I've had this concept in mind for a while. The weather today was unsettled, but the light rain wasn't enough to generate some very good street scene opportunities, so I decided to head over to this spot downcity and see what I could do with the concept of someone striding quickly past these murals. The street is lined with them, and my experience has been that nobody walking past even glances at them. That's the story I wanted to tell.
Waiting for someone to walk by proved an interesting exercise in patience, however. It took almost a half hour before this guy passed in front of the murals on the right side of the street. To get the photo meant really irritating a W.B. Mason trucker, though. Just as this guy started up the street, a delivery truck pulled up at a stop sign directly to my right. Seeing his left turn-signal on, I attempted to gauge when the guy would be in position for the photo and realized the truck would reach the murals at the same time. Well, THAT wasn't going to happen if I could help it! Just as the truck started to roll, I stepped out into the street effectively blocking the truck, but staying in good position for the photo. It worked. The trucker wasn't happy, but I got the shot.
Post processing started with a classic filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted adaptive exposure, contrast, protect highlights, and boost black. A levels adjustment was added in PSE.
I just love this photo, but I equally love the story! The things photographers do to get a good picture. I would venture that the truck driver is not a photographer, or he would have understood.
December 5th, 2013
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