I spent today taking four separate one-hour tours of various aspects of Salem, Massachusetts. The first tour was an overview of Salem, the second a tour of the historic cemetery, the third a tour of Salem's architecture, and the fourth was a tour of the witch trial sites. I last visited Salem in 1979, and the city has changed dramatically in the last 34 years. The hokey tourist traps have sprung up everywhere, and there has been unchecked modern growth that has completely destroyed the historic feel the city once had. What little remains of the colonial period is now so buried amidst the modern sprawl as to be all but meaningless. Having seen the city in the late '70s before all of the dramatic changes, I can only describe the modern experience as disappointing. It's now a tourist trap, not a historic site. That the photo I selected from that trip is of a street performer should pretty much sum up the modern Salem experience.
Post processing started with a simple pop filter in Topaz Adjust. I then adjusted adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, and adaptive saturation. A levels adjustment was added in PSE.
