Christmas picture

jcaut

Here's a shot of the Logan County Court House in Paris, AR, all decked out in Christmas lights. I took this last Friday evening. A cold windy evening with a pretty sunset. It's not in perfect focus, since I neglected to re-focus after I had changed positions-- duh. It was, however about the only shot that didn't have a lot of cars going by, in it. I thought it was pretty nice.

Strong Bad

Well done! What did you shoot it with?


John

jcaut

Thanks, John!

Digital Rebel, Tamron SP17-35

Mike682

Outstanding!!!

What ISO was that?

Any postprocessing done?

MrBuhl

That's one in a million - you should contact the town about using it for the calendar or something. Really great shot - great time of day to be shooting. Congratulations!

SCompRacer

Great shot.

janmike

Well Done. I agree with MrBuhl, submit the photo.

jcaut

Thanks! I thought it was ISO 200, 'cause that's what I shot most of the others I took that evening. I guess I changed it though. EXIF says 100, 1/10, 7.1 18mm. It was on a tripod. I did a minor curves tweak in Photoshop to bring the shadows up a bit, but that was the only post processing. In retrospect I would have done a couple of things differently, but that sky didn't last long, and as I mentioned above, it was very difficult to get a shot without several cars driving around. Small-town, Friday evening cruisers, you know. Our theater burned a few weeks ago (see another attached picture) so there's nothing for kids to do in this town of 3500 right now. Theater was on the opposite corner of the square, approximately behind the courthouse in the first picture I posted.

Man, I hated to lose that theater. The building dated to 1901 and had been the "Logan Theater" (most recently "Paris Cinema") since about 1940. I grew up here and went to movies there all the time, in my youth. The theater got pretty run-down and closed, around about 1985. Last movie I saw there was "Weird Science" before it closed... A local fellow bought it and completely renovated it in 1994. He retained most of the old lobby (that looked like 1940's or 50's) but put in all modern equipment, sound system, etc. Reasoning that he wouldn't draw huge crowds, he left out every other row of seats, so that you could stretch out your legs, lean back, etc., without bothering anyone. It was a great place to catch a movie. The last movie I saw there was Star Wars III, the week it opened.

I'm not sure he'll rebuild, since he did it more as a hobby than a job. I doubt he really made any money on it, and I know for a fact that if the theater was open, he was working. His daughter worked the concession stand and he took money and ran the projector. He had no other employees, and he didn't gouge you on prices. That Star Wars movie I went to with my wife: Two tickets, two big popcorns and two soft drinks, and change back from a $20. Super-nice guy. He was just devastated when it burned. No one knows what started the fire. Everyone suspects wiring, but it was re-wired in '94.

The back wall (like behind the screen) collapsed out into the alley behind it when the roof fell in. They had to take down the remaining walls the next day, because they were leaning and unsafe.

Sorry. Didn't mean to ramble on about that..

TXPamIAm

Long story how I found this - but thanks for posting the Courthouse photo and the theater fire recap. I was born in Paris, and currently in TX. My parents currently live in Paris, and in all the summers I spent there, I never once got to the theater. I'm so sad I never made that happen. I watched it through the years, going from a hot spot, through economic woes, then the renovation, and the tragic fire. Anyway - if you read this, it's almost 6 yrs later and "thanks" for rambling.

jcaut wrote: »

Thanks! I thought it was ISO 200, 'cause that's what I shot most of the others I took that evening. I guess I changed it though. EXIF says 100, 1/10, 7.1 18mm. It was on a tripod. I did a minor curves tweak in Photoshop to bring the shadows up a bit, but that was the only post processing. In retrospect I would have done a couple of things differently, but that sky didn't last long, and as I mentioned above, it was very difficult to get a shot without several cars driving around. Small-town, Friday evening cruisers, you know. Our theater burned a few weeks ago (see another attached picture) so there's nothing for kids to do in this town of 3500 right now. Theater was on the opposite corner of the square, approximately behind the courthouse in the first picture I posted.

Man, I hated to lose that theater. The building dated to 1901 and had been the "Logan Theater" (most recently "Paris Cinema") since about 1940. I grew up here and went to movies there all the time, in my youth. The theater got pretty run-down and closed, around about 1985. Last movie I saw there was "Weird Science" before it closed... A local fellow bought it and completely renovated it in 1994. He retained most of the old lobby (that looked like 1940's or 50's) but put in all modern equipment, sound system, etc. Reasoning that he wouldn't draw huge crowds, he left out every other row of seats, so that you could stretch out your legs, lean back, etc., without bothering anyone. It was a great place to catch a movie. The last movie I saw there was Star Wars III, the week it opened.

I'm not sure he'll rebuild, since he did it more as a hobby than a job. I doubt he really made any money on it, and I know for a fact that if the theater was open, he was working. His daughter worked the concession stand and he took money and ran the projector. He had no other employees, and he didn't gouge you on prices. That Star Wars movie I went to with my wife: Two tickets, two big popcorns and two soft drinks, and change back from a $20. Super-nice guy. He was just devastated when it burned. No one knows what started the fire. Everyone suspects wiring, but it was re-wired in '94.

The back wall (like behind the screen) collapsed out into the alley behind it when the roof fell in. They had to take down the remaining walls the next day, because they were leaning and unsafe.

Sorry. Didn't mean to ramble on about that..