The Trout Museum, in the Fox Cities Building for the Arts, Appleton, Wisconsin.

Mid-March. Half rain, half snow, some sleet. Four AM. A cold wind steady out of the north. Not the best time to be outside. But a great time to take photos of empty city streets, where usually they are choked by cars and people.

So, alarm ringing way too early on the weekend, off we went to downtown Appleton, Wisconsin. The objective was to get a couple of interesting images with reflections of buildings and street lights glimmering back from the puddles and wet streets.

We started near the Trout Museum in the Fox Cities Building for the Arts. That building is one of the showiest in Appleton, with its multicolored facade lighting.

The Fox Cities Building for the Arts, home of the Trout Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin.

After a few shots at the first location, we moved West on College Avenue to just in front of Jimmy John’s subs, which was strategically located across the street from the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center (PAC).

The PAC is one of the more interesting buildings in Appleton, and its lights shining into the gloom and wetness of early morning were particularly striking. But, it was getting colder and colder. Or, so it seemed. Fingers were having a harder and harder time holding onto the camera.

 The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center (PAC) in Appleton, Wisconsin.

We moved just East again along College, stopping in front of Lombardi’s steak house where we shot an interesting noir-like street scene in front of the Paper Valley Hotel.

College Avenue in Appleton, outside Lombardi's Steak House and the Paper Valley Hotel.

We next wanted to move to Lawrence University where the exterior lighting of the college’s buildings looked particularly interesting in the fog and mist. But, it turned out our hands were too cold to even work the clips on the legs of our tripod.

Early morning photo session over due to conditions, we tumbled back into the truck. With heater on full, we drove back to the homestead for hot coffee and a warm furnace.

But, mission accomplished nonetheless.

Note: All images are copyright Behreandt Visuals. They are not free to reuse. Please contact us if you have questions.