234. Storefront - December 10-16, 2017
Paul-
I thought a theme like this deserved traveling little farther than I usual roam to capture my subject for the WPOTM. Pseudo-intellectual that I am (emphasis on the pseudo), I immediately thought of Princeton. As yes, Princeton, its carefully manicured swards bordering centuries old buildings housing young men of proud bearing and bold vision. Princeton…its bells, its hallowed reputation, it cattle troughs. Ah, Princeton. A hoorah, lads, for Princeton. Let us hold close to our bosom our cherished days in Princeton…Nebraska
Yup. It’s an unincorporated community in Lancaster County. (The same county in which Lincoln is found.) This not remote and not remotely teeming village was founded in 1886 and, if what little history I could find about it is true, was actually named for the slightly larger edifice of higher learning back east in New Jersey.However, not to be overshadowed by the university, the little hamlet took upon itself to establish a Post Office! From there the sky was the limit.
Until the Post Office was discontinued in 1959.
Still, Princeton (NE) refuses to go the way of the dodo, the zoot suit, or flash cubes. It still stands proud—it’s handful of houses and outbuildings just spitting distance (assuming you can spit across HWY 77) from a goliath feed elevator that’s much more interesting to look at.
And Nebraska’s Princeton has something I’m fairly sure snobbish Princeton, NJ doesn’t: Shady Rest Antiques. It‘s not the place to go if you’re looking a pair of turquoise 19th century Messien style porcelain vases. It’s more of a fun local “stuff” kind of place. You know, old knick-knacks and gewgaws and Bonneville hubcaps that rolled right up to the door considering how close the Shady Rest is to the Highway. Their hours are somewhat irregular: not winter, not Black Friday, and when someone is around to open up for the day. I’ve stopped there a couple of times during bike rides because I’m a sucker for old farm implements as well as things that I can’t readily identify. And the people there know how to make conversation.
Since Shady Rest Antiques faces east and is on my commute (as I assiduously obey all post speed limits) to the library in Beatrice, I knew the sun would still be fairly low on the horizon and might make for an interesting picture. In hindsight, I should not have switched to spot-metering—I didn’t get the tonal range I wanted—but I like to experiment. And every eon or so I actually learn from my mistakes.
But for you, half price: (8:09AM) Nikon D5200; aperture priority; 18-55mm lens focused at 38mm; ISO800; 1/1000 sec. at f/10; spot-weighted metering; WB Auto. Post done in Lightroom.
I thought a theme like this deserved traveling little farther than I usual roam to capture my subject for the WPOTM. Pseudo-intellectual that I am (emphasis on the pseudo), I immediately thought of Princeton. As yes, Princeton, its carefully manicured swards bordering centuries old buildings housing young men of proud bearing and bold vision. Princeton…its bells, its hallowed reputation, it cattle troughs. Ah, Princeton. A hoorah, lads, for Princeton. Let us hold close to our bosom our cherished days in Princeton…Nebraska
Yup. It’s an unincorporated community in Lancaster County. (The same county in which Lincoln is found.) This not remote and not remotely teeming village was founded in 1886 and, if what little history I could find about it is true, was actually named for the slightly larger edifice of higher learning back east in New Jersey.However, not to be overshadowed by the university, the little hamlet took upon itself to establish a Post Office! From there the sky was the limit.
Until the Post Office was discontinued in 1959.
Still, Princeton (NE) refuses to go the way of the dodo, the zoot suit, or flash cubes. It still stands proud—it’s handful of houses and outbuildings just spitting distance (assuming you can spit across HWY 77) from a goliath feed elevator that’s much more interesting to look at.
And Nebraska’s Princeton has something I’m fairly sure snobbish Princeton, NJ doesn’t: Shady Rest Antiques. It‘s not the place to go if you’re looking a pair of turquoise 19th century Messien style porcelain vases. It’s more of a fun local “stuff” kind of place. You know, old knick-knacks and gewgaws and Bonneville hubcaps that rolled right up to the door considering how close the Shady Rest is to the Highway. Their hours are somewhat irregular: not winter, not Black Friday, and when someone is around to open up for the day. I’ve stopped there a couple of times during bike rides because I’m a sucker for old farm implements as well as things that I can’t readily identify. And the people there know how to make conversation.
Since Shady Rest Antiques faces east and is on my commute (as I assiduously obey all post speed limits) to the library in Beatrice, I knew the sun would still be fairly low on the horizon and might make for an interesting picture. In hindsight, I should not have switched to spot-metering—I didn’t get the tonal range I wanted—but I like to experiment. And every eon or so I actually learn from my mistakes.
But for you, half price: (8:09AM) Nikon D5200; aperture priority; 18-55mm lens focused at 38mm; ISO800; 1/1000 sec. at f/10; spot-weighted metering; WB Auto. Post done in Lightroom.
Jerry-
My brothers and I were headed west on 212 this week, on our way to my Uncle Jim's funeral in Brookings, South Dakota. Jim lived to be 97! But when you combine that 97 with my dad's 82 and Uncle Bob's 69, I think you get about 83ish. So I might have about 20 more years of walking the earth. Sure.
The photo I'm submitting was taken in Canby, Minnesota. The café was across from Casey's where we filled up with gas. The storefronts in Brookings were for the most part very nice and I wanted something kind of crusty like Paul's photo of the antique store.
Camera was the Sony 6300. For the café I used the 16-70 zoomed to 35mm, exposure was 1/250 @ F11, ISO 1600. For the post office I used the 55-210 zoomed to 210mm, exposure was 1/400 @ F11, ISO 1600.
My brothers and I were headed west on 212 this week, on our way to my Uncle Jim's funeral in Brookings, South Dakota. Jim lived to be 97! But when you combine that 97 with my dad's 82 and Uncle Bob's 69, I think you get about 83ish. So I might have about 20 more years of walking the earth. Sure.
The photo I'm submitting was taken in Canby, Minnesota. The café was across from Casey's where we filled up with gas. The storefronts in Brookings were for the most part very nice and I wanted something kind of crusty like Paul's photo of the antique store.
Camera was the Sony 6300. For the café I used the 16-70 zoomed to 35mm, exposure was 1/250 @ F11, ISO 1600. For the post office I used the 55-210 zoomed to 210mm, exposure was 1/400 @ F11, ISO 1600.
Don-
I have never been in this store though I have driven by it many a time.
The store is on a medium busy street. Focal was my favorite lens, the 24 to 70 mm
set at 70 mm. Exposure was 1/200 sec; f/6.3/ ISO 1600; Aperture Priority.
I have never been in this store though I have driven by it many a time.
The store is on a medium busy street. Focal was my favorite lens, the 24 to 70 mm
set at 70 mm. Exposure was 1/200 sec; f/6.3/ ISO 1600; Aperture Priority.
Byron-
I hoped to find a festive looking storefront for this weeks submission. I decided to use this corner in Osseo. There are actually 2 storefronts in this photo. On the left is NOLA a very good restaurant with a New Orleans influence and on the right is Sue's Country Cottage. It is an eclectic gift shop/antique store. Erleen has sold many things to that store and occasionally works there.
Because I was shooting with a prime lens, I had to zoom with me feet. That meant shooting this while standing in the middle of Central Ave in Osseo. There would be a brief gap now and again that allowed me to run there, take 2 or 3 exposures and run to one side or the other. I then used Lightroom and Photoshop to enhance the photo, i.e. put lipstick on a pig.
23mm, ISO 2000, 23mm, f2
I hoped to find a festive looking storefront for this weeks submission. I decided to use this corner in Osseo. There are actually 2 storefronts in this photo. On the left is NOLA a very good restaurant with a New Orleans influence and on the right is Sue's Country Cottage. It is an eclectic gift shop/antique store. Erleen has sold many things to that store and occasionally works there.
Because I was shooting with a prime lens, I had to zoom with me feet. That meant shooting this while standing in the middle of Central Ave in Osseo. There would be a brief gap now and again that allowed me to run there, take 2 or 3 exposures and run to one side or the other. I then used Lightroom and Photoshop to enhance the photo, i.e. put lipstick on a pig.
23mm, ISO 2000, 23mm, f2
Darin-
This is the front of a store that sells pretty darn good hamburgers!
Truth be told, I totally forgot to shoot something until this moment, so this is what you end up with. Now if they'd hurry up and open...
Hamburgers for breakfast!
This is the front of a store that sells pretty darn good hamburgers!
Truth be told, I totally forgot to shoot something until this moment, so this is what you end up with. Now if they'd hurry up and open...
Hamburgers for breakfast!
Kevin-
When Paul named the Storefront theme I immediately knew what I was going to do. My experience and background are primarily in the retail area, and most of my success came from big box retail experience, especially Best Buy.
So, my task was simple, find a free-standing Best Buy store, drive there around the time of sunset, and capture images of moving people and traffic as the interior lights and exterior signage are illuminated. Easy-peasy. Plus the Eagan, MN location I ultimately chose had a county office across the street let let me gaze down at the store from a slight hill.
The problem? There was a very strong wind blowing and the resulting wind chill was almost unbearable. So frankly I had no patience to attempt the multi-exposure variations I had been contemplating.
But I also spent time thinking (as I often do) about the vast changes that have transformed the retail store environment over the last 15 years. Meaning of course the colossal growth of online sales, now impacting nearly every category, with the still recent great recession serving as the rancid meat in that retail sandwich.
In the Best Buy days, “brilliant” strategic planners that we were, we would talk about the rule of three. Where each category will probably wind up with one strong national brand, a weaker national brand, and perhaps a tiny third player (or a collection of such players each in a different geography).
Well, after the great recession and the growth of online sales that rule of three has largely become a rule of one. And in many categories with one “strong" national brand, like the toy business and Toys R Us, even those brands are crippled and on their way to slow drawn-out failure.
A category this has really been impacting recently is sporting goods. Chain after chain of sport goods retailers have failed, or are failing. Sports Authority, Golfsmith, Sports Chalet, Eastern Outfitters, Total Hockey, Cabela’s, and Gander Mountain are only some of the major sporting goods/outdoor retailers to close, be sold, declare bankruptcy, or dramatically shrink in store count over the past year or two.
So before making the drive to the Best Buy store I stopped at the former Gander Mountain location in Eden Prairie, MN. Snow had just fallen. Christmas was less than three weeks away. Most retail parking lots were full of cars. But Gander Mountain stores were empty and out of business. Rumor is that perhaps half of the stores might reopen under a new name, Gander Outdoors according to the CEO of Camping World, Marcus Lemonis, who bought the Gander Mountain assets and also stars in the the reality TV show The Profit. But who knows? Meanwhile this is what festive holiday retail bankruptcy looks like for an out of business company. So I am going with this former storefront photo instead of the Best Buy store.
Nikon D850, handheld, 24-70mm f/2.8 lens at 24mm, ISO 400, f/8 at 1/80th of a second.
When Paul named the Storefront theme I immediately knew what I was going to do. My experience and background are primarily in the retail area, and most of my success came from big box retail experience, especially Best Buy.
So, my task was simple, find a free-standing Best Buy store, drive there around the time of sunset, and capture images of moving people and traffic as the interior lights and exterior signage are illuminated. Easy-peasy. Plus the Eagan, MN location I ultimately chose had a county office across the street let let me gaze down at the store from a slight hill.
The problem? There was a very strong wind blowing and the resulting wind chill was almost unbearable. So frankly I had no patience to attempt the multi-exposure variations I had been contemplating.
But I also spent time thinking (as I often do) about the vast changes that have transformed the retail store environment over the last 15 years. Meaning of course the colossal growth of online sales, now impacting nearly every category, with the still recent great recession serving as the rancid meat in that retail sandwich.
In the Best Buy days, “brilliant” strategic planners that we were, we would talk about the rule of three. Where each category will probably wind up with one strong national brand, a weaker national brand, and perhaps a tiny third player (or a collection of such players each in a different geography).
Well, after the great recession and the growth of online sales that rule of three has largely become a rule of one. And in many categories with one “strong" national brand, like the toy business and Toys R Us, even those brands are crippled and on their way to slow drawn-out failure.
A category this has really been impacting recently is sporting goods. Chain after chain of sport goods retailers have failed, or are failing. Sports Authority, Golfsmith, Sports Chalet, Eastern Outfitters, Total Hockey, Cabela’s, and Gander Mountain are only some of the major sporting goods/outdoor retailers to close, be sold, declare bankruptcy, or dramatically shrink in store count over the past year or two.
So before making the drive to the Best Buy store I stopped at the former Gander Mountain location in Eden Prairie, MN. Snow had just fallen. Christmas was less than three weeks away. Most retail parking lots were full of cars. But Gander Mountain stores were empty and out of business. Rumor is that perhaps half of the stores might reopen under a new name, Gander Outdoors according to the CEO of Camping World, Marcus Lemonis, who bought the Gander Mountain assets and also stars in the the reality TV show The Profit. But who knows? Meanwhile this is what festive holiday retail bankruptcy looks like for an out of business company. So I am going with this former storefront photo instead of the Best Buy store.
Nikon D850, handheld, 24-70mm f/2.8 lens at 24mm, ISO 400, f/8 at 1/80th of a second.