For the last few years Auburn has played a holiday basketball game in Atlanta at State Farm Arena. This year that game was played against the Indiana Hoosiers, a team that had a huge fan turnout in Atlanta that day. Our tickets got us in for all the games that day so we left pretty early and caught most of the Mississippi State game that was being played before Auburn vs Indiana. The final score of that game was 104-76 and Auburn played an incredible game that day.
This day was rainy, foggy, cloudy, and just all around miserable as far as weather goes, but it’s December in the south.
Unfortunately for me, State Farm Arena did not allow me to take my Nikon into the arena. I read the “rules” before hand about cameras, as I always do, and brought a super small compact lens (2 inches) and they still stopped me at the door (in a super rude way, and then brought the police in for “backup” which was totally unnecessary). I could go on a rant here but I’ll refrain. State Farm Arena, it’s an absolutely stupid rule. I checked the camera with a super nice gentlemen who kept good care of it until the game was over.
Every time we head over to State Farm Arena, or Mercedes Benz Stadium, we park at the Atlanta Airport and take MARTA downtown. Parking downtown isn’t the greatest so this is just a convenient place to park when coming from Auburn.
The Atlanta Airport is one of my most favorite places for “street photography” which is just another way of saying “candid” photography. It may not be a genre of photography you care for, but it’s one I really appreciate. Those who do it well have an amazing snapshot of life as it was on that day, in that place. I probably get a chance to shoot at the Atlanta Airport once a year. This wasn’t really one of them since we were headed for a basketball game, but it was a little taste. The last full shoot I did was A Photo Day at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport where I got a few of my most favorite “street” shots.
MARTA is another great place to shoot. The escalators and big open concrete pillars are fabulous for angled lines and colors of yellow and green tones seem to thrive down there.
The spaces above ground are great as well. There is a platform that leads outside the MARTA station and overlooks the airport canopy which I got to shoot when it was under construction. This day I was able to grab a quick shot of the Air Traffic Control Tower as the train pulled out of the station.
I will let the rest of the shots stand on their own. Catching candid shot of people and our surroundings is one of the most challenging genres of photography to me. But the results can be amazing. I’m super thrilled with how some of these turned out. The look on the MARTA Police officer’s face, the woman with the hoodie pulled over her head, even the faces on the train, it’s just an every day routine for most everyone. Pretty cool. If you are interested in any of the image details the full size images and metadata is in a gallery Atlanta Airport MARTA over on Flickr. I’ve also uploaded a designed set for Instagram over there if you want to see those.
One response to “ATL Airport MARTA to Atlanta Street”
Great photography, as always.