Topic: A Pennsylvanian Weekend.

[MiguelCampano]

Hello,

This is my first photo essay here. Nothing too fancy, as a matter of fact, it's a very casual post. My work week was rather short due to the 4th of July holiday (Also known as Brexit 1776). I decided to go to Philadelphia, which is about 30 minutes from where I live, and walk around, drink and eat a little. I grabbed a roll of Portra 160 and I had a couple of shots left on a roll of Tmax 100 that I was using to take some pictures of the interns and their projects at work.

I made my way down to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the famous "Rocky Steps" are (from the movie Rocky, you know when Sylvester Stallone kicks the Soviets ass, and Apollo Creed... Of course), and also realized that the sky was very overcast, however, there was an interesting lighting that made me take a shot of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul which I did one handed as I talked to a hipster who was explaining to me the difference between a "man bun" and a regular ponytail.

Church by Miguel Campano, on Flickr

After downing a Woodford Reserve Old Fashioned, I continued my walk to the museum, stopping by some flowers (previously posted in the Weekend thread) and taking a picture as well. Now, I haven't really figured out the process of taking B&W pictures of flowers, especially white ones, as the highlights are usually blown. This time, however, I was able to only adjust them to a mere -5 to my liking which I must say, left me pleased with the results.

Patriotic Flowers by Miguel Campano, on Flickr

I never made it to the museum, as I saw a couple of Army guys and started talking to them and had some beers and whatnot. Instead, we took cover under a tent as it rained for a while, then the skies cleared so I loaded some Portra and decided to go around and take some more pictures. The sun was bright now and people were quickly gathering around the Swann Memorial Fountain, so I took a shot of them as well... Tipsy at this point.

Fountain by Miguel Campano, on Flickr

It was around 7:30 PM when I decided to head back home, and walked towards Suburban Station to catch the train back to Bucks County. On my way there, I snapped this shot of the City Hall.

City Hall by Miguel Campano, on Flickr

The next day I went over to New Hope, PA with my roommate's daughter, Bianca, who is going away for summer break this week. I had a roll of Tri-X 400 this time as I had finished the Portra attempting to take some handheld, night pictures without much success. We went to a brewery where we played a couple of rounds of pool, then when it was time to leave I snapped a shot of her against the light in order to catch her silhouette. Unfortunately, the place was a bit crowded and couldn't get a better angle.

Shadow by Miguel Campano

A couple of hours later, we were about to leave so we stopped at Starbucks to grab an iced coffee (it was around 95F that day) and, of course, they spelled her name in Starbuckian.

Beianca by Miguel Campano, on Flickr

We made it home safely and with a full belly, as we stopped by a BBQ place and had a "Big Texan Burger", with two beef patties, bacon and half a pound of BBQ pulled pork. 'Merica.

Thanks for reading/watching, folks!

[Adam Doe]

Quite a nice view into your weekend. I quite like the photos. My only criticism would be that I prefer my Old Fashioned with Old Overholt 

[MacArron]

Thank you Miguel for showing your view of Pennsylvania. I would say your essay is too short and I'd like to see more photos of the city 

However I see two things that aren't so good in my humble opinion: colour photos show a greenish look, and the composition in all of them  is very very close; I think the use of a shorter focal length would have helped. 

[MiguelCampano]

Hi, Adam... I would have to try that. This weekend, perhaps.

MacArron, I agree with you. As of a couple of months, I've used my 50mm 1.8 exclusively, however, I will start to use a 35-70 that I have to take advantage of the wider focal aperture. I did notice the greenish look, however,m I didn't really play much with the color adjustment in Lightroom since I am thinking it might be due to my chemicals getting exhausted. The C-41 kit I've used has almost 16 rolls on it by now, so might be time to mix up a new batch.

Thanks!