Bronze Man

In an effort to beautify our downtown, this statue and others like it were placed at some intersections a few years ago. I think it helped, and the sight of these still life pedestrians casually leaning on fences or sitting on benches helps lend a friendly and inviting atmosphere to the downtown aesthetic. I have often thought about getting a picture of one of them, but the light is never conducive to a good photo during the daytime. So one morning, as I often do in the warmer months, I brought my camera to work with me and stopped downtown briefly to snap a picture. Incidentally, one of the benefits of living in a small town is that this type of detour only adds about two minutes to the drive to work :)

It took a bit of experimenting to get the statue framed how I wanted it, and I had to shoot wide open at f/1.8 in order to get a quick enough shutter speed for a sharp handheld shot. I like to stick to ISO 200 or lower on my D200 if at all possible, which at this hour of the day,