A Grand Vista

Ok so the Grand Vista thing might be a little lame but it is the Grand River in Grand Rapids Michigan. But I really had no plans what so ever to go shooting the other evening.

Doctor: "Please lay on the couch and tell me all about it."

Patient: "Ok... Well it all started back when I was..."

So I  will not go to the screen play dialog but it did really start earlier in the evening. I was taking Sniper our black and white (looks like a border collie) Aussi and the sun was starting to give some better light. In the mMichigan latitudes we get a little longer golden hour during the fall as the sun starts to set towards the southwest. Anyhow, I saw the light (sorry) and knew I had been waiting for the sun to go further to the south to get evening shadows off of a red barn I have been waiting to shoot. So, I took Sniper back to the house, grabbed my gear and off to the red bard I went.

Of course the tree shadow was still on the barn so that idea went down in flames. I started back home when I thought about going downtown and seeing what I could get there. I have never really done any photowalking downtown.

The image above is a three shot pano of Grand Rapids with the J.W. Marriott and the Amway Grand Plaza prominently centered in the picture. I know, you shouldn't center things in the picture. But panos are different. If it works, it works. Now if you look in the middle of the river you will see an art piece that is entered in the Grand Rapids Art competition worth $250K. It is call "Grand Dance" by David Lubbers.

Below is another art entry which I could not find a reference to the name or artists but it too is entered in the competition. It is position on a walking bridge that used to be a twin track rail bridge back in the day.

Kind of looks like he is ready to leap off the bridge to me. 

The next two images are a before and after of one shot. The corrections were done in Lightroom alone and really demonstrates its versatility without having to make the jump into Photoshop all the time. This is the walking bridge I referred to just a minute ago and the building is the Marriott Hotel and Apartments. The light was just striking in this image.

BEFORE

AFTER

That's about it for today. I have a couple more from this photowalk for tomorrow.

Cya... Doug