Usually when I travel, I am on the road mostly for business. And even when I take along my camera, there is limited time to walk around taking pictures.
So no wonder I specialized somehow on night photography, because only after work is done and a next destination is reached, I have free time to stroll around, also this time in Indianapolis.
When I started to sell some of my photos on different stockphoto platforms I had a few nightscapes which were accepted in their collections. Also I found out that many photos of popular places are at daylight. Only a few people carry tripods through a city at night to get some high quality images.
Story about a nightscape photo
One of my first uploaded photo was a night shot of downtown Indianapolis:
In 2014 I stayed in Indy for a conference and even though I can handle jetlag mostly well, this night I woke up before 4 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep.
Hotel Lobby of Embassy Suites
So I grabbed my camera and went outside the hotel to play with the high ISO capabilities of my camera since I didn’t have a tripod with me.
(Click on images to get a larger view)
Fountain & building on Monument Square in Red-White-Blue
Monument Square Indianapolis
Early Morning in Downtown Indianapolis
When I walked around the fountain on Monument Square I saw the view down West Market Street towards the Indiana statehouse.
I placed the camera on the edge of the fountain and tried to hold it down by hand to get it stable for a long time shot.
It was tricky to adjust the right view but I got it with a little wrong horizon.
Later back home I did the post processing in Lightroom and the result was quite acceptable.
Indianapolis Morning
After trying some modifications I started to like it and uploaded it to some stockphoto sites and it turned out as the best-selling image I have.
In the meantime, after almost 2 years this image brought me back several hundred dollars and I remember happily the short night in Indianapolis.
More on earning money with Stockphotos you will find on this post
After this I found a good and handy travel tripod which I use since on my trips with light luggage, it is the Gorillapod:
Beside being small and handy it gives you sometimes nice perspective when you place it not elevated but just on the street.
Here are some of my other shots during my stay in Indy:
Rental Bicycles in Indianapolis
JW Marriott Indianapolis
Artsgarden Gallery Indianapolis
Red White Blue Illuminated building
Indy Raceway Park – the Brickyard
Before leaving Indianapolis we stopped by of course at the Indianapolis Raceway Park, the legendary „Brickyard“ and home of the Indy 500 race.
Racetrack
Hallo of Fame at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Duesenberg Vintage Car
Inside the Museum
Pre-race (Qualifiying)
The rain gear for the race photographer