A beautiful park located in Midtown, Piedmont Park is over 180 acres and home to Lake Clara Meer. The park is a favorite spot for picnics and parties, and attracts large numbers of joggers who tread the 4 1/2 miles of paths and fishermen who pursue the lake's bass, crappie and catfish. The park offers an expansive view of downtown Atlanta's skyline, an ideal subject for photographs in any season. The park also features a 30-acre botanical garden offering exotic flowers and plants, a Zen garden, elaborate fountains and structures, and a scenic "Canopy Walk" that allows photographers to view the forest and gardens from walkways that hang from the treetops 40 feet above the forest floor.
The eclectic home of artists, bohemians and students alike, the funky and charming neighborhood known as Little Five Points offers independent coffee shops, vinyl record shops, and a number of vintage clothing stores. Street musicians flock to Little Five Points year-round, while Halloween provides exceptional sights to photograph as the streets fill with festively garbed Atlantans and a parade featuring costumed bikers, local bands, celebrities and bizarre floats. One of Little Five Points' most notable restaurants, the Vortex Bar and Grill, features an entrance adorned with a large skull with swirling eyes, its mouth agape around the restaurant's door. Other one-of-a-kind sights include the Junkman's Daughter, an elaborate, psychedelic mural painted on its storefront, and the historic Plaza Theatre, located only a few blocks away.
The heart of downtown Atlanta, Five Points features a wealth of interesting sights and subjects. Woodruff Park is an ideal place to capture city life, with a large chessboard at its entrance and an angelic statue reaching for the sky. The historic Underground Atlanta, once a system of viaducts first built in the 1920s, now houses a number of underground shops with the Georgia Railroad freight depot acting as the entrance to the complex. A good flash mixes with the somber lighting from antique streetlights to produce haunting, vintage photographs of the old stone streets and old cars and trucks that can be found parked along the storefronts. Underground Atlanta is also the site of Atlanta's Peach Drop, a New Year's event featuring fireworks, music and a large peach being dropped from the tower located outside.
The largest aquarium in the world, the Georgia Aquarium is located downtown, not far from Five Points. The aquarium houses more than 120,000 animals, including whale sharks, great hammerhead sharks and manta rays. Exhibits like the "petting zoo" are open to the light of the lobby and lend themselves to wonderful photographs of families and children petting stingrays, while other areas like the large viewing theaters and the impressive Ocean Voyager exhibit tunnel, a long tunnel surrounded by glass on all sides, offer limited light to illuminate the fish and the people around them. Flashes are prohibited in certain areas, but this can often work to the photographer's advantage, leading to soft, antique-style photos.
