Carol A. Hand

I have to admit, I wasn’t able to take very interesting photos related to today’s topic: “Street” – Establishing Shots. Time and weather limited choices to my immediate neighborhood, but I did learn something about the importance of perspective and light. I also became more aware of the varied nature of my neighborhood.

Duluth, Minnesota is a long narrow city nestled between Lake Superior and St. Louis River on one side and a steep hillside on the other. The vista one block from my house is that of a busy avenue – the major artery for lengthwise city traffic on my side of town (the “west” side).  It’s a street one typically travels to get somewhere else.

Grand Avenue (3^rd Street)

In case you’re curious about the sign on the left side in the photo above …

The sign post for the church often changes messages. Although I have often been tempted to take photos, I have never had my camera with me. But today, I did.

My street, West 4^th, is only a few blocks long bordered on one end by an elementary school and on the other, by the high school. The street is often filled with children on their way to and from school or the nearby playground. Today, it was noticeably empty.

West 4^th Street facing east toward the high school

The alley behind the house did have more activity, but I felt as though it would be invading people’s privacy to include their photos without their permission. So this is the best I could do today.

I found myself tempted to label this “An Alley of Strangers.” It’s surprising how few people I have been able to meet in my four and a half years here. (Horizontal with zoom lens)

This is the same alley from a slightly different vantage point (Vertical with a wide lens)

These are not exciting pictures, but I’m not sure I would have learned as much about photography if they had been like those in an earlier post of street views. The contrasts between wide and zoom lenses, the variability of light due to very slight shifts in my vantage point and the changing weather, and vertical/horizontal camera shots all captured incredibly different perspectives and evoked very different feelings.

(Photos taken with Sony Cyber-shot camera. The only processing involved the rotation of vertical shots.)

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