After shooting around Raleigh, I made my way to Durham for a bit to spend some time exploring. Along with incredible food, coffee shops, and meeting new people, I also spent a substantial amount of time capturing images. I shot some Ektrachrome film around Duke University, but that will be featured in a later article. This article is all about digital!

Michael Neal

I really like this shot for a few reasons. Firstly, the geometrics of the framing are really nice. It can be a challenge to get non- distorted images out of certain lenses, but this shot has solid and strong lines throughout. Secondly, the colors are very nice as the brick itself is desaturated and earthy in contrast to the vivid green lining the creases. Thirdly, the shot is nice because, in my opinion, it shows that even mundane elements can make fascinating pictures.

Michael Neal

Here is a classic travel shot that I felt converted nicely to monochrome.

Michael Neal

I did a lot of shooting around Duke University, and I liked this shot because of the framing with the brick wall, in addition to the complexity of the content moving from the bottom left corner into the top right corner.

Michael Neal

I also did some shooting around the Duke botanical, and I liked this soft shot of the pink flowers against the deep green foliage. The bokeh here is really nice as produced by shooting at f/1.8.

Michael Neal

Texture plays a big roll in this shot. I loved the spacing of the bricks, and I thought it really lent itself to monochrome conversion again.

Michael Neal

I liked this shot mainly for the saturated greens and the blue hue of the stone statue. It's a pleasing piece to mix up between some of the monochrome shots from the trip.

Michael Neal

The immense size of the chapel made for a great subject to shoot, and I liked the crooked, pitched line that this shot takes on. Additionally, I thought the blues contrasting with the darker bricks of the structure made the composition for visually interesting.

Michael Neal

As soon as I saw this plant, I knew I wanted to shoot it in a high contrast set up, and I knew it would be converted to black and white. I love the drama that is emphasized by the sharp edges and the light hitting the rims of the foliage.

In the end, Durham was a really hip city with a lot of character. I was glad I was able to spend some time downtown shooting, in addition to being able to capture various content across Duke campus. I would highly recommend anyone spending some time downtown, and I'll be pushing some film content from the trip here shortly as well!