16th Street Mall

Candy: On Wednesday afternoon I spent a couple hours wandering the 16th Street Mall in Denver, trying to be brave enough to approach a total stranger and ask if I could make his/her portrait.

No luck. Not enough courage yet, though I came close with a street musician.Instead, I made some images of the interesting light patterns and objects in the area.

I revisited the Denver Pavilion sign from the last post, and this time found some better angles. I also liked this one, because it's one of my initials.

While at the Pavilion, a three-story shopping area, I couldn't help but notice the way these strings of lights looked almost like a transparent ceiling of lights.

The light was incredible here and I waited for quite a while for people to walk through in the right spots, finally settling for this shot.

I liked the way the Paramount Cafe's sign was lit with the neon and partly in shadow, partly in sunshine.

When I saw this store's sign juxtaposed against the gothic building and modern skyscraper behind it, I had to stop and find an angle that would show the unlikely mix of architecture.After a little while I wandered a few streets north and south of the mall. I liked the diminishing perspective of this building's glass wall.

As I was walking by Denver's tallest building, the Republic Plaza, I was struck by the light on the numerous railings out in front. As I was making this picture, a man walked by and said to me, "Hollywood! Action!" Funny.

Then I looked up and couldn't resist taking a classic picture of a skyscraper. This is the upper third or so of the Republic Plaza.

I then made my way back to the mall and as I was walking into the bright afternoon sunlight I saw this.

As I got closer I saw the vent in the street with the backlit steam rising from it.It was cathartic to get out and spend some time by myself with the camera. The weather was nice, 40s and sunny, and although it was a little chilly (I was forced to stop at Caribou Coffee for a hot apple blast) I had a blast.

Most of yesterday and today has been spent finishing the design of some business cards. They're finally at the printer and I should have them back Friday night. I made several designs as a temporary fix and am posting several of them here for you to see.

These two are for my sports photography launch next week (if I can get my website finished...it's going to look like the top of the first card below).

This one is for graphic design services, which I plan to roll out by the end of February.

These are the other cards designed to promote my photography.Special thanks to those of you who gave me input during this process--I appreciate it more than you know.

On Friday I'm having coffee with an amazing wedding photographer from Denver, Steve Tinetti. He makes absolutely incredible images of the kind I'd like to make someday (check out his cool website). He's a fellow Minnesotan and I'm really looking forward to meeting him.

So that's it for tonight. This post was image-intensive and for those of you on dial-up I apologize.

Have a great Friday and an even better weekend. Remember this: Enjoy yourself. It is later than you think.