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Millennium Tower Beltway 8 @ Richmond
Sabine Street Bridge
At some point everybody shoots a picture of the downtown Houston skyline from the Sabine Street Bridge. This shot was processed for HDR using 3 separate images I took just as the sun was going down. Each was shot at varying exposures on the 11-18mm ultra-wide angle lens and blended together using Photomatix
Due to the rampant theft of this image I was forced to remove the high res version. If you would like to purchase this photo for use on your Web site, please contact me.
1400 Smith St.
Call it what you may, but 1400 Smith St. will always be “The Enron Building” to me.
This was shot handheld from Bell @ Louisiana using my 17-50mm 2.8
Wrath Of God
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This is my second pass at this image. I was able to clean up the chromatic aberration that was distracting in the original image as well as the HDR version. I have also (I believe) brought out more of the "menace" in the clouds. I was also FAR less aggressive in correcting the angle than I was in the first version allowing the building to have the appearance of bowing or bending in the wind that comes from shooting at a slightly up-angle with a an ultra wide angle lens like the 11-18mm
The Alhambra – Part 1
Of course the main reason to visit Granada is The Alhambra. It would seem this is one of the most visited historic sights on the planet. To get in, you have to purchase a ticket and these tickets sell out fast.
Since we had not been able to get tickets online or the day we arrived we figured we should get up early and get in line. As luck would have it, my alarm clock failed to go off and we woke up around 9:00 am rather than 6:30 as we had intended.
We went ahead and had breakfast in the hotel. The owner, who’s name is Manuel, was taking care of the the breakfast orders and is an extremely nice guy. He introduced us to something called Spanish Toast. A piece of toasted bread with a light spread of freshly ground tomato which you then sprinkled with a tiny bit of salt then finished off with just the faintest amount of olive oil. VERY TASTY!
Manuel was speaking with us (mostly Cynthia) about the Alhambra and suggested we go over to the ticket line and then look for an area that sold tickets via a machine that took credit cards.
We hiked up the hill and located the ticket area he was speaking of in a matter of minutes and in no time flat we had our tickets to The Alhambra.
When you purchase your ticket you are scheduled a 30 minute window to enter the palace which is the main attraction of the Alhambra. Once you are in, you can take as much time as you like wandering the various rooms.
Our window was from 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm. For palace visits after 2:00 pm you can go ahead and enter the compound and visit the other sights like the Generalife Gardens and The Alcazaba.
We took advantage of the the 4 hours and waled all around taking pictures and climbing the many many stpes to the top of the Alcazaba.
It’s a facinating place. The fort (Alcazaba) is from the mid-13th century and represents the last stronghold of the Moorish king Boabdil.
Aquaducts were the order of the day and this place still has water running through it in the form of small little water troughs that line the paths and feed the fountains. If your quiet and listen you can hear water trickling, gurgling and flowing all throughout the Alhambra.
We climbed and climbed and climbed….
The picture at the top of this post was taken from down there
At the top of the tower the view is amazing…
Next, The Palace!