Tag: Market Street

East Market Street Morning

Morning on Market Street
Morning on Market Street

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Louisville is experiencing a revival of it’s East Market Street area now known as the NuLu District. NuLu is attracting tech startup ventures, galleries, restaurants, coffee shops, lofts and other uses that repurpose what had been vacant or poorly maintained buildings into vibrant new spaces. NuLu is close to the Louisville Waterfront Park, Main Street night spots, the new Yum Arena and Louisville Slugger Field. It is also attracting a diverse group of enthusiastic young professionals, artists and entrepreneurs who are brimming with ideas and ambition.

There is a lot of activity in this area such as the building on the left in this photo. The early morning sun really lit up the facade and that’s what drew my eye to the scene. I know some folks would pass by a scene such as this because the construction isn’t completed but for me that is an important element. I see the overall scene as one of renewal and reuse. Instead of continuing to expand the city’s footprint by developing outside the city core; projects such as this bring new vitality to what was once a rundown and under utilized section of Louisville. I  like documenting these sorts of projects and attempting to create a piece of art that will tell future generations what our wonderful city was doing at the turn of the century.

From a technical point of view this is a three exposure bracket set using -2, 0, and +2 Exposure Values. It has been merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2. I used the Deep #1 preset where I made some adjustments to the tonality settings and dropped a control point in the street to darken it slightly. (There was a minor snowstorm through here a couple of weeks ago and the street still has a salt residue on it which left it very grey.) I then returned the merged files to Aperture 3 where I completed my adjustments and sharpening.

Joe Ley’s Garden of Delights

Joe Ley’s Garden of Delights

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This is another image form the NuLu Photowalk on Saturday. This is a side yard at Joe Ley Antiques on Market Street here in Louisville. I processed it using Topaz Adjust and the Spicify preset. Some readers of this blog have asked me if I’m advertising for Topaz, NIK or OnOne so I just want to clear the air about that. The simple answer is no; I am sharing what tools and techniques I use to achieve the images that I see in my mind when I’m photographing or when I’m in my studio creating a new piece of art. I want those who view my art to know what I used, not to sell them on the tools, but to open their eyes to the possibilities that the plug-ins offer for artistic expression.

While I consider myself to be an accomplished photographer I do not feel bound or constrained to meet the expectations of other photographers. I am first and foremost a photographic artist; I try to impart my feeling for the subjects I photograph through the use of color, composition and texture. I am not concerned when someone feels the need to criticize my art and thinks that somehow I have broken some arbitrary norm that they think is sacrosanct. I don’t need validation from those who think they know what I should be doing or how I should do it.

Photography is my chosen art form and I’m content to put it out in the world and share it with anyone who enjoys it. I didn’t study art to copy other artists; in part I studied art to understand what others had done before me and draw inspiration from their works. I enjoy color, I like saturated colors, I like natural colors, I like the colors in a sunset or a thunderstorm. Sometimes I feel that I cannot improve on the scene before my lens and I strive to be as realistic as possible while at other times I want to overpower the colors and punch them up beyond what some folks consider natural.

Closed

Closed
Closed

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This image is another one from the NuLu Photowalk with Jon Eland last Saturday. I was photographing the facade of the building at Gittings Bedding on Market Street when I noticed this fellow looking out the door. I started photographing him as he stood there for what seemed a very long time watching me. At some point he flipped the OPEN sign to CLOSED and I thought he would close the door but instead he continued to watch me. I continued to shoot until he stepped back inside and closed the door.

I processed this image in Topaz Adjust using Spicify as my initial preset. I dialed it down quite a bit in order to preserve a realistic sense to the image while still intensifying the contrast and colors in the photo. The sun was shining directly on the building but through using the detail slider and other adjustments I was able to show the texture of his shirt and the brick on the building.