A while back I headed into downtown Providence for a Google+ photowalk with a handful of other photographers from around the state. Nine of us, different backgrounds, all wandering the same few blocks – it’s always interesting to see what people gravitate to. Some folks went straight for a group of teenagers doing skateboard tricks in the park. Others set up tripods on the architecture. Everybody sees something different, and that’s kind of the fun of a photowalk.
After some shooting in the late afternoon light, we grabbed dinner – burgers, beers, way too much laughing – and then hit the streets again once the sun was down. I love Providence at night, all the color and light bouncing around downtown. We ended up on South Water Street, and that’s where I saw it: the Donut sculpture, and the Manchester Street Power Station framed right through the middle of it.
I’ve photographed the Power Station a bunch of times, from a bunch of angles, but I’d never seen it quite like this – small and distant, framed inside that ring, still instantly recognizable if you know Providence at all.
Getting the shot wasn’t easy. I had to find a spot where I could see the power station through the donut without the streetlights blowing out my lens with flare, and then dial in an exposure that could hold detail in the dark power station while still keeping the highlights on the donut’s polished surface from blowing out completely. Manual mode, watching the histogram, and a little dodging and burning afterward to bring the brightest spots back down.
You can see the finished print, Manchester Street Power Plant, in the shop.