Back in Durham, this time with a DSLR

The past couple posts were devoted to a visit to downtown Durham, N.C., which was a spontaneous idea after a doctor appointment at Duke University. I used my iPhone 12 for all the shots. The visit also was brief. 

Lee Ann and I so enjoyed our meal during that trip, that we decided to return a week later, and this time, because the trip was planned, I brought along my Canon 6D DSLR camera to do some more walk-around photography. That is what this post is about.

We spent about the same amount of time doing the walk-around, largely because to go any longer probably would have pushed us into rush hour in the Triangle, and we knew from previous experience that it's no fun being on Triangle expressways in rush hour.

And yes, we returned to Bull City Burger and Brew for lunch, and are pleased to report our experience there was as enjoyable as the first. 

I devoted most of my walk-around to areas I hadn't visited last week, starting with areas along Highway 147 of particular interest to me, which included the Durham Performing Art Center and the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, home of the local Triple A Minor League Basball team. I wasn't able to get optimum available light for my shoot, which would have been early morning of late afternoon. But I did my best to do with what I could. 

The baseball stadium was not open for foot traffic, and portions of it were roped off while construction or remodeling work was being down, especially at the main entrance point facing Jackie Robinson Drive, which is a type of frontage road for Highway 147. But fortunately, by approaching the complex from the north and the Tobacco Road development, I had a nice elevated perspective of the field from the outfield area, beginning in left field and extending to centerfield. At that point, the high-level vantage point in rightfield was blocked off.

I didn't try to get inside the DPAC; if I'd had more time, I would have wanted to do that. But I was pleased I got the outside shots that I did. 

The Tobacco Road Historic District flanks the ballpark to the northwest. The district dates to 1874 and in 2000 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district is loaded with red-brick structures and multiple "Tobacco Road" or "American Tobacco" signage. An example of one appears in the photo leading off the post. 

The site had once been home to the American Tobacco Company, once the largest manufacturer of cigarettes in the United States. Indeed, a large smoke stack and water tower in the middle of the development still bear the logo of Lucky Strike cigarettes.

For first-time visitors to the area, it's worth the time to stroll the district and appreciate the redevelopment, which has made this part of the downtown area aesthetically striking. 

A view of the Durham Performing Arts Center (above) from Vivian Street, and a closer slice of the structure (below), with the adjacent Aloft Hotel on the right.  

 

Above and below: Both of these shots were taken from Blackwell Street and Diamond View Park, which serves as a sort of buffer between the DPAC, Athletic Park and Tobacco Road, a building in which is seen in the above photo. In the photo below, the western side of DPAC is on the left and the Aloft Hotel is in front, extending to the right.  

Above: A view of the 27-story One City Center, the downtown's tallest structure (opened in 2018), from Blackwell Street and Diamond View Park. 

A colorful crosswalk (above) leading from the park to the Tobacco Road campus. Below, a map and tourist/visitor guide to the campus' various structures, offices and businesses.

 

Above and below are two views of the walkway behind the large Tobacco Road building (as seem in photo higher up in the post). The second photo below shows the Lucky Strike logo on the smoke stack and water tower. 

More red brick in a plaza (above), which is close to the site of the photos immediately above, and in the building below. This area also features a lot of black iron work, as illustrated below.

  

Above and below: Last photos of the Tobacco Road development. Above shows the large red-brick building on the left and One City Center in the distance. Below is an attempt at an artful composition integrating the tree with the architecture. 

 

Above and next seven photos below are images I captured while walking the elevated sidewalk behind the outfield wall of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. I walked it from left field around to center. The one photo not of the ballfield is a building batters at home plate see behind the left field wall. Another red-brick building is in the background on the right field side for batters. 

Jackie Robinson Drive (above) serves as the south perimeter for the ballpark. Motorists have access to Highway 147 (below) from Jackie Robinson Drive. 

I had rotten luck getting a shot of the main entrance to the ballpark on this day. Construction crews were doing sundry work there (above). That left me difficult access to player jersey tributes (below) that included No. 8 for the fictional "Crash" Davis (played by Kevin Costner) in the motion picture Bull Durham.   

Above: Ticket windows for the Durham Bulls games. 

Above: I liked the concept for the Self-Help building facade, but I don't know the story behind it. 

Another red-brick structure (aboveO just before the railroad tracks on my walk along Blackwell Street back toward One City Center, which I captured close up below at the intersection of Main and Corcoran streets. 

At Main Plaza at Parrish, Corcoran and Market streets sits Major the bull, a sculpture named for Durham philanthropist George “Major” Watts Hill, who had an important role in the city’s development. The sculpture was created in 2004 by Eastern Carolina University students — and future husband and wife — Michael and Leah Foushee Waller.

Above: I'm not positive, but I believe this building is the Durham Hotel on Chapel Hill Street. A short jog from the  hotel is the slice of Chapel Hill Street shown below.

Above: I was really struck by this church building on Cleveland Street. I was a bit puzzled by the three parked fire engines out in front, though. There was no discernible fire or smoke to be seen. 

Above: In the previous post of the downtown area, I had some closeups of the main library building. This is the same building from a distance, using the road to it as a leading line. 

At the corner of Parrish and Magnum streets is this slice of shops (above). Just before this scene is a modest park and rest area, where the swings and installation art (two photos immediately below) can be found. This is less than a half a block from Bull City Burger and Brew. 

Above: Dos Perros is just across the street from the park shown above. 

In my previous post on downtown Durham, I showed you one side of the very modern City Hall building. This is the opposite side, fronting Magnum Street, which actually appears to be the front. I close (below) with a bicycle secured to a pipe on East Parrish Street.  

PP's Photographer in the spotlight: Jordan Harrison

Jordan Harrison, an Indianapolis area woman, has a degree in advertising, but as she acknowledged in her short bio at the Capture Indy project Web site, her true passion is photography.

"I like to take pictures of architecture, people, nature, animals, etc ... but enjoy architectural photos the most," she said. "I love to take a picture of a building that people might see on a regular basis, but tweak it to emphasize all the amazing details it's exterior and/or interior has to offer."

Jordan's work at Capture Indy is distinguished by the inimitable look she gives many of her images -- the state capitol, farm buildings, points of interest. She tries to explain her technique in our interview for this month's "Photographer in the Spotlight," Jordan Harrison.

Jordan, how and when did you get into photography? What was it about photography that attracted you to it? Your degree is in advertising ... was there photography involved in your advertising studies in college that perhaps planted the seed?

I started doing photography as a hobby back in college. It began with me taking pictures of my nieces and it didn't turn into anything more until a few years later after I graduated college.

I first became attracted to photography while working on ads in my advertising classes and later on in my advertising internship. I appreciated seeing how the photography could tell a story in order to sell the products for the ads.

It didn't take a professional route until about 2007 when my cousin and I decided to start doing senior pictures for people we knew and the rest is history. I still have a long way to go and a lot more to learn, but with every picture I take and every picture I edit my passion for it continues to grow.

Are there any prominent global, national or local photographers that you count among your favorites, or as inspiration?

I wouldn't say that there is a particular photographer that comes to mind as my inspiration. However, it's not that I don't think that there are amazing photographers out there, because I think there is an endless amount of amazing talent when it comes to photography. I am just more inspired by the actual photos and the work that the artists put into it then a particular name. I am always inspired to get out and take new photos after browsing online and viewing other people's work.

What kind of equipment do you use in taking your pictures? Do you have a favorite lens? Did you delve much in film photography in the years preceding digital photography? If so, did you approach your work much the same? Did you ever do your own lab work?

I use a Canon Digital SLR Camera for taking my pictures. My favorite lens is my Canon telephoto 300mm because it is a great all-purpose lens due to its wide range from 71mm to 300mm.

I didn't delve into using film cameras because at the point where I became interested in photography, digital cameras were the advancement. Film cameras seemed too archaic. With digital, you get the instant preview of the photo, it's more cost-effective and allows for better editing, so using a digital camera seemed to be the best choice from the beginning.

What inspires you to take pictures, and/or what motivates you to pursue your craft?

I am motivated to pursue my craft of photography because it's the thing I am most passionate about. I am inspired to take pictures because I love to create memories of the things I shoot or even bring about an old memory that someone might already have. I often find that people will look at my pictures and remember a memory from their own past.

For example, at the local market where I sold, I remember a particular woman buying a picture set of the local covered bridge because her father used to take her there every weekend. I could tell how much seeing my photo meant to her and that's what makes me pick up the camera time and time again.

You favor buildings and architectures in your photography work. Do you have a special approach to either setting up or taking pictures of those subjects?

I favor buildings and architecture the most because of all the details that encompass the structure or makeup of a building. I like to build on the details of the structure in order to tell the story of the subjects time and place. I give people the opportunity to see the beauty in things that they might pass by everyday and not take the time to notice. Plus, buildings are constantly posing without me having to tell them to look this way and smile.

Much of your photographic work is distinguished by its treatment in post-processing. It reminds me a bit of what I've seen of a lot of high-dynamic range (HDR) imagery, and if not, then something entailing a lot of layers and masks -- and some dodging and burning -- in Photoshop. Is what you do anything close to that? If not, can you give us an idea how you go about it?

The post-processing that I primarily use tends to mimic the HDR filters that you can buy as an attachment to your camera. However, I tend to not use filters when I can have the original subject as it would look in real life as well as the HDR effect after post-processing.

I generally use Photoshop as my main editing program. In Photoshop, I will open my image and create different layers that I can adjust while having the ability to maintain the original with the hide and unhide option.


I tend to always use these three adjustment layers for beginning to edit a new photo. The first adjustment layer is "Color Balance" which includes tone balance for allowing tweaking of shadows, midtones and highlights. The second adjustment layer I use is "Brightness and Contrast" which has a wide range of different choices of color burns, dodging and luminosity. The third adjustment layer is "Hue/Saturation," which allows me to adjust the picture as a whole or select the different colors to adjust specifically.

Each photo is different in the amount of extra processing needed. Some might need the exposure to be tweaked and some might just need a color balance to be fixed. I prefer to save all the edits I do as actions so that I am able to re-create the same look and feel of previous photos.

Would you say the process you employ for each image, as described above, takes much longer in post-processing than what many photographers would spend on each image? If so, does that ever become a time-management issue for you?

At the beginning when I am creating new actions, it might take more time then most would prefer to spend on editing. However, the final result is worth it because after saving many different actions, it allows me to click one button and change that image into a variety of looks.

Is Photoshop your primary post-processing software? If not, what else do you use?

Yes, Photoshop is my primary avenue of editing, but some photos don't need as much processing. In cases like that, I prefer the simplicity of Google's Picasa program which allows simple adjustments like changing a photo to black and white or making a quick crop. It's a free and easy program to download and become familiar with.

I can see where your process particularly helps accentuate -- and distinguish -- a lot of the "old time feel" type images of yours that I've seen. For example, the "Vintage Gas Pump," "Abandoned Tractor" and "As the Storm Clears" photos that you submitted to the Capture Indy project. Do you have a sense of how those images might benefit more (or perhaps less even?) from the way you process them than, say, the classic architectural shots, such as the Indiana Statehouse, the State Government Building or the downtown edifices? I guess what I'm asking is ... how do you decide when to give an image that special treatment?

I primarily edit these photos based on my preferences. When I do each action to a picture looking to find that perfect edited look, I am basing my choices on what stands out to me.

Certain architectural and landscape pictures tend to look better with that "old time feel" because it is more effective to try to get each viewer to feel connected to that particular time I am trying to re-create. With some photos though, the "old time feel" might not work in allowing that same feeling to be evoked.

For example, you wouldn't want to use that "old time feel" on a more modern building because you wouldn't want the viewer to see that subject as something of the past but you would rather portray it as something shiny and new.

As I mentioned above, you submitted quite a few images to the Capture Indy book publishing project. How was that experience for you? Did you get much feedback on your work? If so, how would you characterize it?

I really enjoyed partaking in the Capture Indy book publishing project because it allowed me to see other local artists view on Central Indiana. I was able to get a variety of feedback both positive and negative. It seemed that the more purist photographers reacted to the post-processing that I do on my photos in a more negative way because they saw it as less of photography and more of a multimedia art form.

Even with the negative comments though, those same people were able to see my talent in how I captured each image whether they preferred the processing or not. My stand on this is that whether you use filters or post-processing, you're still altering that original subject into the look that you are trying to portray.

I believe that to be a good photographer, you must have keen eye for detail and a since of which composition will work best. It's all about preference.

You recently launched an online gallery, Short and Sweet Photography, in tandem with a cousin of yours, who also delves into photography. How did that collaboration materialize? Do the two of you talk shop a lot?

Shanna and I began working together in 2007 after we decided that our combined love for photography could turn into something more. We have a similar eye and work well together, so we decided to start taking portrait photos and traveling around the state to find interesting places to photograph. Shanna and I constantly "talk shop" about photography. We are both very passionate and have similar goals to how we want our business to grow.

Have you ever had any of your work on display in a public or private gallery? Have you ever sold any of your work? If so, how is/was that experience? If not, do you envision yourself doing that soon?

Shanna and I began selling our photos at the local Farmers Market two summers ago. From that, we began doing local art fairs and also displayed photos at local businesses. In 2009, we were asked to display our work at a local gallery in Noblesville with other local artists.

It is a wonderful opportunity for the many people who come across the gallery to see my passion first hand. I have been fortunate enough to sell quite a few of my pieces at all of these places that we have opened shop. I tend to display photos of local places that people are familiar with and I think that is why they tend to sell.


Here are some Web sites where you can find more of Jordan's photography:

Jordan's homepage at Capture Indy

Jordan and Shanna's online Web site, "Short and Sweet Photography"