ATTN: Atlanta Photographers (Decatur, Druid Hills, Stone Mountain: apartments, condo, hotel)

[thethinktank]

Hey Atlanta,
I'm the publisher of a growing web magazine who is due for a trip to Atlanta thanks to an advertiser I'm working with. As part of my visit, I'm tasked with photographing some of the most beautiful and iconic parts of your city. The landmarks, well-known or under-the-radar, or the breathtaking frames that show Atlanta in all of its true grit.

I'm here on City Data because it helped me find my new home in Tampa, and I admire and respect the people who post here. I thought I'd give Atlanta's City Data forum a shot at giving me a hand in my project.

So, when I come to Atlanta, where should I point my camera? What spots should I hit? The prime tourist spots shouldn't be on my list, but the beautiful and unknown areas that truly capture what Atlanta is all about.

Thanks all!
TheThinkTank

[atlantagreg30127]

Places (with pics) I would suggest photographing yourself...

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*Notice: All photos below taken by me are copyrighted, and may not be reproduced without permission*
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You should go to the "Little Five Points" area - the hippy/wild/tattoo/funky/whatever area of the City...

"The Vortex" restaurant - Little Five Points:


Little Five Points...






Next to Little Five Points is "Inman Park" with a lot of Victorian homes well worth photographing....




The Atlanta Botanical Gardens in Midtown...


Including their new "canopy walk" raised walkway through the forest...



I'm sure there will be tons more suggestions as well.

[rackensack]

Piedmont Park is a very popular spot for capturing the mix of lush trees and high-rise buildings that are so characteristic of Atlanta. The adjacent Atlanta Botanical Garden would also be a solid choice. Both are certainly "tourist spots" to some extent, but they offer enough variety of views that you wouldn't be stuck just shooting another pic of the facade of the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coke, or CNN Center.

Also in Midtown, between Peachtree and Piedmont north of 14th Street, you have the Ansley Park and Sherwood Forest neighborhoods, where moneyed Atlanta lived just after the turn of the century and which are still attractive and interesting places.

If you can wrangle your way onto a rooftop or balcony of a high-rise hotel or office building in the Buckhead area, you could get another view of that sort of mix -- a vast urban forest with high-rise buildings poking up out of the green; I suggest Buckhead because in addition to the buildings there, you could also get shots of the downtown, Midtown, and Perimeter high-rises in the distance (Stone Mountain too).

The northwest part of Buckhead, along West Paces Ferry, Andrews, Habersham, Tuxedo, Knollwood, Valley Road, and Blackland Road, is full of old-money jazz-age and later Atlanta mansions on multi-acre lots with dramatic landscaping, etc.

The Virginia-Highland neighborhood, from Ponce de Leon Ave north along Highland Ave up through just north of Virginia Avenue, is perhaps the best pedestrian-friendly area of town, with tons of boutiques, restaurants, bars, etc., and the side streets nearby are full of interesting early twentieth-century apartments, duplexes, bungalows, etc., set on curving, park-like streets. John Howell Park, on Virginia Avenue at Barnett Street is a small gem of a neighborhood park with attractive and interesting features; while I haven't actually scouted it as a photo location myself, it's on a relatively high part of town, and the vacant lot/middle school parking lot across the street might mean that you could get some decent skyline views of the northern part of midtown.

The Druid Hills neighborhood (Springdale, Oakdale, Lullwater, and Clifton Roads, in this case) was the primary location for the movie "Driving Miss Daisy" and shows the influence of Frederick Law Olmstead in the planning and layout of the streets, which flow in sweeping curves relatively uninterrupted by cross-streets, and are filled with early twentieth-century mansions on large, immaculately landscaped lots. Springdale Park/Virgilee Park/Brightwood Park, which Olmstead designed to fill the wide median area between the two sides of Ponce De Leon Avenue east of Briarcliff Road, could be another decent location.

Downtown Decatur, East Atlanta Village, Kirkwood, Little Five Points, Inman Park, and Grant Park are all older neighborhoods in various stages along the road to gentrification -- Decatur and Inman Park are pretty completely gentrified, but Decatur is very much a town center with a nice mix of commercial and residential uses, while Inman Park is nearly all residential, in keeping with its character as the first "suburb" of Atlanta. East Atlanta Village, Kirkwood, and Little Five Points are somewhat funkier/grittier -- L5P has been ground zero for Atlanta's bohemian community for at least a quarter-century, since before I moved to Atlanta.

Grant Park is another very old neighborhood, home to the titular park which contains the Cyclorama and Zoo Atlanta; it's a "transitional" area still, even after 30 years of gentrification -- there's still some fairly rough areas close by, but most of the houses have been acquired and renovated by "urban pioneers". On the north side of the freeway is the Cabbagetown neighborhood, next to the old Fulton Bag Mill -- the row houses and duplexes of Cabbagetown were built as company housing for the "lintheads" who worked at the Mill (which is itself a condo complex now). Most of the millworkers' descendants are long gone -- the neighborhood provided relatively cheap housing for a generation of Atlanta artists and musicians through the late 1980s and 1990s, and it hasn't completely lost that character yet. Across Boulevard from Cabbagetown is Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta's premier burying ground for nearly two centuries now. Margaret Mitchell, a host of Atlanta mayors and Georgia governors, and many other notables are buried here, many beneath elaborate sculptured tombstones. Walking tours of the cemetery are offered and are extremely popular, and its location near downtown, Grant Park, Cabbagetown, etc., provides for some interesting perspectives (http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=oakland%20cemetery%20atlanta&w=all - broken link) on the city.

Atlanta's always been about transportation and commerce, so it'd be natural to suggest some of the railyards and the airport as photo locations, but the challenges of not getting arrested photographing transportation facilities these days make me reluctant to do so.

There's lots of areas and locations I haven't even mentioned, but perhaps that'll give you some ideas to consider.

[thethinktank]

Awesome, awesome help! I'm pumped to get down on these spots and do the required research. Great tips so far, atlantagreg and rackensack, I'm pumped to explore given the insight you've shared!!

[George Chong]

Everyone has given you great suggestions! I love images of Atlanta's skyline in the background, Here are some additional suggestions/links to explore:

Piedmont Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia of Lake Clara Meer with the Midtown skyline in the background.

The same with Historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta It is very close to www.inmanpark.org and www.grantpark.org, 2 neighborhoods already suggested.

We have a nice selection of public art in Atlanta too. Atlanta Public Arts Legacy Fund - Preserving public art in Atlanta and enduring the legacy of the 1996 Olympics.

Good luck and have fun!

[jsimms3]

If it is hazy, during rush hour on a weekday during the evening, capture midtown/downtown from the top of one of the garages of Lindbergh Station. Lindbergh is accessible by MARTA rail and is a major transfer point on the N-S Line. The top floor of Emory's library also offers great views of the full skyline, which is very long and can only be captured at a distance. The garages at Northside Hospital also provide views looking south through Buckhead to midtown/downtown. The coolest view of downtown can be had (imo) when you are driving into Fairlie Poplar south along Centennial Olympic drive. As soon as you pass Phillips Arena on your right, look back for a stellar view of Downtown (it is a very gritty, but very urban panorama).

You also might want to go to the top floor of the Westin for some good views. 72 floors up.

The top of the Hilton offers good views looking East/NE/SE.

I have over 2,000 pictures of Atlanta, it is a fun city to photograph. There are good views to be had from Georgia Tech's campus, as well. Try the garage at 5th/Spring and also for panoramas, try the Student Center 3rd floor balcony. It is at the center of campus.

[Galounger]

I recently made the drive down GA 400 South from Buckhead into Downtown. The views of Buckhead, Midtown and Downtown are spectacular from here and this has been filmed many many times on Youtube etc.

However, what I hadn't noticed before but did in my last drive is that when I got to the Marta rail yard (I think it might be at Lindbergh Station?) I looked back behind me and there was a breathtaking view of the Buckhead skyline with the rail yard in the foreground. I wished so much at the time that I had my camera. This view hasn't been exploited often I don't think.