Speedexposure turning into JoeDantone.com
Hi all, well…I haven;t posted here in a very long time due to the fact that I’ve been focused on starting a more professional site. From now on there will be no more posting here on www.speedexposure.com and as of March 2012 it will not be renewed. All traffic should probably go to my new website www.joedantone.com here you can still find links to my work on FLICKR and also a new BLOG section as well. Let me know what you all think. I hope you will all still follow my work and be a part of my new website. Send me some feedback on any feedback you have about www.joedantone.com again thank you all for the support!!
500PX: The new craze
A new photo sharing website has been launched called 500PX a few months ago. Just recently it has started spreading like wild-fire. This site is just in its beginning stages, as many will notice it has HUGE potential. It is much along the lines of a website some of you may be familiar with called Flickr. There are a few new things to this website that Flickr doesn’t have…yet. As time rolls I’m sure we will be seeing large changes in both websites, as of now Flickr has some competition.
First off looking at both websites 500px has a lot cleaner look to it and is a much nicer place to display your work. Flickr is still very jumbled together. The other great thing about 500PX is that it’s almost setup like a Facebook profile. You can make an avatar and you have a few sections to your “profile” page. When you sign up for 500px you have a lot of fantastic options that Flickr does not offer. When you first open a profile page on 500PX you are brought to a very clean-looking page with a few tabs to choose from. First you have the photo section which is what is displayed when you first open the page. It displays all of the photos that have been uploaded by that one person. In each persons profile you have a tab called Blog. Here the photographer has their own blog space to write-up anything they want. I thought this idea was great because it lets you know a little bit about each one of those people. Moving along we have a few sections that Flickr members have as well. You have your Favorite tab your Friends tab and also an Activity tab. These all being self explanatory lets move to the last tab. This tab is called Wall. Do I need to explain? Ok fine…picture your Facebook wall…need I say more?
Aside from all the different sections of 500PX there a quite a few more features that this site presents that are pretty interesting. When opening someones page and you click on a picture you are presented with a few options. Next to each picture title you are able to click on a heart shape. This will allow you to add the picture as a favorite. The cool part about this site that Flickr does not have is photo ratings. You have a choice to either click the “like” button or a “dislike” button. This will give the picture a rating, this also boosts your “affection” under your avatar, the more “affection” you have shows how many people have voted on your pictures.
With all this craziness you must be asking yourself about social media link buttons. Well first off each person has an RSS feed to their page. each page has a section at the bottom where you can Facebook “like” the page. This is also a feature on every picture as well as Twitter Tumblr and Stumbleupon. So you have a lot of major ways to distribute your work straight from your pictures on 500px. Also you can share other people’s work as well.
In my opinion the one single greatest thing about 500px is this, you can create a separate portfolio webpage! They have an assortment of different themes you can choose from. Here you can create your own portfolio and how it is displayed. Not to mention the fact that you can also sell your images off of this site : )
Overall I think if you give 500PX a bit more time it will be every photographers “one stop shop”. Each website serves their own purpose and not many websites are great at everything they do, but they have 1 or 2 things that they do very well. So far 500PX has shown us all that it has the potential to do everything well. As for right now it is missing quite a few things that I know I love about Flickr. I think a lot of photographers will agree that we love the “groups” and the “chat” areas in all the groups. Also the integration with a printing website. I personally love MPIX but Flickr uses Snapfish. While I havent made prints through Flickr I think it’s a great idea to integrate that into the website.
My final thoughts
I love Flickr, I love 500PX. I think we can all agree that 500PX is FILLED with AMAZING photographers it is definitely a place to show off “your best”. Pictures that I see on 500PX I am forced to pick my jaw up off of the floor. I’ve been noticing a lot of photographers moving off of Flickr and signing up with 500PX. I can honestly say that will not be the route I choose because there is something very “warm” about Flickr that I like, and yet 500PX still feels very “cold” to me. This will possibly change soon. Lets see where both of these sites go in the next few months.
For now why don’t you guys check my work out.
Drop me some of your thoughts, I’m interested in what everyone else thinks.
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Looking love in the eyes
This weekend on Saturday I had the opportunity to shoot with a wedding with a friend of mine at Snuffy’s Pantagis Renaissance steakhouse in New Jersey. Heres a look into the eyes of love with Forrest and Jayvie just after their beautiful wedding ceremony. Keep a look out for some more from this energetic wedding in the next upcoming weeks. Till now here’s the “teaser”. Enjoy!
Check my Flickr
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Shooting on the Train Tracks
So last weekend Stephenie Ponist and I set out to add some more pictures to her modeling portfolio. This shoot had been planned for a few months, and finally when it happened it was well worth the wait. We had picked 2 locations to shoot at. We developed a few specific ideas in mind for the type of looks she wanted in her portfolio. She wanted a natural lit,outdoors look and also a business woman/serious look. We ended up shooting on a railroad in New Hope, PA area, then the second location was located in Lambertville, NJ. The entire shoot rolled smoothly, there were no elements that posed a threat, such as a moving train. The shoot took a total of about 2 hours, and it was a great experience. Here are some pictures to view from the shoot!
Formula Drift 2011 Wall, NJ
So I’ve been to quite a few drifting events including Formula Drift at Wall Township in NJ 2 times before this event. I do have to say if you aren’t familiar with drifting it’s incredibly exhilarating, you MUST get out to a drift event as soon as you can! I’ve shot a few drift events before. One of them being East Coast Bash, also known as ECB. This year was the first time I was able to get a media pass and shoot on the track, where all the action is happening. I was so happy, big thank you to Leo at www.stateofstance.com for getting me the media pass. So I got to the track at 8am. Keep in mind, the doors didn’t open to vendors or media till 10. I was a little antsy standing around! After being the 3rd car in the parking lot I saw a few friends of mine, as well as the www.canibeat.com crew. After getting into the gates, I started shooting a lot of the cars in the pits till about 11:30 when the media meeting was to start.
After the 15 minute briefing about not running in front of moving vehicles and making sure you don’t run onto the track while its hot. Were pretty much kicked to the track, the moment we all were waiting for. At around 12:00 practice started, it was amazing seeing these cars up close and personal and being so close to the action. When I say close I mean close. At one point this Viper spun out and came within 5ft. of where I was shooting.
Did I move? Nope. I have the photo sequence to prove! (will post at a later date)
After Practice rounds came the top 31. Following came all the finalists. At this point we were told by track officials we are able to run onto the track when the cars are lined up to get some shots of the drivers with their sponsor “models”.
At this point all I saw was a swarm of orange media vests running to the center of the track. I found my spot and started shooting. At this point we had about 3-4 minutes and then hurry and run back to your bunker, kind of like I was in a paintball tournament, except I was running with $5,000 in equipment in my hand.
Well the finals round came around and that’s where the magic happened, everyone went all out! I have never seen a track eat up so many cars at one event!
Well the event came to an end. I do have to say that it was an amazing experience to see this action first hand. To view more from the event scope out the gallery and also go HERE for all the high-resolution pictures!
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One FAST 1946 Pick-up
This past Sunday I shot my friend Nicks 1946 Chevy Pick-up. This thing is so mean!!! It looks so innocent but packs a huge punch! This truck is packed with a big block Chevy 540 Block and a very rare EXPENSIVE set of Valley head service- thunder power 32 valve heads. This truck is fully customized out of his very own shop with his dad. no words can describe the time, patience, and sweat put into this car. To make life easier he has provided me a list of modifications and specs, hold onto your chair.
To reach Nick or Nick Sr. at Nicks Customs for any work please email them at nweber540@aol.com
To see more pics from the shoot please go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/guitarplaya7/sets/72157626786104679/
Now for some pics!
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Whats a Z1000?!
“Yo dude, I’m getting a Z1000, think you’d want to shoot it?”
“Yea sure, but what the shit is a Z1000?!”
Well that’s how the conversation between me and Tony started a few weeks ago. Tony is the webmaster and page designer of my official website at www.joedantone.com if you would like to inquire about any website work shoot him an email at tonyaprile@gmail.com
Oh yes, back to our scheduled blogging.
So the Z1000 is a Kawasaki. It’s a pretty interesting bike. From the factory it has “alien like” side mirrors on it. Kind of weird looking, assuming that is why they were replaced with Ride It Forever Bar End Mirrors. This bike also has a really short wheel base. It takes on the stance of a Buell XB9SX, the wheelbase of this bike is 56.7in. It looks so much fun to throw around on the streets. This bike in specific has a couple more mods other than just the mirrors. This puppy has all the goodies.
Mod List:
- Vance and Hines Urban Brawlers
- DDM Tuning 35W 6000K HID Kit
- Puig Windscreen
- Tuner X Intergrated Tail Light
- OES Frame Sliders
- Z1000 Logo’d Adjustable Levers
- Ride It Forever bar end mirrors
On to the pics!
Sneak Peek: Wedding at the Brownstone
Saturday March 19th, 2011 marked the day Rachel and Peter united as one. Their wedding was held at the Brownstone in Paterson, NJ. Also known as the reception hall owned by the Manzo family from the Bravo series Real Housewives of New Jersey. Rachel and Peter were great, the wedding was a cocktail wedding and very personal. They were so lucky to have such an amazing day, the room where this reception was held was all glass windows and absolutely stunning. On with a little taste of their wedding. Please view the rest of the photos on my flickr.
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Listed Top 50 Philly Blogs
So recently I’ve been noticing quite a bit of traffic coming from a website called http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com I didn’t think to much of it up until recently. I looked into why there was traffic coming from here. To my surprise I saw that my photoblog, yes this one speedexposure, has been listed on a Top 50 chart for Philadelphia blogs. This website, Guide to Online Schools, is a website that offers information about college reviews, ratings, and online degree programs. They also offer information for different online resources for inspiration, local news and events, and helpful ideas. All of these resources were compiled into large “Top” blog lists, one of which was Top 50 Philadelphia Blogs. So stop by and check it out!
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Throttled up on 2 wheels
This weekend I decided to call up a few friends with sport bikes, “crotch rockets”, and do a shoot. I typically don’t shoot bikes at all. I will say, shooting a motorcycle is a lot harder, it forces you to be more creative. A car has many different areas to focus on, so it allows angles and creativity to flow. Car’s are also drastically different in shape, style, and purpose. A motorcycle on the other hand is a little more interesting. Besides the fact that you can fit one inside of a doorway, there’s really not much to them. Yes they can be different in style, from sport bike to choppers and such. When talking about sport bikes though there is really only one purpose, go fast, corner, and don’t get dead.
With this shoot I wanted to take a new approach. Since I have shot a form of transportation in a while I figured I would experiment a little with editing technique and shooting set-ups. All the photos from this shoot were done with 2 Canon 580exII speedlights wirelessly and they were processed to give that dark and sharp grungy feel. We were limited with location at the time of day but over-all I felt pretty comfortable with the spot.
In the photos we have Matt’s bike which is a modified Kawasaki ZX-10R. I previously did a shoot of his E36 here. The Honda F4i is modified as well and that belongs to Ryan. On with the pictures and to veiw the rest go to my Flickr
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Eyes on me
I’m sorry people, posting hasn’t been on my priority list in a while. I know typically bloggers would bash the fact that I’ve posted that comment, but its the truth. Over these past few months my fiance and myself have been planning for the biggest day of our lives, our wedding. When getting married you can never just think for yourself, you have to think as a pair and make decisions together. Well this is the total opposite reason for making this post. I’ve always shot pictures of other people. Typically that’s what you do as a photographer, right?
This weekend I decided to do a “self-portrait”, I’ve never done one before. Before jumping into this I said to myself, “how hard can this really be, it’s just like taking pictures of other people, right?”. Wrong, dead wrong. I went into this blind. First the lighting, then positioning myself in the lighting was a task in itself. the camera was fairly far away from me and I had my remote shutter. Trying to focus the camera on myself and centering myself in the frame was also a challenge. Anyway the picture is called “My Weapon of Choice”. The lens I am holding is my Canon 70-200mm. F2.8L
So I hope you like the picture. Like I said before this was my first time, I want some feedback and tips! Also I give a lot of credit to the photographers that can do this flawlessly.
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EXPOSE YOURSELF SWEATSHIRT from Zazzle.com
EXPOSE YOURSELF SWEATSHIRT from Zazzle.com A hoodie designed for my blog. T shirts coming soon!! Tell me what you think.
Scenery at the Philadelphia Auto Show
Every year I set out to go to the “wonderful” Philadelphia Auto Show. I like going because I usually take quite a few pictures and being that I am an automotive technician, I like seeing what other companies are putting on the road these days. It seems as if every year the show gets more and more crammed. Not just with cars, games and demo’s, but ignorance as well.
So my day began, got up early and headed to the car show. I had to utilize the oh so wonderful parking garage right next to the Philadelphia Convention Center. My “wonderful” annual car show experience started here. As you all know I own a 2006 STI. It’s loud and obnoxious. Recently i had the motor fully built from crank up to the valves. I was coming up the last level and a kid no older than 18-19 years old stands at the back of this rusted pickup truck with his father about to walk down the ramp. Well the son laughed at my car and says “look at that piece of…”, well you know the rest. This day started out great.
Well I was in line waiting to pay for my ticket, just like respectful do…right? Wrong. I had about 5 people cut me in line. Saying something to these people didn’t matter, they are so zoned in on getting their Toyo Tire posters and being first one to sit in and destroy the interior of the new Subaru Sti. Nothing was going to stop them!
Long story short now that I’ve dragged this post out longer than I intended too, I stayed at the show for 35 minutes. I didn’t take 1 picture, at the show at least.
After leaving the show I couldn’t just leave Philadelphia, especially after getting a huge snow storm. So i set out to find a nice quiet place to shoot. I started my way up Kelly Drive to Fairmount Park. Perfect spot. I parked at the closest parking lot and jumped out with my wide-angle and Circular Polarizer and had a field day! Let me know what you think!
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Abandoned Jersey Shore
Well if you’ve stumbled upon this blog post I should tell you now, this has nothing to do with the MTV reality show, The Jersey Shore (TV series). It has everything to do about the Asbury Park beach which IS considered a Jersey Shore. Well two weeks ago and friend and myself decided to pick up the good ‘ol cameras and to go shoot somewhere different that we really have never explored. I mean, we’ve both been to the beach, but never during the winter. So off on our journey to Asbury Park to see a beach town that “could’ve been…”. I had very high expectations for a good day with there being snow on the ground and having it be really sunny out. Overall my experience there was nothing shy of freezing. Who knew it would’ve been that much windier down on the shore! I liked this trip because i started noticing mixed emotions with the setting and season. It was winter and my body, finger tips, and face felt that. Aside from snow being on the ground causing a cool effect, my eyes saw that it could be summer as well, with seagulls, sand, roaring waves, and most of all the bright sun. I’ve only processed a couple of pictures from this trip so far so here is a few for the blog! Let me know what you feel when you see these.
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A shadow of my other half
As I was leaving the Mummers Parade this New Years day I was walking down Broad Street in Philadelphia and saw an older man leaning against one of the buildings. I was going to take this shot of him but as I turned around to get it he backed up a little bit, hiding his face. Right as I was about to shoot I noticed there was a reflection of someone in the wall that was posed exactly how he was. There was no time to nail exposure at this point so I snapped away and here’s what I produced.
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The mummers hit the streets of Philadelphia
So as you all know yesterday we turned another year. It’s 2011 people, which means start of a fresh and exciting new year. There are people who have traditions and certain “tools” that they use to make the first day of the year a relaxing and great time. If you are anywhere near Philadelphia on New Years day, and can wake up early enough,you’ll only need a few simple tools to make your day exciting. One, you will need a warm cup of hot chocolate or a fresh beverage of choice, as long as it’s in a solo cup. Two, bring a collapsible chair and plant it somewhere on Broad Street. Sit in that seat and let the Mummers handle the rest.
This year after having a crazy new years eve, I set out with my fiance and a few friends to catch the Mummers Day Parade. It was amazing, all the work that goes into the production of this parade is incredible. Here’s a few pictures from the parade, the outfits were terrific as usual! To view more pics from the Mummers Day Parade from this year and last year please view my Philly photo set here.
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Photographing Facial Expressions
Hey all I know its been a while since I made my last post. Here’s a fun shoot I did with my fiance this past weekend. Its made from an iPhone app that I have, promoting a song from Cassius called “I love you so”. Here are a few shots and check out the rest in the set on my flickr.
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Photographers not getting credit or recognition?
This weekend I got really riled up over a series of commercials. These commercials were from Panasonic, and they were based on their new series of Lumix cameras. The message being portrayed in each of these commercials is the “you don’t have to be a great photographer to take great pictures“. Heres the first video.
As you all know I made a post about this in August, to view click HERE. Through reading that post you should understand how much these commercials piss me off. Not only me, but they should aggravate the world of photographers as well! We are no longer going to be able to get credit for taking great pictures. Now the public is starting to think more and more that it’s the camera that’s taking those great pictures. Here’s the second commercial, as much as I’d hate to give Panasonic the free advertisement, this has to be seen.
To be honest I’ve been going through a lot of these Panasonic commercials on YouTube. While the may be funny commercials they are actually going against Dslr‘s with their point and shoots…doesn’t Panasonic make a Dslr? This confuses me as well because its like they are going against a form of product that they make. Here’s a short YouTube video that I made with the XtraNormal software.
Well I understand companies trying to catch every new angle to market their own product in a way no other company has. I do believe this was taking it too far. I feel it takes the credit away from the Photographer. Now that this craze has taken over, the market is flooded with photographers that think shooting in Auto modes are enough to get by. One thing Panasonic won’t be able to offer in “auto mode” is our eye.
The difference between a great photo and a work of art is the ability to see in a way other’s don’t. That is something technology will never be able to take away from us.
Anyone who has ever used a camera that reads this blog please leave a comment. This is definitely open for discussion! I want to know from you photographers as well, am I the only one getting angry about this?!
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New WESBITE!!!!
Well this is what I’ve been waiting for so long for. www.joedantone.com Finally I have my own website for my photography. This entire website was put together by a friend of mine named Tony Aprile. When designing this website I had idea in my head as to what I wanted it to look like and do. He was great, he offered up so much great advise and pointers as to how to make this site clean and user-friendly. On top of making this complete site within a days time and offering up great ideas to create it, he was extremely devoted to making this site proper.
Aside from this all being put together so well I could not find a better price than his, not only to create but also to host this site. If anyone would like a website designed by him please contact Tony Aprile at http://www.graythought.com/ make sure you request Tony you can also reach him personally at tonyaprile@gmail.com
Click the blog link at the top of the page and leave me some feedback! Let me know what you think! Remember its not just a site that will not change, with every shoot I will update the blog section. So save www.joedantone.com to your favorites!!
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Client Shoot: Dimitri
This past weekend I was asked to do a shoot by a long time friend of mine. Recently I’ve been wanting to try different things with using my 580exii flash and portraits. I’ve been investigating a lot on using flash to over power sunlight and learning how to use flash to make color pop.
Dimitri and I set out to my playground…Philadelphia. We arrived at our location and the clouds and sky set in perfectly right as we arrived. What better time to start testing these new techniques that I had been learning about. We shot for about 2 hours out of the day. Here’s a couple of shots that I picked out from the shoot that I am happy with. Please go to my Flickr and check out his set labeled Dimitri to view the rest of this shoot drop a comment and let me know what you think!
YouTube Video’s?!?!
Yes, that’s right, I made 2 YouTube slide show video’s. I will say, it’s quite fun but the purpose of me doing this is kind of like having a “Set” in Flickr. I’m making these videos to group different events and or genres of images from my portfolio. For all you photographers reading this I’ll clue you in. I’ve been reading more and more about photography promotion and different ways to market your work. I’ve repeatedly stumbled across the idea of making YouTube slide shows, or even behind the scenes movies. After hearing this I began a search on YouTube, to my surprise I was a little late on this idea. Apparently every photographer and they’re mother read these articles years before I did!
So, that’s what I did. I made YouTube Slideshows…heres 2 and I hope you enjoy them! The image quality sucks on them, I have to figure out why…any ideas drop a comment!
Exclusive S15 Silvia
This past weekend I did an “exclusive” shoot with the Silvia S-15. As some of you may know this car has gotten a lot of coverage over the past 1-2 years. After the shoot was over we decided to take a ride on the city, Philadelphia that is. First things first. This car breaks necks like I’ve never seen before. I do understand that when I am sitting in the driver’s seat” and I am not the one actually driving it may look a bit odd. Most of you may know at this point that the car is RHD (right-hand drive), that’s right, it’s here in the US and the steering wheel is on the right side. As we were driving about just looking for a place to get a quick snack and then load the trailer up, Sean wanted a shot of the car in a very different location that said Philadelphia all the while showcasing the car. So we set out on our 30min journey looking for that spot. Putting an image in my head I needed something that screamed Philadelphia but at the same time trying to get that in a spot you don’t see pics of cars in to often.
Well I got the spot. Dead smack in the middle of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. I just needed to find a spot and backdrop that said “That is a Philadelphia car”. So we drove a bit and decided to throw this thing in the middle of the median on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and catching a shot of City Hall right behind. Let me know what ya think!
Read up more on this car and the story behind the love and friendships that made it possible at http://www.4udrew.org/
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Skating Philly is a Crime…
In 5th grade till about 9th- 10th grade I used to skate. Me and some friends would hit up the local elementary school, we would take the “dinky” into Princeton and skate the university. Not only did we skate but we carried on the whole image as well. You didn’t have to have your skateboard on you because as long as you were rocking your huge Jnco jeans and sporting your Stussy and Alien Workshop shirts, people would know the deal.
We would have people yell at us because we were in the way or they had thought we were too reckless. Cops would chase us down and try to ticket us for things like vandalism and trespassing. Well they never usually caught up.
After I had got out of skating (took on a new interest, cars), I noticed that the skating scene kind of died down a bit. Now maybe thats because i wasnt involved in it anymore, so i never really payed any attention to it. I noticed there were less and less skaters in public places like the parks, train stations, schools, and shopping centers.
After my journey to Center City, Philadelphia I learned I was very wrong. Center city was flooded with skaters and bikers. It was incredible how many people were skating. There was a crew going at City Hall and if you crossed the street there was another group at Love Park.
The culture was still the same. The clothes were a bit more expensive though, haha. People wearing ALIFE, 10 DEEP, and fresh NIKE SB‘S. It kind of reminded me of the street races. Everyone met up in thier spots, bikers and skaters started fileing out of nowhere some came equipped with thier coffee, others rolled up with thier red bull. They would all sit around and talk, smoke cigs, laugh and joke. When the cops came around it was a massive scramble and within 10 seconds flat the spot was abandoned.
I sat around for a little bit to warm up to the crowd before i started firing my weapon of choice, 5D MKii. I noticed the scene had grown massivly. There were kids ranging from 11 years old up to adults looking like they were about 30. For the most park the crowd was nice. They didn’t mind me and my friend taking pictures. Others were very stand-off towards us but it was well understood.
Watching some of these skaters I was amazed. The tricks that I would try to master about 10-12 years ago, there were three 12 year olds doing them with ease. It’s like the younger kids these days are trained machines in sports. Tricks were being executed at City Hall that I couldn’t image possible without a ramp about 12 years ago.
Needless to say the title of this post was a sarcastic one. I personally don’t belive skating is a crime. Being an ex-skater I do now that yes you do cross that trespassing line very often, but that’s part of the rush.
To view more pictures visit my Flickr
Street Photography: Center City, Philadelphia
So as you all know I’ve been on this sort of street photography kick. I am actually enjoying it more than I thought. So with this blog I’ve decided to start a post “trend” in my work. For obvious reasons the posts will be named “Street Photography” but in the title will also have the location.
So this past weekend I spent both Saturday and Sunday in Center City, Philadelphia.
Subconsciously, both Saturday and Sunday I decided to hang around center city. At this point it’s clear to me as to why I did. Plain and simple, the weather was phenomenal. I knew that would be the best spot to unleash my camera and catch some interesting images.
Through-out Saturday I pretty much stayed at LOVE park. There was so much activity going on it was hard to walk away. First there was about 3 sets of happily married couples floating around the park. It was very interesting to see that each couple had their own style, yet all very fashionable. The most important thing was they were enjoying their surroundings, as was I.
Well aside from the brides and grooms I also had about 50 skateboarders keeping the parks rhythm going. Me being an old skater know that back about 8-10 years ago when the scene was huge, there were certain tricks and moves that if you saw someone perfect your jaw would drop. Today i came to the realization that not only are those tricks now so easily done, but there are 12 year olds doing them with ease! There is defiantly a lot of talent out there, it truly does suck that skateboarding is such a “crime” (sarcastically stated).
Moving on, I managed to hit some side streets outside of the park to find even more wedding action and some other shots of people in their “natural state”.
To view more pictures from my “street” work and view other city work please CLICK HERE!
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