Eastern State Penitentiary

Took a trip to Eastern State Penitentiary the other week, for one of their winter tours. Great place, somewhere you could lose hours in (the winter tours are guided unfortunately, outside of them you can wander with an audio tour by Steve Buschemi which I think I'll go back for).

Home to people such as Al Capone it is also considered to be extremely haunted (though I didn't see any ghosts unfortunately).

Still working on the photos but here are a couple.

Eastern State is definitely a must see.

15th St

15th St in the heart of Philadelphia. In the background the statue of William Penn, founder of the city overlooks everyone from atop City Hall.

At 37 feet tall it is the tallest statue to stand atop any building in the world apparently. And up until the 1980's there was 'gentlemen's' agreement that no building would be constructed in the city that was higher then William Penn.

There is also the Curse of William Penn, with the city sports teams suffering a string of losses since the construction of One Liberty Place in the 80's, a building higher then William Penn.

Arriving

A shot I found that I took when I first arrived, leaving the airport. PP'ed it like crazy but I like it. Bit too grainy but oh well.

Headshots

Been looking to get into doing more headshots so, if you're in the Philly area and looking for some shots, let me know!

ryan@rcnphotos.com

One More

Just another shot from the other day really. Happy New Years people!

Mary and David's Wedding

So Mary and David Cost were nice enough to ask me to photograph their wedding after seeing an ad I put on craigslist. Just want to say thanks to them for taking a chance on me and calling me after they got the pictures to say how happy they were with them. Was very much appreciated.

Face of a Legend

Went to an irish pub here in Philadelphia, called Slainte. I was going down to meet a Belfast boxing team who are over here for the Irish weekend in Wildwood in NJ. I was told about this by a photographer over here, Tom Keenan, who also teaches photography here. Lovely, lovely guy.

Got there, was chatting to some of the guys when all of a sudden I heard "Joe is here".

Turns out it was JOE FRAZIER.

He was great, posing for pictures for everyone and shouting "Who let the dogs out!" and barking during every one of them. Was great to see such a legend not taking himself too seriously. Even got punched in the stomach by him when I got my picture with him.

Great evening.

P.S: I went a bit overboard on the post work on this shot but...it's Joe Frazier, a legend. I might put up a less processed version soon. Wish it was a little sharper as well.

The Waterfront

Went down to the waterfront last week for a tour around a new casino that's opening in Philadelphia. Table games are only just recently been legalised here in Philadelphia so casino's could be the new leaders for employment perhaps. The one I went to, Sugar House, will employ over 800 people when it opens it's doors on thursday I believe it is.

Around the back though I saw all these birds relaxing and although it's kind of hard to see, I really liked the rays of sunlight coming through the clouds overhead.

The Jack Dillman Band

First time shooting a band since I got over and it was the really very good Jack Dillman Band. Shot them out in Lancaster, which I was happy to see was amish country. Who doesn't love the amish. But no, Harrison Ford was not hanging around.

Cajun Baby

Had a chance the other week to visit a new Cajun place in Queen Village. Catahoula Bar and Restaurant was my first taste of cajun food and it was realllll good. Especially the duck which was ridiculously good.

Walt Whitman Bridge

Coming back to Philly from Jersey over the Walt Whitman Bridge one evening.

Is it a bird.......

Just going through some shots from the other day and noticed this fella.

More from Philly

One thing I've noticed about photographing Philadelphia is the light. The light here is beautiful. A lot of the shots I'm taking look really post processed when in fact it's just a little bit of contrast. I'm not normally one for taking shots of buildings and architecture but when the buildings are as big as they are here, and look as they do, how can you not?

Tony Jones

Tony Jones. I met him over a pint of Guinness in a bar called McGuillicuddys. An extraordinarily nice guy, and well travelled all over europe, playing jazz. Fascinating man.

Everything is bigger....

Everything here in the States is bigger. Whether it's the buildings, cars, portions or the smallest size cap they had, that I bought, which is too big for even my giant head. Everything here is bigger.

Wandering

After feeling awful with a lovely case of jet lag (my first time ever too), I decided to get out and explore Philly. I walked, a lot. It was a trip to try and get my bearings really and get an idea of the size of the city and figure out how the streets work here etc.

Met some cool people, like the artist (who's name I forget) who let me take his portrait after a few beers in Tattooed Mom's. I definitely think I'm going to enjoy Philly. A lot.

First shot from Philadelphia

Right so. I am now officially in Philadelphia and it is hot! Like really freakin hot. And the airline decided it was a great idea to put my bag on a later plane. Geniuses. But now I have my stuff and so here is the very first pic from Philly. Taken on the drive from the airport. Shot at 800 iso so it's fairly grainy but there ya go.