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I must have driven past Arthur’s Paradise Diner hundreds, if not thousands of times in my life. It is located on Bridge Street in Lowell, MA, where I grew up.

So why Arthur’s? After shooting at the Pacific Mill Diner, I decided to seek out other diners and other similarly challenging interiors to photograph and improve my HDR work. In this area, there is no loss for subject matter: Four Sisters’ Owl Diner, Club Diner, and The Trolley in Lowell and of course, the ultimate dive, Lawton’s Hot Dogs at Canal and Broadway in Lawrence, MA.  I hope to hit about one a week on the way to work or on the weekends. We’ll see where it goes.

Back to Arthur’s. I walked in with a big honking camera and unwieldy tripod and asked the cook if he would mind if I photograph the diner. He was happy to oblige. I was lucky in that there were no customers at the time. I was able to set up quickly and bang off a series of shots from a couple of angles.

In talking to the cook, I discovered that the previous owner operated the diner for several decades with his wife. After his wife passed away, about 8 years ago, Arthur sold the place … “Too many memories.” Arthur’s son wanted to buy it and convert the diner to a pizza place. Arthur would have no part of it.

The current owner offered to buy it and run it as a diner … no changes. Deal Done.

Their specialty is still the “Boott Mill Sandwich” which, as far as I can tell is a full breakfast on toast, bacon, eggs and home fries between two slices of bread. Nice.

Its also very inexpensive. I promised the cook I’d give the diner a sample image to thank the for their hospitality. Maybe I’ll try the Boot Mill Sandwich when I deliver the print.

This image is an HDR rendering of 9 separate exposures.

• ISO 400
• f 22
• Shutterspeed range from 1/25 to 10 seconds