjoying the ride!
Looking out the window.
Simons skull shirt reflected in the window
Jens Dad, and Grandparents.
A building
Horses returning
Victorian Carriage Company signage
Carriage returns to pick up more people.
Boarding the carriage.
Simon got to drive!
A Simons eye view of the horses headed down hill.
The horses were awesome!
Lovely Horse
More horses!
Pretty countryside
Carriage heads back upthe hill, to the train
Yum, hot chocolate with marshmallows!
Railroad Crossing sign at Glen Rock stop.
Having spent my whole life in the city it’s difficult for me to imagine what life would be like in a rural area like this, but I can’t deny that I was more than a little envious as I stood in this picturesque landscape. If you’re in the area I definitely recommend checking Steam Into History out.
Laurel Skatepark- BMX Photos
I hit Lansdowne one January morning by myself then met up with my friend Ed for a session at Laurel skatepark in the early afternoon. The pad nanny wasn’t at Lansdowne and I was able to ride that park without full pads for the first time in many, many years. I opted to wear my helmet but even so, skating Lansdowne without pads really reminded me of the old free-for-all days of the 80’s and 90’s.
I remember back in the day there used to be a lot of tension between BMXer’s and skaters, especially out at Lansdowne. Things got crazy, they got tense, and they even came to blows on occasion. Time went on and eventually a lot of the knuckleheads quit skating and a lot of the knuckleheads quit riding bikes. Tensions subsided, friendships were forged, and rad sessions were had. Those of us who were left, BMXers and skaters alike, realized that it didn’t matter what the other guy was riding; We were all in it together and we were all after that same feeling. That feeling was all that mattered.
Twenty years later and it’s still all that matters. I’m stoked that on that day at Laurel I got to skate with, and photograph, a rad BMXer named John Burnie.
August Rocked
August was a great month with 2 much, much (much much much) needed vacations.
We took a short trip to Knoebels amusement park with our friends the Bowman’s, of Amerikan Made Prints (check out their work!).
Knoebels
Knoebels, located somewhere in the vast expanse of Pennsylvania (Elysburg PA), was a fantastic amusement park. Admission is free (you pay for the rides) and the park includes a traditional amusement park as well as a water park.
Credit for all photos in the gallery below, and for the featured image above, go to my lovely, talented wife, Jennifer Smutek.
Simon and I 🙂
Simon & Miles
Ocean City, Maryland
Our trip to Knoebels was followed by an amazing week at the beach in Ocean City, Maryland. This was a really fantastic trip. our son is 4 years old now, which is such a fantastic, magical, fun age. Here’s some snaps from my Instagram feed.
…and some snaps from Jennifer’s Instagram feed.
August was a super fun month and those two trips were a great way to wrap up my first full year of being fully self employed. Now, school’s started, for Simon and for me – I’m taking 3 classes at night and trying to grow my little business, and my career, during the day. I’ve got a lot of challenging stuff on on my plate that I’m ready to take head on.
Now, it’s time to get back to work. 🙂
Jimmy Smutek 