This is the city I am closest to. We live about 25 miles northwest of the city and our oldest daughter has lived in center city for many years. We visit often and have seen it change dramatically over the last ten years. It’s gritty, but not always dirty. It’s fun. And it has character… it’s the city that loves you back! I look forward to using the camera as an excuse to help me explore the city in more detail.

Winter On Spring Garden

Last year, I attended the wedding of a longtime family friend at a venue in the Spring Arts section of Philadelphia. It’s a small, four block section of Spring Garden street. Ever since then, I have wanted to go back and walk around and make some images. It seems like time has moved more slowly here… the area has retained its original character… and has resisted the gentrification that has taken root in many other parts of the city. I spent a cold, bright, winter afternoon walking up and down and around this four block section of Spring Garden and throughly enjoyed it.

Out Of Place

Just off Spring Garden, stands this small cluster of row homes that stopped me in my tracks. They looked like they should be in England, or maybe adobe huts in New Mexico, or perhaps they belonged somewhere in “The Shire”! And with the city skyscrapers behind them, they looked even more out of place. Yet something made me stop and look at them a long time. I can’t quite figure it out, but I’m still staring at them.

Philadelphia - By The Rail Station

I arrived at the train station earlier than expected and had about forty minutes before Gina and JD were getting in.  This was a great opportunity to walk around and explore with my camera.  It was a perfect autumn morning…the air was pleasantly warm, with the most gentle of breezes.  The sky was clear blue, punctuated by quickly moving clouds.

I made my way across the street to a building I have seen for many many years.  And it has always attracted my photographic curiosity.  But, for the first time, I was on foot with a camera, and not in a car speeding to the parking garage to catch a train. I made many images from different angles with different compositions.  It was exhilarating seeing the patterns the clouds made in the sky and on the building.  I also made some images of the surrounding cityscape. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, my forty minutes was gone as my phone lit up with texts from Gina telling me they waiting!