christmas lane

Image captured tripod-mounted 12/22/10, 4:59pm • Canon 5D, Canon EF17-40mm f/4L USM • 17mm, f/13, 2 sec, ISO 640 • minor adjustments made in Adobe Lightroom 2

Just before Christmas, I took the opportunity to go for a chilly evening photo walk over in a Kenosha neighborhood on "Christmas Lane". Every house on the street gets completely decked out for the holidays.

I had fun capturing some long exposures during the "blue hour" (right after sunset but before the complete darkness sets in). I love how the brightly lit decorations and passing tail lights are set off against the blue cloud-patched sky. The starburst on the street lamp is a happy [planned] bonus.

The shot above was probably my favorite from the evening, but I also liked some that were taken after the darkness did set in—like here on the left. Depending on where I stood on the sidewalk, sometimes my point-of-view seemed to reveal endless layers of lights.

I'm very happy with these colorful, festive images! It was tough narrowing down which to include in this post... I really liked some of the panoramic shots too. I posted 25 of my favorites from this shoot here »