Long story short, I just acquired a brand new Sony a7ii. I’ve had my eye on full frame Sony mirrorless after purchasing an a6000 last year and being incredibly happy with the results. The a6000 is extremely light and shoots great quality images. Yes the battery life leaves something to be desired, but in my opinion it is a sacrifice worth making for the portability of the camera. Prior to the a6000 I had shot exclusively on Canon cameras; first a Rebel XTI and then later an original 7D. I was, and still am, constantly impressed by the image quality of the 7D, a camera that’s eight years old.
The a7ii arrived on a Friday evening, but being that I haven’t discarded my Canon system, and don’t plan to, I realized that if I opened the camera it would necessitate me reorganizing my camera gear; a feat I was in no way trying to do. I left the camera in its box until the next morning, when I promptly opened it, configured my settings and headed out the door to see my brother selling his goods at December’s HBG Flea. If you’re interested in having a look, he makes some incredible goods using leather and canvas under the brand name of Owl Creek Handmade.
This time the HBG Flea was going on at Strawberry Square, an often under utilized “shopping center” that sits in the middle of downtown Harrisburg. In all reality, Strawberry Square is just a cafeteria for the herds of state workers that are shuffling papers nearby. After saying what up to my brother and his girl friend I made a beeline to the escalator. I wanted to get a wider angle on the happenings below and honestly because I wanted to rekindle that nostalgic feeling of ascending the escalator and having the Museum of Scientific Discovery slowly reveal itself from behind the second floor horizon. The museum isn’t there anymore… It isn’t quite the same. Although the assortment of restaurants in the food-court-with-no-mall have seemed to stay exactly as I remember them from my trips to the Square when I was in middle school chorus.
After helping my brother and his girlfriend pack up his thangs; I dapped them both and headed off back towards my car parked a few blocks away. As I was walking aimlessly through the grass area of the Capitol Complex, the locally known Crows of Harrisburg made their debut. Each winter murders of crows descend upon the city to roost and drink in the local flavor. Their obnoxious caws echoed through the stone laden complex. Upon seeing them I sprinted from under a tree and quickly framed a lone satellite dish on a one of the buildings. I really wanted a building in the shot to accent the sheer size of the murder and its presence in the city. I snapped 3 “versions” that I thought were acceptable.
As you can see I chose to leave the above image in color. I really dig the muted tones of it and I think they are accented with the windows between each pillar. The blue of the reflected sky in each window complements the sky backdrop nicely. In the photos below I approached the framing sans windows and without them I think the black and white treatment is more fitting.
Thanks for having a look around, please let me know what you think. I am extremely open to constructive criticism and would love to hear your thoughts. If you ever want to work together, wether formally or otherwise, don’t hesitate to reach out. Also, if you’re on a desktop or tablet, be sure to click on each image as they should all open up in full screen light boxes.
