Bloomfield
It never takes long after the solstice to start noticing that the days are getting shorter. I think this is one of the things that contributes to late July feeling so nostalgic: you can feel the days slipping away, little by little. Even though we have at least two more months of summer weather, the optimism of June already feels like a distant memory, slipping away just like the daylight. Don't get me wrong; I savor this time of the year for this very reason. Not even the dead of winter can rival the wistful feeling of late July. And other kind of optimism is right around the corner in August--the kind that leads to the beginning of the new term and towards wonderful fall days and cooler weather. But July is too early to be the run-up to autumn, and can only be felt as the decay of summer.
It's been a while since I used the old Minolta MC 50mm, but it's much lighter than the Sigma so I took it on my walk today. As it's a lens from the 1970s, It's definitely not in the same league of quality, but something about the way it renders jives with the broken-down streets and alleys of Bloomfield.
A hot summer night in Pittsburgh...days like this remind me of my early childhood in Baltimore more than any other.