Philadelphia was the first in a three part photography excursion that I had planned for the Fall. Philadelphia was another one of those cities that I knew I needed to come back to. My first trip to this city was 16 years ago when we did a week long excursion traveling around the East Coast. I was only in Philadelphia for a day and I knew that wasn’t going to be enough time.
This was one trip that I actually accomplished the majority of what I wanted to do here. The trip to Philly was a two flighter having stopped in St. Louis for a 4 hour layover. Factoring in the time change, I didn’t actually get into Philly until around 11 at night. The hotel I stayed at was the Loews in downtown Philadelphia. It has by far one of my favorite views of the city. I spent so much time getting this view from different times of the day.
I spent Sunday mostly recovering from the travel. Once I was able to muster up the energy to get up and move, I had a chance to stroll through Philadelphia. Started the day checking out Reading Terminal Market, which is basically a cheat code if you are looking for a one stop place for food choices while you are in Philly. There were so many options to choose from. After having breakfast there, I checked out the Gayborhood near my hotel while I was stocking up on travel supplies for the week. In the afternoon, I revisited some places that I went to on my last trip. Had to do the Rocky steps while Bill Conti was playing as the soundtrack.
The next day I was there, I did some more exploring around the city. Checked out West Philadelphia and did a couple of time lapses. Photographing over Interstate 76 was interesting, but at least I learned how the Philadelphia 76ers got their team name.
Like every trip, aerial photography definitely happened. I used Sky River Helicopters this time. My pilot Skylar was awesome and a lot of fun to fly with. Managed to get some incredible shots of the city. Definitely worth the hour flight alone to nail those shots.
The next day, I decided to head south towards Camden, New Jersey and crossed over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. I spent a lot of time there because I wanted to take some time to enjoy the moment and enjoy the scenery. I kept hearing that Philadelphia was sketchy. I am just going to keep it 100 with everyone that I found Camden, New Jersey to be way more sketchy that Philly was.
I wrapped up the trip by seeing a show at Union Transfer. I saw Front 242 and The Crystal Method. Front 242 was on their last tour as a group. Hard to believe they have been together for 40+ years. It is hard to see industrial greats finally end their careers, but it was one of those “glad I saw them when I did” shows.
Overall, I managed to get 95% of what I wanted in Philadelphia, so I can live with the results. Definitely enjoyed my time there.