2011, Day 351 - Tunnel

It had been six months since my last haircut so I made an appointment for this morning.  Unfortunately that meant making a trip downtown and given the time of year and that fact that it is a Saturday I knew parking would be a nightmare.  True to form I ended up parking about six blocks away so on my way I stopped to take some pictures.

Normally I probably would have had my 100mm macro on but I decided it was time that it saw a little spa treatment with Canon so instead I decided to take my trusty 70-200 zoom.  It is a beast of a lens which is why I don't often carry it but it also allows for a much different point-of-view.  Plus, given that the holidays are almost upon us I thought it would be a good choice for some street candids.

This particular shot isn't a candid, it is one of Portland's streetcars.  I love these things not for their utility but for their aesthetic.  Streetcars are very European and I feel like I am transported elsewhere when I see them, especially as they quietly glide down one of the tree-lined streets of Portland's downtown.  The only thing I could have wished for would have been a little bit of fog but I am happy with the results.

Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
200mm, f5.6, 1/400 sec @ 320 ISO

2011, Day 190 - Flare

I was walking through downtown Portland briefly this evening.  Supposedly I had a haircut appointment but unfortunately the person before me, who I couldn't see clearly, had an afro that was two feet from their scalp to the tip of the hair (so over four feet across) and they wanted their hair cut short.  When I arrived they weren't even half done and they had been working on it for over an hour so I wandered around a bit before deciding to go home.

On my way back to my car I saw these folks waiting for some art house movie theater to open their doors.  With my camera set for one stop overexposure I grabbed this photo.  I love the flare in the bottom left, the long shadows reaching for the bottom of the frame and the buildings disappearing in the brightness of the late afternoon sun.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 24-70/f2.8L
27mm, f5.6, 1/160 @ 200 ISO