I took this night time, long exposure photo of the tallest building Austin - 360 Condominiums from the parking structure for the Long Center for the Performing Arts. Immediately after parking, I thought that the parking lot would be a nice place to take a few pictures of the city (especially at that time with the twilight colors coming down over the cityscape). When we got out of the performance, it was well after 10pm and the colors had all changed. Nevertheless, the 360 Condominiums building stood tall and colorful by itself.

Tripod, 5 sec at f/5.6 on ISO 200, 85mm f/1.8 lens

No, I'm not reviving the Photo of the Day series (yet), but this picture was too good not to post (make sure you read all the way to the bottom of the post to see the picture). I was driving home when the sun went behind this rain cloud and corpuscular rays burst out of not just the top but the sides of the storm cloud. I pulled over in the middle of town (the building on the right is the Texas Pie Company on Center Street in Kyle), rolled down my window and took the picture. To give you an idea of how small town Kyle feels - that traffic light is the only light in the downtown area. I've only found two more traffic lights in the Kyle area. (Kyle is growing very fast - one of the fastest growing towns in Texas - but for all that it's still pretty sparse with a lot of empty land around it.)

(This isn't the photo I wanted to show everyone - this is just the lead in… make sure you keep reading below.)
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Photo of the Day: Kyle Thunderhead

Looking southwest from the second floor of the Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39, you can see the office buildings and residences of San Francisco rising above on its hills.

Handheld, 1/200 sec at f/11 on ISO 100, 17-35mm f/2.8 lens

I think this is going to the the last photo in the Photo of the Week/Wednesday Photo series for a while. I'll be packing and moving and unpacking. I'll resume the series once I'm settled again.

This photograph was taken from the Parc 55 Hotel (about two blocks from Union Square). The lights were turned off in the room and the tripod with camera was setup between the blackout curtains and the windows of the room to minimize glare and reflections from the window glass.

Tripod, 10 sec at f/16 on ISO 100, 85mm f/1.8 lens

I'll try to keep going with my Tribute to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today's photograph was taken in the late afternoon at Casa de Fruta near Hollister, California. (According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hollister is part of the Bay Area even though the California Parks system doesn't include it.) I wasn't really paying attention to the aperature settings when I took this photo, and I ended up shooting wide open. You can see some obvious vignetting because of this.

Handheld, 1/1600 sec at f/2.8 on ISO 200, 105mm f/2.8 macro lens

Continuing the San Francisco Bay Area series, here's a shot of Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz (which is either in the southernmost part of the Bay Area or just outside of it depending on who you talk to). Natural Bridges is probably most famous for the yearly Monarch butterfly migrations where you'll see entire trees covered in butterflies. It's really quite spectacular. Oh, and the beach is quite nice also.

Handheld, 1/60 sec at f/8 on ISO 800, 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 lens

Here's another photograph from San Francisco. This one was taken from within my car parked on Bryant Street near where I worked. The photo was taken with the camera braced against my steering wheel and dash. It was the first photo that I took with my Nikon D200.

Supported, 1/2 sec at f/3.5 on ISO 100, 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 lens

Since I'll be leaving the Bay Area exactly one month from today, I thought I should post another picture of San Francisco. Here's Coit Tower as seen from a rooftop in the south part of the North Beach neighborhood.

Handheld, 1/1000 sec at f/2.8 on ISO 200, 85mm f/1.8 lens

This shot was taken at a quarter past 10pm. I exposed the image for 30 seconds which was much too long for a Nikon D100. Sensor noise more or less dominates the image.

Tripod, 30 sec at f/4.0 on ISO 800, 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens

Handheld, 1/350 sec at f/3.2 on ISO 100, 105mm f/2.8 macro lens