Peoria After Dark

A couple weeks ago, Lola Takes Pictures and I walked around downtown one evening after work. Initially, the idea was that she wanted to take some sunset shots of some buildings "in the 'hood", and didn't want to venture to that area by herself. By the time we got started, it was a little late for what she wanted, so we just walked around down town along Water street, then up by the courthouse.

We started by walking through Martini's and took some pics in there. The bartender was a little apprehensive when we asked if it was ok to take pictures, but told us to go ahead. I wasn't all that comfortable, so we took some pictures and moved on fairly quickly. I did get one shot that I thought was ok.



Then as we were walking down Water St. I noticed a photography studio and walked up the covered walkway and peeked inside. As I was walking back, Lily told me to 'Sit'. So, I did, and she got out her flash and started playing. After her battery went dead, we swapped roles and I took a few with the flash off to the side. At least until *my* batteries went dead!! haha!



From there, we moved on and headed up by the courthouse, stopping for a shot here and there along the way. After that, we headed back to our cars and took off. But, I decided to head to this old building a few blocks down on Washington St.



Initially, my idea was to use a flashlight and 'paint with light' on the 'used but nice' sign. The flashlight wasn't powerful enough from the distance I was at to really add much, but it did add a little. But, that didn't stop me! I had a play with lightroom / photoshop and came up with the image you see. A little on the digital art side, but I like it.

Next time, we're going to make sure to have fresh batteries in the flash units and make (bribe) Connie be our model!