A Little Night Photography in the City of Providence
On a recent Saturday night I hit the city of Providence with some fellow Rhode Island photographers for a little dinner, a few drinks and a LOT of night photography! The city is full of all kinds of amazing architecture and interesting art subjects to photograph at any time of day, but once the sun goes down and the city lights come on it becomes another world.
I love photography in the city, and normally I grab a wide angle lens and try to capture a wide city scape, full of tall tower buildings and streets bustling with activity. However, for this night I chose to leave the wide angle lens in the bag and use a medium range zoom lens. My challenge was to try to find more intimate stories in the city, to pull out individual elements of the city and really show how they look at night.
As I walked the streets of Providence and looked at the little details, rather then the big picture I was stunned by how much artistic design went into so much of the city. Small sculptures, and intricate signs decorated many of the properties that I saw.
I spent a good deal of time photographing the front of the Providence Performing Art Center, and its impressive array of neon lights. I took lots of photographs, and put my tripod over my shoulder and headed off to see what else the city had to offer. As I walked down the street I turned to look back over my shoulder and stopped dead in my tracks. Along the side of the Providence Performing Art Center was a staircase, but not just any staircase. Fully enclosed with a frosted plexi-glass, it appeared like a white snake slithering its way up and across the side of the building.
The Stairway
I quickly let my friends know what I was planning and crossed the street and down the alley way, admiring my find with each new step. Photography can be such an exciting adventure, and as I walked I was already flipping through different scenarios in my mind of how this scene might look through the viewfinder! I had to work the scene a bit in order to get a composition that I was pleased with, and found the photograph shown here to be my favorite of the set.
I hope that you have enjoyed my night photography, and welcome you to check out some of my other work in my fine art gallery.