The Grand Views

Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Eldon Lindsay Cars pass under the Sixth Avenue Bridge along Interstate 235 Tuesday, Sept. 30 near downtown Des Moines. The view eastward toward the Capital Building is from the Seventh Street Bridge. [Click to enlarge]

DES MOINES- I really had a lot to do Tuesday. I still have at least four loads of laundry to do. But somehow I got convinced into spending the day with Editor-in-Chief Molly Hottle.

So after a wonderful home cooked meal, Miss Hottle and I ventured out into the city to take photos of the traffic streaking by on Interstate 235. She is working on a book for her creative writing class and is trying to create her own illustrations, so I told her I would help teach her the art of nighttime photography.

In the midst of teaching the finer points of using a tripod and helping with settings, I took a few shots of the road myself and came up with this gem.

All I had in my car was a 17-35mm lens, so I had to deal with the metal grate on the side of the walkway. So I figured I would incorporate the bars into my shot and get a nice little frame-job. It worked pretty well, isolating the capital on one side, the streetlight in the middle and the rushing oncoming traffic in the lower left. The exposure was at ISO 100, 30 seconds at F22.

I like the color version a bit better because of the red taillights, but I really don't mind the black and white version. Most of the time I am either definitely color or definitely black and white. This one was a toss up.

Now that I'm done writing this, I'm going to try to escape and go shoot some more photos before Molly makes me edit another page of The Grand Views. Happy shooting!

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