salem's frosty embrace: a photographer's frozen lens
just wrapped up a brutal but beautiful shoot in salem, virginia, and my camera’s still shivering. pulled up the weather app this morning and it’s basically a popsicle factory outside, so if you enjoy breathing air that feels like punching yourself in the lungs, you’ll love it. the humidity’s so thick you could wring moisture out of the breeze, and my fingers are currently competing with popsicles for who can go numb faster.
salem’s this strange mix of historic brick and modern sprawl that somehow works. i was chasing architectural shots downtown when i stumbled into *the daily grind - a caffeine fortress i later heard is basically salem’s version of mecca. someone swore their oat milk lattes are worth hypothermia, and honestly? they weren’t wrong. i also overheard a drunk guy at a bar warning everyone that the salem museum is ‘a glorified closet full of dust bunnies dressed in pilgrim costumes.’ haven’t checked it out yet, but now i kinda want to just to see if he was onto something.
if you run out of subjects here, roanoke’s basically a blurry mirage away through the fog. heard there’s this insane ferris wheel up on mill mountain that looks like a spaceship landed in the woods. you can scope the view here, though honestly, the fog might make it look cooler.
spent yesterday freezing my butt off at longwood park, shooting these gnarled trees that look like they’re doing interpretive dance. i heard whispers from a park ranger that they’re planning to chop some down for a new parking lot, which feels like punching a unicorn in the face. save the trees, apparently.
surprisingly, the salem theatre had this killer art deco interior that didn’t require mittens. i asked the cashier where to get decent food and she whispered ‘avoid the downtown hot dog stands like they’re radioactive.’ took her advice and found this place called brick oven pub* that did a passable veggie burger. their yelp’s here if you trust internet strangers.
packing up now with my fingers crossed for global warming. maybe next time i’ll visit when the weather doesn’t want to murder my equipment. or maybe i’ll just move to a volcano.
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