Rooftop Photography in Historic Louisville
I discovered that Louisville is one of the “foodiest” cities in the US. There is a thriving restaurant scene there with a strong focus on locally sourced foods. We visited a busy farmers market in the Bardstown Road area and met many of the farmers and growers from the region who were just crazy about their produce. We ate at a fantastic “local food” restaurant on East Market Street, called Harvest. They are famous for sourcing 80% of their ingredients from within a 100-mile radius of the city. The food was amazing. It was a kind of fine-dine experience but in a very casual setting and the kids were made very welcome. The walls were lined with large photo portraits of the local farmers and growers who supply the restaurant. We were all deeply impressed. If you are ever in Louisville and you enjoy authentic regional cuisine, I can highly recommend them.
So while we were there I decided to get in as much picture taking as possible. I was pretty inspired by the portraits in the restaurant so wanted to focus on people as much as on local scenery. I got some great shots at the farmers market. I’m still working on editing that batch. Another theme I decided to work with during our stay came about quite by accident… We had booked a small hotel in the part of town known as “Old Louisville” (an area of stunningly beautiful historic buildings and homes built in the 19th century, situated between First St and Forth St and Oak St to Magnolia St). Our hotel room looked out over the city rooftops, back up towards the river and the downtown area. The skyline and the silhouette of the rooftops were stunning at sunset and I set the tripod up on the fire escape outside our room to get some great shots.
I got lucky when I noticed that the next door building had a scaffolding structure running up over the roof, right up to the set of old brick chimneys stretching another ten or fifteen feet above the roof. There were two construction guys who I guessed were working late up on the scaffold. They noticed me and my equipment and we got talking about the view.
Photographing the Downtown Skyline of Louisville
The older gentleman said that he was the owner of the company that was restoring the roof and the other guy was his son. He told me he was a camera fanatic and asked if I would like to come around to the house and climb up onto the scaffold where he said I could get the best view of the river and the old “Big Four Bridge” with the sun setting behind it. Of course, I jumped at the offer and indeed, the view was absolutely mind blowing! So special thanks to Drew from Nulu Roofing Contractors for the great opportunity.
I took a few shots of the guys and the intricate roofing restoration work they were doing on the roof and old nineteenth-century gutters. As a thank you, I will be sending those shots over for them to put on their website www.rooferslouisvilleky.org
Louisville is a fantastic place. We had the greatest time and are looking forward to going back next year.
