Indianapolis Photowalk

The Monument Circle in Indianapolis, by Scott Crone

Place: Classic mid-west city, with just under 900,000 residents, Indianapolis is the state capital, the 17th most populous city in the U.S. and third in the midwest. Think Indianapolis and a few things come to mind: sports, especially car racing, war monuments and corn.

Where: In the middle of the state, with Springfield, Illinois to the west and Columbus, Ohio to the east, both about 2 hours and 45 minutes away.

Photo postcards. The Indianapolis 500, downtown skyline, war monuments, children’s museum, statehouse and Hoosier life would top most lists. Indy is second to DC in the number of war monuments in a US city.

Why Indianapolis: “It’s one of those cities that’s really walkable. Everything is accessible. The heart of downtown is within a mile, and all the top photo spots are down there.” Scott Crone, Indianapolis photographer.

Best time to visit. Forget about winter. Late spring, summer and especially fall for the changing colors on the trees.

The downtown Canal Walk, by Scott Crone

Photowalk Route

Indianapolis Photowalk

1. Monument Circle is a great place to start your Photowalk, for a 2.2 mile walk in downtown Indianapolis. Get the iconic shot of the war memorial statues and street photography downtown. Listen to the Photowalking podcast above for Indianapolis photographer Scott Crone’s tips on the best places to photograph the war monuments.

2. Walk down to the Grand Hall at historic Union Station, (123 W. Louisiana Street), one of those great old classic midwest train stations.

3. For the iconic shot of the Indianapolis skyline, Crone suggests the White River State Park, 801 W. Washington and Highland Park (1100 E New York St, Indianapolis, IN 46202) Crone has more details in the podcast.

4. The Indiana Statehouse (200 W. Washington Street) is just a few blocks away. The four story state capital building was built in 1888.

Canal Walk, by Scott Crone

5. Cap off the Photowalk with a visit to Canal Walk. The area was dug in the early 1800s, “in an effort to facilitate interstate commerce,” according to VisitIndy. The Canal Walk, which stretches north through White River State Park to 11th Street) is today a waterside promenade for walkers, runners, bikers and sightseers. Crone says that in the spring and summer, the city dyes the water special colors, which makes for great photos.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway

6. Finally, hop in the car and head over to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for race-car themed shots. 4790 W 16th St. Crone suggests taking a tour to get down on the track and attending practice days in May, before the June race, to test your abilities stopping action with your camera. Drivers go super fast, over 200 MPH. You’ll be far away as they zoom by, so you’ll want two things. A camera with a big zoom lens, and practice getting shots as they whiz by. If you use a smartphone, keep your finger down on the burst mode setting, to take multiple shots in rapid fashion, and if you have a camera, opt for a shutter speed of at least 1/1,000th of a second.

Below: the video version of our Photowalk Indianapolis podcast.

Scott Crone’s Instagram http://www.instagram.com/jscrone

The Indianapolis Star has a list of other top Indianapolis photo spots.

Photo spots

1. Crowne Plaza at Union Station 2. Holcomb Gardens 3. White River State Park 4. Indianapolis Public Library 5. The Children’s Museum 6. Irwin Library 7. Federal Court Building 8. Monument Circle 9. Indianapolis Museum of Art 10. Circle Centre Mall

Be sure to also check out blogger F.C. Tucker’s list here:

Big thanks to Visit Indy!

Listen to some of our other Photowalking podcasts:

And speaking of Indiana, well, why not?