Urban Winter

First, can I just say that getting out to take photographs in the bitter cold is not easy to do, and even harder to do alone. So, I have found that, as is the case for most of life, it helps to utilize the buddy system. Find a friend, preferably one who is also into photography, and make a date, rain or shine, to go out and shoot. And just see where an hour or two will take you. It works for physical activity and it works for photography. Having someone to keep you accountable and also share the journey with can lead to inspiration...what might you see that you wouldn't have if you were alone?

And so, weeks ago, I made a plan with a new friend, Rich, who is just getting into photography more seriously. He picked me up early one Sunday morning with a plan to do some urban photography in downtown Dayton. It so happened that we had had snow the night before, just a dusting, which made for an interesting twist considering the sun was also bright and shining (perhaps one of the last sunny days we'll see until April!). And so we drove around, stopping when something caught the eye, ending up at one of my favorite urban areas - the Front Street Studios. It was really nice to get out and just play for awhile. And, in an effort to challenge myself, I tried to stick to using just one lens - one of my favorites that I don't pull out too often - the 50 f1.4 - it's a great lens and I love playing with the really wide range in depth of field to give a very blurry look to the background (which I have just learned is referred to as "bokeh" - who knew?)

So enjoy my little bit of Urban Winter!

bench overload!

prowling

bow down before winter

reflection of Rich

J is for "Jackie"

tag, you're it

talk about a blue sky day!

like layers of a cake!

my next tattoo!

on the tracks

I wear my sunglasses in the snow!

Inside the buildings are items that give a new meaning to the word "random"