Downtown Austin as seen looking northeast from the Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail. Getting off of work early is always a treat. This particular day, I decided to grab my camera, wolf down some food, and drive down to the hike and bike trail. The clouds were fascinating on my drive down, but sadly enough died town to a much less interesting view by the time the sun set. I stuck around until dusk, when the reflections of the downtown buildings popped right out of the Town Lake waters.

Austin's downtown offers a lovely skyline and many interesting buildings.

I have always found that many cities look plain, stark and ugly in the daytime and in the night time. However, there always seems to be that one magical moment between dark and light where the lights in the buildings turn on, and the sky still glows with the last remnants of sun. That is when the beauty of the city comes out.

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Ryon (Skorz) > The full moon rises over downtown Austin, 10/07/06

This is an HDR. I only take these when conditions are bad enough that I get frustrated at every other result, or when I envision the scene specifically as an HDR.

Ryon (Skorz) > This walkway used to lie beneath the unfinished Intel building (soon to be federal courthouse) on 5th Street.

Ryon (Skorz) > Looking westward at Town Lake. Visible in the left-middle is the decrepit but soon-to-be-revitalized Seaholm Power Plant.

Ryon (Skorz) > Downtown Austin as seen looking northeast from the Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail.

Getting off of work early is always a treat. This particular day, I decided to grab my camera, wolf down some food, and drive down to the hike and bike trail. The clouds were fascinating on my drive down, but sadly enough died town to a much less interesting view by the time the sun set. I stuck around until dusk, when the reflections of the downtown buildings popped right out of the Town Lake waters.

Ryon (Skorz) > The lights of downtown Austin reflect brilliantly off the water. One thing I had not noticed until now is the symmetry in the heights of the buildings from this vista of the skyline.

The tricky part about these sorts of shots is getting the light balance correct. You don't want to have a featureless black void for a sky, but at the same time, you don't want to blow out the lights of the city too much (Which tends to happen to the frost tower in the center).

Ryon (Skorz) > A part of the 1950s-era Seaholm Power Plant glows an ominous sickly green courtesy of its mercury vapor lamps.

Ryon (Skorz) > Underneath the 1st Street bridge, looking North. The monochromatic glow of sodium vapor lamps illuminates everything in orange-yellow. I composed this photograph to attempt a frame-within-a-frame looks.

Ryon (Skorz) > Looking to the southwest and up at the railroad trestle over Riverside Avenue. The sodium vapor lamps, omnipresent in cities, destroy color rendition, causing even the green leaves to appear yellow-orange in color. In my opinion, these lamps are responsible for much of the ugliness in today's urban life.

Downtown Austin as seen looking northeast from the Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail.

Getting off of work early is always a treat. This particular day, I decided to grab my camera, wolf down some food, and drive down to the hike and bike trail. The clouds were fascinating on my drive down, but sadly enough died town to a much less interesting view by the time the sun set. I stuck around until dusk, when the reflections of the downtown buildings popped right out of the Town Lake waters.