Happy 2014!

Location: Near 6^th and Girard Ave

Image Size: 12 x 12” @240 dpi

Camera: Canon Eos 5D

Lens: Canon f4 28-l05mm zoom @47mm

ISO: 400

Exposure: f8 @1/250

Print: Epson Artisan 1430/ Cone Color Inks/ Moab Lasal

The day I shot this, I had been photographing the iron façade that I posted a few weeks back. I was using a screw-mount tripod head (just replaced by a quick-release model, which is a sea-change) and switching between the 5D and a venerable medium format folding camera while standing on a traffic island-- ughh!  When I was done at that locale, I walked south along Sixth Street.

The work had gone well—great light, a few interesting conversations with passers-by and I had worked carefully and thoroughly. I was a bit euphoric. It was great too to be free of the fixed nature of shooting with a set up that is an effort to move and is generally used at or near eye level. To change my mindset and just roam somehow put my eyes and reflexes in a very aware state and this shot unfolded.

I would have loved to have spent more time with this subject, especially as the light changed.  The lift-gate was all the way up initially, but someone must have noticed my presence across the street . Or maybe the mechanic who came out was just locking up for the day. Either way, the gate came down. I continued to shoot as the interior vanished.  The partially closed door caught in travel, ironically, made for a much better composition. 

The original print was in color, which helped me get the tonalities closer to what I wanted, but I felt black and white was a better choice. Also, the combination of low light and possibly the older version of Lightroom I’m using (Adobe Camera Raw appears to be better at handling this) left a fair amount of noticeable noise in the dark interior. I minimized this by making a special less-sharp file for that part of the image that I then masked in using Photoshop.