The City of Greenwood, Indiana erected this lighted sign on a walkway bridge over one of the main streets heading into town as a tribute to healthcare workers during the Corona-virus shutdown.

Instead of breaking out my DSLR with prime lenses as I normally would in this situation, I decided to take my newly purchased Ricoh GR III, attached to my tripod for long exposure photography.

Under normal circumstances with my DSLR, focusing would have been achieved in manual mode, aided by the eyepiece viewfinder. But with the Ricoh GR III, while it does have manual focus capability, it's not easily accessible, especially in low light situations. However ...

I read a blog post the other day where the author knocked the idea of shooting a landmark or other 'generic' location that a million other photographers have already shot. "Why would you want the same photo on your website that is on everyone else's website?" he asked. And went on to imply that if you didn't spend hours or days scouting a traditional location for a photo angle that no one else has ever come up with then somehow you're taking the easy way out. You're not a professional.

Well duh! No kidding! You do you, I'll shoot what I like, regardless of the thousands that have been there before me. They aren't me. Maybe I'll get a better shot, maybe not as good, but it'll be my shot. Why do I have to look at yours because you got there before me? Makes no sense at all.

My first outing with the Ricoh GR III was also the first of the new 2020 spring. The temperatures were in the mid-60s, and I couldn't help but take the opportunity to shoot some of the local farmland and wooded areas.

Spring is just now breaking, so the leaves and flowers haven't bloomed yet, leaving trees still bare with the unappealing winter look. But the point of this trip was to find something, anything, that I could shoot with my GR III, and I wasn't disappointed.

Not too far from my home in southern Johnson County, I found a half-destroyed brick structure. It's kind of a mix between a small home, or barn. Most of the interior has been destroyed by fire, but the appearance of relatively clean ladders tells me the owners are either about to tear the structure down, or renovate. Despite the No Trespassing signs, I made a quick circle around the structure.