Photo and story by Jason Dozier

Some evenings are perfect for cityscape photography, and some are not. This visit to Davenport was one of those not-so-great evenings for a shoot. My intention was to shoot Davenport’s small skyline from the eastside of the Mississippi River to take advantage of a colorful sunset. Unfortunately there was no colorful sunset on this evening, with mostly overcast skies.

The eastside of the river is home to the small town of Rock Island, Illinois. It has a main street with a few businesses and breweries, and is a nice area. But on this evening, there were high, constant winds. The high winds caused a slight shake in the tripod on occasion, which resulted in a good number of the photos appearing slightly out of focus.

Photo and story by Jason Dozier

On the back-end of a 14-hour trip to mid-Michigan, I hurried to hit my downtown Toledo, Ohio photo location before nightfall. Just beating total darkness, I was able to pull into my pre-determined photo location, which was the riverfront parking area just off the Main Street Bridge on the east side of the Maumee River, looking west at the city’s business skyline at about 8:45 PM.

The sun had already set, and since it was still early in the year, I was left with the last remnants of light in the western sky. It was a clear night, so the horizon, which was directly in front of me from this location across the river, had a nice pink glow, giving way to a deep blue sky.

Photo and story by Jason Dozier

A couple of weeks later my travels continued. This time to the warmer climate of Mississippi. Having never been to this part of the deep south, I’d only heard about the gritty history of this dixie town through books, films, and songs by Kid Rock, Charlie Daniels and many other artists. I’m not sure what I expected, but the dirty, beat up, downtown that I drove into on a warm March afternoon in 2014 wasn’t it.

The city streets were crumbling, but there was construction equipment parked everywhere you looked. According to my notes/comments on record, I made the note that the roads were ‘really terrible and in general, a very sad capital city. Really a shame, I expected more from this legendary city.

Photo and story by Jason Dozier

Midnight on a cold March evening isn't the best time to photograph downtown Minneapolis, but a last minute business call left me no choice but to pack up the van and head to the great white north, just missing a 30-plus inch snowfall.

Upon reaching town, I hurried to my pre-planned photo location. I found a free parking spot along the riverfront in the 100 block of SE Main Street. While the fresh fallen snow had been plowed from the city streets, it was piled high between the street and riverfront, where I needed to be to get an unobstructed view of the city from across the mighty Mississippi River.

Photo and story by Jason Dozier

Some of the most unique photos I’ve taken have been the result of unplanned or accidental situations. One such occassion was a delivery I was making to a small, upstate New York town of Lakewood. My plan was to arrive late at night, drop off a delivery, and head back to Indianapolis, where I could complete my round trip in a little over 14 hours. It was cold and rainy so I assumed there would be few, if any, photo opportunities on this trip.

The delivery took longer than expected, and I had to stay over in a Red Roof Inn in nearby Falconer, New York. I was back at my delivery location well before daybreak the next morning, then was prepared to head back to Indy.

That’s when the unexpected photo opportunity popped up in the form of a painted mural on the side of a building in downtown Jamestown, New York that featured a scene out of an “I Love Lucy” episode. Jamestown has a small downtown area with a nostalgic look and feel, but it’s unique claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of the late actress/comedian Lucille Ball.

The town celebrates her and her husband Desi Arnaz’s legacy with references throughout the town, including a museum. The Lucy Desi Museum & Center for Comedy has exhibits that include photos, original costumes, and recreated sets from the most famous show in television history, and one of my favorite childhood shows from the age of only four television channels to choose from.

These sort of photo opportunities are hard to plan, but very satisfying when photographed. After a few trips around the small downtown area I was back on the road headed for home.