…the photos. A big exception. Allow me to explain.
I had felt creatively stagnant in my photography during the month of November so with only one day to spare I decided to undertake a one-day “project”. That meant staying close to home so I settled on downtown Denver as my location, a mere 30-minute rail ride from near my house. I’ve photographed there before and I like to just “free-wheel” it with no set agenda. Old buildings, new buildings, and great people-watching on the 16th Street Mall make for plenty of “low-hanging fruit” of potential shots.
Still, I had to wait for fog to burn off that day as I feared that many of my subjects would be veiled behind a coating of proverbial pea soup. You need to understand that fog is extremely rare in Denver and very short-lived when it does make a rare appearances. Our climate is dry with no significant body of water to create dense fog. So once I saw blue skies in the early afternoon I grabbed my camera and, limiting myself to one lens, grabbed my trusty 24-105 mm lens with its versatile focal lengths for the day.
About halfway into Denver I encountered Problem #1. The fog may have burned off where I live but it had decided to linger in Denver (the entire day it wound up). And, as I readied my camera settings while still on the train, I realized I now encountered Problem #2. For, instead of bringing that trusted 24-105 mm lens, I had inadvertently grabbed its almost identical twin, the 100mm macro lens. Yes, macro lenses can certainly be used for more than just close-up photography, but the fixed focal length of 100mm would limit what I could include in my shots.
These two “mistakes” led me to the conclusion that I would focus my photography that day on just portions of buildings to create abstract compositions. Overcast skies remove the desired effects of a play of light and shadows but they also lend themselves to colors really “popping”. I also started visualizing some of my subjects as black and white images during post-processing, thus emphasizing shapes.
Problem #3 hit me as I got off the train. The temperature had dipped into the low 20’s and combined with the dampness I felt like I was back in my hometown of Chicago. And, unfortunately, I had dressed more for Phoenix so I was cold immediately. Safely walking became Problem #4 as Denver had experienced about 10” of snow a few days earlier that uncharacteristically stayed right where it had landed. Every step required total concentration. But I plodded on and soon my luck turned.
I explored the newly developed area just north and east of Union Station. Buildings that I had no idea existed had only recently sprouted up. One of these is the Hotel Indigo. Steam was spewing from a nearby building that might not otherwise have been visible except for the bitter cold. I patiently waited (did I mention how cold it was?) for the steam to part just enough for an interesting photo. This shot below was the result.
Hotel Indigo near Union Station in Denver
Then I walked to Union Station, a wonderful building for photography that I’ve had good luck with in the past. But not wanting to duplicate any previous images, I walked around the railroad tracks and station looking for a unique perspective. Alas, I had given up and began to walk away when I saw a totally undiscovered viewpoint out of the corner of my eye. The result is below.
Union Station in downtown Denver
I headed down 18th Street and remembered previously noticing some interesting new buildings. I suspected that if I got just the right combination of buildings I would have an interesting abstract composition. Because i couldn’t zoom the lens, I had to use the low-tech “zoom” version by simply walking back and forth until I got the composition just right. That result is below.
Buildings on 18th Street in LoDo, Denver
Then I decided it was time to take advantage of the fog. It wasn’t dense enough to affect any ground-level shots but a couple of our taller high-rise structures were partially enveloped in it. One of Denver’s most famous landmarks is the “Cash Register” building, so named because of its uncanny resemblance to an old-style cash register. The top of it was almost invisible this day. I knew that wasn’t terribly interesting by itself so I walked around until I got a steeple from an old church next to it in the composition. I then noticed two more interesting-looking buildings in close proximity so I took a multiple-shot panorama and “stitched” the photos together in a software program to obtain this result below.
Cash Register building and others in downtown Denver
I headed back to the train stop down the 16th Street Mall where I saw what looked to be a joyful conversation being held by some local folks (and dog). I quickly snapped a candid shot and got this shot below. I especially like that the man on the left is walking away, seemingly oblivious to the group.
16th Street Mall, Denver
Literally the last shot of the day I took (and by then it was quite dark) was of an electric pink van that doubled as a pop-up clothing store. Here is a photo of that unique place.
Pop-up clothing store in downtown Denver
Freezing, exhausted yet totally satisfied, I hopped on my train to return home. Those four “problems” turned out to be opportunities that forced me to see my photography differently that day. And I couldn’t be happier about it!
To see the entire collection, click here.