Where to start? I love barbecue. I love butcher shops. I love cities with tall buildings and great people watching. I also love air conditioning. My 4th of July week was spent in South Carolina, right by the border of North Carolina. Even though I spent a lot of time in each state I really only dug the cameras out in NC. SC was more for relaxation time, TV watchin’ and board game playin’ (in that AC I was talking about, of course).
My first photography adventure in the Carolina’s took me to a little town called Waxhaw, North Carolina. Within that town is a bridge, some sidewalks, eateries, tea shops and some trains. After crushing a fantastic Cuban-like sandwich with tater chips at a little spot called Cork and Ale, we set out to wander around ol’ Wexhaw.
CSX locomotive rolling through the town of Wexhaw, NC at approximately 50 miles-per-hour. With full cargo, this train at one point weighed right around 34-35 million pounds total
We started out our journey by crossing over the aforementioned bridge to visit some of the aforementioned shops. In the middle of the bridge, an elderly man engaged us in conversation. Though I am not a stop and chat type, this guy was able to peak our interest by informing us a train was about to roll through. He was super passionate about trains as he used to be an engineer for Amtrak back in the day. The train was a CSX operated freight train that would be right around 1.5 miles in length and weight roughly 14,000,000lbs empty. Sounded like a great shot so we hung around and learned about trains from our new friend.
A couple days went by and I finally got myself into Charlotte, North Carolina. We hit up a spot called NoDa first. It’s a very cool entertainment, artsy and unique place to hang out with some vintage RV trailers converted to stores and food trucks, a cantina and a ton of murals to check out. The photography opportunities we endless and stunning.
From there, it was off to Uptown Charlotte. Here is where I got the Nikon D810 IR converted camera out and FINALLY got to explore using it as an architectural camera (my main reason for the conversion). Exploring the color grading and different artistic approaches in Light Room was a treat as well. This IR thing has really added a remarkable tool to the photography tool kit for various subject matter.
Down below are the images I decided to bring to life from shooting with my Fuji GFX 50SII and Infrared converted Nikon D810. Click the images to enlarge.
- Mike
PS: New images added to Arch/Design, City Life and Transportation portfolio sections…Browse away friends…