Des Moines @ Night

Re-post June 2011

I drove into Des Moines tonight for a meeting and thought I would capture some pictures.  Des Moines is one of my favorite cities.  Since graduating in 2005 from Des Moines University there has been a significant amount of renovation to the downtown area.  I love the architecture and it’s always a great place to take pictures.

Iowa’s State Capitol sits on the east side of downtown (immediately behind me in this picture).  There is a lot of sidewalks and landscape to its west.  It also sits up high in comparison to the remaining downtown which allows for some great cityscapes.  Also, I love how Locust street ends in front of the capitol thus allowing for a unique perspective.

This shot was taken at dusk using my Leica M9 and 90mm summarit-m.  As Leica owners know, summarit is considered their “affordable” lens (most would disagree).  Anyway, I’ve been very happy with its sharpness and have taken many great pictures with it.

 

Iowa Countryside

I can remember the many drives from Southern Illinois to Des Moines and how much I would complain that there was absolutely nothing to look at. If you’re not familiar with this part of the country lets just say it is extremely flat and all you see for miles is farm land.

Now don’t get me wrong, I loved where I grew up and wouldn’t change it for anything but when you are stuck in a car for 8 hours, it’s nice to have something to look at.

Until recently, I never realized that Iowa actually is not that flat and has many rolling hills. I took this picture just west of Des Moines, it captures the typical farm land scene in this area.


	

Abandoned Crossing

If you haven’t noticed I have an interest in railroad tracks. Probably, most photographers do. I think a lot of it has to do with the rust, age, and symmetry of these structures. They often, can make a boring landscape interesting. I also like taking pics of railroad signs. This one was taken on a small dirt road. As you can probably tell, it was not often used therefore there was no need to change the sign.

Unclear Path

I’ve posted other pics from this location on my Flickr and 500px sites.  I recently traveled back and grabbed a few pics with my Leica M9.  I’ve mentioned previously how much I like the bokeh of Leica lenses.  In this picture you can see how well it focuses just a small portion of the foreground and completely blurs the background.  There’s an old run down bridge in the background but is obviously difficult to see.  The composition allows for some imagination of what is ahead.

Illuminate

One evening I thought I would use my Ikan LED light to shoot some daffodils.  I love how well it illuminated the flower pedals.  I was using my Leica M9 and the 90mm Summarit-M lens.  Obviously, shooting in complete darkness can be challenging especially with a manual focus camera.  I had to lay on the ground to get this shot and used a high aperture (f/2.5) to get the shot.

Soon, I hope to post more frequently.  Having a 3.5 week old at home is making it difficult (sleep has become much more important).
Verified by ExactMetrics