going to downtown Philly. ideas?

[eddie]

hi all,

i am making a trip to philly from NY this afternoon. my wife is going to the flower show. i may sneak out to do some shooting. any quick ideas for downtown philly? the convention center is on 1101 arch st. so i will be going from there.

i have been a bit lazy/busy top really search up some stuff. any tips would be great. i will be shooting my chamonix 4x5 (90mm and a 150 triple convertible) and a 35mm.

thanks for the last minute ideas.

eddie

[Scott Davis]

The Museum of Art is great, and you'll have time/proximity to slip over to Eastern State Penitentiary, which is an absolute treasure trove of opportunities (you could spend WEEKS in there as a large format photographer). Eastern State is located on Fairmount Avenue, a bit east of the art museum. Easy enough to get to via taxi or driving.

[eddie]

ESP thaty sounds great! do i need to commit a felony to get inside? is there a feee to get in? LF with a tripod okay? this is perfect. exactly what i needed.

thanks scott

eddie

just called. till march they are only open for a1 hour tour. no tripods! moving fast. still may be good for my 35mm! after april it is open all day. tripod fee of $10. entance fee 9$. 1 year membership $30=no tripod fee.

eddie

[Scott Davis]

There is an admission fee, and they ask you for a one-time tripod use fee (they may waive it since you're in the "off-season" and it won't be busy on a weekday). I forget what the admission fee is but it is reasonable. ESP is a privately run museum, and the maintenance costs are substantial.

http://www.easternstate.org/

for more details. If you do need to buy the tripod pass, it is good for an entire year. Trust me, it will be worth it, because you'll want to come back. Again and again.

[Richard M. Coda]

A bodyguard might be in order ;^)

[Skorzen]

Well when I am iat school I am about 40 min from Philly, but or course I am home for spring break. I have never shot in Philly, but on top of what others have said here Love park might be interesting along with the bridges into Jersey.

[Pete Roody]

eddie,

make sure you ask for the short stay rate at the penetentiary. long stays are not recommended.

i would love to shoot this place one weekend. let's put it on the schedule.

pete

[Pete Roody]

There is an admission fee, and they ask you for a one-time tripod use fee (they may waive it since you're in the "off-season" and it won't be busy on a weekday). I forget what the admission fee is but it is reasonable. ESP is a privately run museum, and the maintenance costs are substantial.

http://www.easternstate.org/

for more details. If you do need to buy the tripod pass, it is good for an entire year. Trust me, it will be worth it, because you'll want to come back. Again and again.

I am the first to complain about regulations against tripod use at venues such as this. The fee for tripods is very reasonable and it is great to see a sensible approach is taken towards their use by the museum. Tripods are not evil!

[John O'Connell]

Waterworks/art museum are a cab ride away: you want the back side and along the river unless you want to relive Rocky.

You can get into the Navy Yard (end of Broad Street) with any photo ID; lots of wild stuff there. Great front-on view of the CV-67, lots of ships.

[mrladewig]

If you want gritty, drive down south of the airport into chester a ways. Can't remember the highway's name, but I thought I'd been driven through a bombing range. There were just shells of row houses down there. On on the other side of the road were oil refineries.

I used to work in Wilmington, DE and sometimes would route this way to the airport if the interstate backed up and my driver was in a hurry.