When the going gets tough, the tough take photos.

Lately, it's been Blogger Block around here, with nothing interesting to say, hence the weekend without a peep and the subsequent minor rant about the primary yesterday.

I haven't been out with my new D40 on a real photo safari in a while, so on Monday night I decided to force myself to hang out in Philadelphia and wander around with the camera and my trusty mini tripod. The first thing that caught my eye was a flower bouquet herd at the Spruce Market on ... anyone ... Spruce Street. It's across the street from our Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the place the Philadelphia Orchestra calls home.

This one took a few minutes to set up, and just as I was ready to push the button a van pulled up in front of me. This was location choice number two. The rap on the Kimmel Center is that it's a cold building with a glass roof that looks up into space. From the street it's difficult to know where the entrance is, and just as difficult to know if you should go near the thing. It's not a great place to house a musical group that has issues attracting people in the first place. But it's our foreboding musical palace, and we love it.

This is a little fire escape on Latimer Street between 15th and 16th Streets. Latimer is one of those streets that, if you find yourself driving on it, you're lost. The city is full of them, and they are usually full of trash dumpsters, fire hydrants and the back entrance of some restaurant.

I liked the geometric pattern. It probably makes some comment on my psychiatric profile or something. Don't tell me because I'm not interested. I just liked the stairs.

I'm big on contrast, and I was intrigued by the row of bikes sitting on the sidewalk on Broad Street with the "no parking" signs and passing traffic. Obviously, I'm easily amused. I'm not sure where all these people work (or live) but bravo to them for biking. We're looking north toward City Hall.

Once the sun went down, I started losing light and energy. I started wandering toward Independence Hall (yes, it's quite a walk from 16th and Locust) and spied this interesting light pattern on the Rohm and Haas building on 5th Street.

One neat thing about the D40 is the color balance menu, which allows you to correct for lighting as it changes during the day. Pretty good for an entry-level digital camera. Now, what do I do with that bag full of filters?

Bonus points for patriotism if you know what this building is. Passers-by watched in stunned silence as I laid prone on the ground lining this one up (with my mini-tripod) and waiting for a passing car or two. Ten second exposure at f11 for the geeks.

Around the corner from the Hall is Washington Square which has a statue of ... anyone ... George Washington, lit by some sort of eternal flame. I was able to snap this one doing the same face-down bit just prior to some homeless girl wandering over to lie on the marble bench. The sign in the foreground says to stay away from the flame.

For our final history lesson of the day, we find out what happens to an historic building when the National park service takes over. It's called the Graff House. The house of Jacob Graff, brick mason, located at the southwest corner of Market and Seventh Street, Philadelphia, was the residence of Thomas Jefferson when he drafted the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson rented the entire second floor for himself and his household staff. Where Thomas Jefferson once stood now stands a trash can.

The trash can is emptied once weekly.