More of the Rapids that are so Grand!

So here we are back to the amazing trip to Grand Rapids. This time we start by looking at what seems to be an insane act performed my my friend who joined me on this epic adventure. We went to the top of a parking ramp and looked at the beautiful city. All around we saw amazing buildings and incredible water ways. We had noticed a beautiful church while we were cruising through the city looking for an advantage point for the perfect skyline shot. As we stood atop a parking ramp I peered over the edge and saw this incredible church at the end of the street. I thought I have to get this shot but how? For a moment I pondered the thought of standing on the ledge to take the picture and then in the back of my head I heard a voice... If you get up there I will be soooooo angry! Was it my conscience or maybe it was my wife. Any how I knew I had to get the shot but how. I decided to try something crazy. I would set the camera up to take the picture and then as it is mounted to the end of my tripod set the timer and extend it out over the abyss. The drop was well over seventy feet! I was terrified of dropping this tool of my trade. What would it do if I dropped it and it splintered into a million pieces?

The good thing is that it worked. I extended the camera over the edge while the time ticked away. And then I heard the shutter and pulled it back in. I looked and loved what I had accomplished but I wanted a better shot. I did it again and loved the results and then I thought what about a timed exposure? As I thought about setting it up I thought why tempt fate? I love the picture and the events that lead to its existence make it one of my favorites of all time! I knew that people would want to see what it looked like for me to take pictures that way so while Melik took his I snapped a picture of him hanging his new camera over the edge.

While on top of the parking ramp I looked in the direction of one of the first buildings we saw when entering the downtown area. What I saw on top of it made me wonder what it would be like to live in or visit a building siting on the top of the world. OK its not the top of the world but if I lived there Im sure it would feel that way.

One of the last pictures in this series is my version of a few of the downtown sky scrapers.  I like to call them sky strokers because they hardly seem intrusive. They seem to blend with the sky like nature and metal merged into one. I loved the elegant curves of these buildings and how even though in this picture there are three buildings the almost seem to be one.

Last but not least as we were leaving the city we ran across the reason why Grand Rapids is so unique. Little do people know that it is the people in the town that hold the city together. In this case hold the building up. I snapped the picture while driving and could hardly contain my laughter! It was later explained that this young lady was having her picture taken and this was the chosen pose. I personally think that she was trying to move her city forward ha ha ha!