The Suntrust Building - taken from One Ninety-One Peachtree

Atlanta Photographers Gone Wild!

Wow!

Atlanta held an open house and the Atlanta Urban Photo Walkers (AUPW) were there! If you're an Atlanta photographer, I hope you didn't miss the Atlanta Open House 2019 this past weekend. 

Despite the cold and rain on Saturday, it was a fun weekend of shooting things we're not always privy to. 

If you carry a professional camera in Atlanta, it's hard getting access to the tops of tall buildings. We get kicked out on the regular. Usually, a security issue is given as the reason. I'm sure liability is also an issue.

Whatever the reason, it's a big bummer that it's so tough finding good, high-up places to shoot from. There are definitely places you can take your camera but they're often behind glass which isn't ideal. 

But this past weekend Atlanta had their open house and we got some great access. 

Saturday was Colony Square where Lauren got access to the helipad for the first 100 AUPWs who signed up. 

I got this shot from there:

Taken from the helipad at Colony Square

The only bummer was the wind and rain.

Colony Square moved the event to Sunday for the public but they let us up early Saturday. I'm not thrilled with my shots from Saturday but it was still great fun to be up on top of the building. 

This shot was taken at 1/80th, f6.3, ISO 100 with my 24-85 lens at around 31mm. That's with the Nikon D610, full-frame.

The cover shot was taken with the Sony a6000 55mm, 1/200 at f16, ISO 100. It was taken on Sunday when the weather was better. The Sony isn't a full-frame camera, so 55mm on the Sony is like 85mm on my Nikon - I think!

The rain was fierce and it was cold.

At least it felt cold after experiencing the last five months of 90+ heat every day. We spent most of our day exploring from inside the buildings. 

Sunday was another story.

The weather was beautiful! Lauren and I went back out and hit up a few more buildings where we can't usually get access.

The two towers of One Ninety-One Peachtree were especially fun.

Shout out to the guys at HKS, the architecture firm on the 50th floor. They were open to the public and they let us outside on the terrace.

The guys were super nice, and they were giving tours of the office as well. I'd never get anything done if I had that view every day!

That's how I got the cover photo for this blog post - standing outside on the terrace of HKS at One Ninety-One Peachtree. 

Another photo from Sunday:

 And here's one that was taken in the downpour from the balcony at the Peachtree Club:

This was taken from the balcony at the Peachtree Club - you can see all the rain spots on my lens

That shot was taken with the Nikon as well at about 50mm, 1/100 sec, at f13, ISO 320. It was bright despite the pouring rain and clouds.

This is the Azure apartments infinity pool in Midtown Atlanta

The pool was taken at 72mm, 1/60 sec at f8.0, ISO 100. It was so windy there were mini-waves in the pool! 

I've got a lot of editing to get done, though I'm not all that pleased with many of the shots I took on Saturday. It wasn't just rain that was a problem for me.

I'm also experimenting with different styles and getting self-portraits. I'm not always happy with the result. But that's why I love photography. It's never boring because I'm always working on new things. 

Self-portrait in window - Nikon D610, 80mm, 1/60 at f16, ISO 500

I hope you had an awesome weekend and you got to do something you enjoy!

I was definitely dodging raindrops but it was well worth it.

Have a great rest of your week. 

And see you between the raindrops!

xoxo,
Susan