Hands in Philadelphia

On Saturday, Amy and I ventured to the freezing and windy Philadelphia to view the Narnia exhibition at the Franklin Institute, followed by a concert featuring Dar Williams in Glenside, Pennsylvania. I had my camera with me while we were at the Institute.

Photography was disallowed once within the exhibition, but I managed to grab a few pictures outside and inside the Franklin institute itself. I’ve uploaded most of these photographs to a set on Flickr. I decided to take only my newest lens, the 50mm f/1.4. Without zoom functionality, I found it challenging to frame photographs as well as I had wanted.

Here are two of my favorites from the day. They both focus on hands. First, Amy’s hands.

XTi, EF 50mm, f/1.4, ISO 200 — view flickr page

At full size, I didn’t get the focus quite right. I could have been more successful with a narrower aperture.

In the atrium of the Franklin Institute stood a statue of Rumblebuffin, a character from the Narnia adventures, advertising the exhibit. Here’s his hand.

XTi, EF 50mm, f/1.4, ISO 800 — view flickr page

Here, the wide aperture offered an advantage of nicely blurring the rest of the statue to focus on Rumblebuffin’s hand. More time, warmer weather, and more courage might have allowed me to get some more photography practice in while visiting the City of Brotherly Love.

The Franklin Institute is named in honor of Benjamin Franklin, so here’s a photo of old Benny greeting visitors who come in off the street rather than up the stairs from the parking garage.

XTi, EF 50mm, f/2.8, ISO 800 — view flickr page