I hadn’t busted out the Spartus Full-Vue for a good four years, so I decided to take it out for a spin around downtown this past July. This was the third roll I’d ever put through this camera, and I’d honestly forgotten how much I like it for what it is: box camera, no settings, waist-level viewfinder, quirky focus and vignetting. It did a great job, even with a couple of shots in heavy shade that I’d been sure would turn out underexposed.
There were a couple of destinations on this photo walk that I want to be sure to hit up again: the Greyhound station and the Lorraine Motor Hotel. I was a little worried that I’d get pegged for trespassing at the bus station, since I was in the back where the buses park, but no buses were there at the time, and I was there and gone within all of five minutes.
The Hotel Lorraine, on the other hand, struck me as the kind of place where the residents/patrons/loiterers might take exception to being in the background of a photo, so I found myself very obviously focusing only on that fantastic signage. Not all of my composition attempts worked as planned, and the lighting wasn’t ideal, so I’ll definitely be photographing this location again.
Photo walks really help me appreciate downtown Toledo for all its overlooked details. Look around, look up, pay attention, and accept the city for what it is — instead of resenting it for what it isn’t.
