Great start with Grand Rapids!

This weekend I had the pleasure of taking a trip to Grand Rapids Michigan.  I wasnt sure if we were going to get the shots we wanted but we were going to make the best of it!

My friend Melik was the pilot and I was... asleep.  I enjoy my sleep! More then some and less then others ( those others are in cemeteries but thats a whole other discussion ).   So while I slept off and on I would wake up to tell outlandish stories of days gone by.

 Upon arriving we drove around frantically trying to find just the right place for the skyline sunrise picture that people would drool over.  This would never actually happen because the weather didnt like us that day.  It wasnt mad at us, it just didnt like us.  Skies were a flat gray blue.  There was almost no contrast to speak of.  It wasnt until I lost my pair of sunglasses ( I brought because I thought it was going to be like the two 60 degree days before ) that the sky parted for a brief time to show an amazing sunrise!  We were in the right place! We snapped pictures from the top of an overpass being brave to the oncoming traffic! However we were at the wrong time... An officer of some sort appeared out of nowhere and asked the two men in the highway with high power cameras on tripods " Hey what are you two doing up here ".  I didnt dare look at Melik because he is a professional comedian and I'm sure that one glance would have my sides splitting and trouble insuing.  Snappy Bill Engvil come backs sprang to mind as vivid thoughts of jail and my camera becoming evidance stopped me cold.  This was the beginning of an incredible day!

I will be sharing more of this story and tons more pictures in the days to come.  For now sit back and enjoy the view. 

This was one of the first pictures of the day when the sun burst through the clouds.  It was brief and breathtaking!

This was a beautiful bridge that we saw up river that we just had to go see.

This was the close up of the bridge. This historic bridge was worth the trip alone.

And the story continues.

So there we are taking great pictures along the river of this amazing bridge but the cold is harsh!  Now when I say harsh I mean there were penguins looking up at me half frozen like " dude really??? ".  My camera is a great piece of equipment, light weight and outstanding picture quality!  But the camera gets cold, very, very, cold!  The combination of the cold weather and cold camera made my hands into useless bricks of ice...  We went in search of a store to get the gloves of protection.  That may seem dramatic but trust me it wasn't.  As a photographer when my hands get cold I can't do things like I normally would.  Changing settings on the fly is slow and and sometimes dangerous as typically Im taking pictures in extreme situations like later in this store I extend my camera out over an eighty foot plus drop off.  You have to know that all of your limbs are working together and the way they should before attempting that feat.


We found gloves at the store.  We were off to our next destination.  We still didnt know where to go or how to get there but we were determined to get there fast! 

We arrived at what can only be described as a very interesting little iron bridge in a very interesting part of town.  When we past it we saw three people crossing it, but as we traveled under it we noticed that it was not for people to cross.  This bridge was fro trains only and it looked like it had been used for that purpose recently.  I was way too nervous to cross it on foot but I was thrilled to shoot its under belly.  It was beautiful!  The iron was covered in a thick black paint that over the years had succumb to the elements.  Rust showed through like its own life force refusing to be forgotten.  It remains on of my favorite shots of the trip.


We caught glimpses of an incredible gem in the middle of the city.  I wasnt sure what the building was but I knew it was gorgeous!   I had to capture it!   We approached it and saw breath taking detail...  Without a word we were off.  I immediately set up the tripod and started taking timed exposures which is my preferred method when Im really trying to capture as much detail as possible.  Each time the camera would let me know that the shutter was shut it was like Christmas and I was getting the present that I had been waiting all year for!  The end result is clearly my favorite series of pictures from the trip! 

Thats it for today folks.  Tune in tomorrow same Pure time same Pure station!