Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Bloody Cold in Baltimore

Saturday was freezing cold but Jeff and I were determined to go out and take photos in Baltimore; do some exploring and just see where the roads took us. We wrapped up warm and threw camera bags and tripods in the car. Reaching Baltimore, we just cruised around looking for possible exploration sites and came across this old building down a side street.
I nearly got blown away as I stepped out of the car, the wind whipped at my hair and jacket with icy fingers. I rushed to the building looking for an entrance which I found immediately. Jeff bravely stopped outside to shoot some photos but I dove inside the building and pulled a handwarmer from my camera bag. 
The place was pretty desolate and feeling so frozen I had a really hard time trying to pull some creativity from my lens. I stomped around clutching my handwarmer which was only lukewarm and doing nothing to thaw out my fingertips. Jeff finally came in and we headed upstairs.
The building was empty and was difficult to ascertain what it had been previously used for but we assumed storage. We messed around with some portraits of each other which seemed silly as we were frozen and I felt my face was cracking as I smiled.
Jeff did a better job than me that's for sure and he was shooting a lot more frames than me. I was eager to vacate the building and jump into a warm car so we decided to leave. I had to sit in the car for a few minutes to let my fingers come back to life before I could drive, but soon we were off again. We drove towards Fells Point and stopped to take some shots of the Dominion Sugar sign.
The Museum of Industry was also nearby and offered some awesome photo possibilities but after just a few minutes, the biting wind was too much and we had to seek sanctuary in Stuart again.
Once again, I had to chaff my poor hands back to life before I could drive. We'd had a late start and were now hungry so decided to head for Little Italy and have a late lunch.
The warm food was welcomed, thanks Jeff!, and soon we had mustered up more energy for just one more project. Dusk was fast approaching so we decided to shoot the nearby red light district which was contained in just one block. As the light faded and dodgy looking men started appearing, I was glad I had Jeff with me and decided all my shots would be processed to look dark and sinister.
This gentleman agreed to let me take his photo but others were reluctant. I wonder why?
We soon had enough as the temperature was dropping even further as the sky darkened. With my poor paws languishing once again, I stuffed them into my pockets and we headed back to Stuart for the last time.
One more image and the lens cap was finally fastened. We'd had a fun day but I couldn't help feeling bad for the poor homeless folks out there who were still trying to maintain body heat while I sipped a hot chocolate with Jamesons...