In the basement of the terminal
Trains and HDR are a match made in heaven. That's all I have to say about that. I shot this one after wandering into a "no tourist zone" at Union Station in Kansas City. There was a gate to keep people out, but it was ajar. That's sort of like an invitation to enter, isn't it?
The diner in Union Station
New feature on the blog: the Wibiya web toolbar! What do you think about this thing? I like it, and it has some pretty cool functionality. You should be able to see an orange toolbar along the bottom of the page. It allows you to interact via Facebook, Twitter, and more right from the site. Pretty cool! Also, if you hover your mouse over the pic, it allows you to share it instantly from there - give it a try and let me know your thoughts!
Photo of the day: The diner in Union Station - Kansas City
I was walking around in Union Station, in downtown Kansas City, and came upon this little diner which appeared to be somewhat abandoned. It wasn’t in bad shape, but as you can see the seats were displaced and the rest of the place was in a bit of disarray. It wasn’t a total mess by any stretch, just seemed a little off I guess. Fortunately, the floors were shiny! I am not sure if it is currently used, or maybe at the time they were doing some construction, but either way I spent a few minutes and got some pics while I was there. I loved the floor, and the old photos on the wall show Union Station back when in its glory days. If you scroll down on the right side of my blog here, you will see a category listing for Kansas City, and if you click thru to that you can see several shots of the wonderful architecture that I captured while I was there in this historic train station. Thanks for stopping by!
Blue hour at the Liberty Memorial
When I was in Kansas City on business, I had a free evening and so I camped out atop the Liberty Memorial and waited for sunset. The Liberty Memorial is a memorial to the fallen soliders of World War I and it is a beautiful structure - well, more like a group of structures. It sits high atop a hill, giving you a commanding view of downtown KC. If you look at my Kansas City shots, all the shots with the wide view of downtown were taken from up here. If you make it to KC, definitely stop by this spot. In this shot, I turned slightly away from downtown (which is out of frame to the right) and followed the setting sun as it departed. The skies were soft and the light was just right. It was a peaceful evening and I was surprised that I was the only photographer there. But hey, I wasn't complaining!
Culture clash
I found this on the back side of Union Station, in Kansas City. It was an interesting mix of things, with the modern architecture on the left, the classical architecture on the right, and the prehistoric right in the middle. I find it interesting when there is a modern addition to a classical structure. Not sure who decided these types would work together, but they do for me.
After hours in Union Station
Another shot of the wonderful and awesome interior of Union Station in Kansas City. I wandered around (inside and out) for a few hours, snapping this and that and generally just enjoying the heck out of it! In this shot, I focused on that large clock which I just loved. KC did a wonderful job restoring this fine structure to its original glory. It was almost like being back in time - except of course for those Sprint signs. Thanks for stopping by!
Clouds over Union Station
When I was in Kansas City, I shot like crazy all around and inside their Union Station, which you see here. It is a fabulous building and just reaffirms my interest in architecture. It's so wonderfully refreshing when you go somewhere, find an old building, and see it lovingly restored to its (mostly) original grandeur. I think that may be why I like The Ferry Building in San Francisco so much, too. For this shot I went with a tight crop of Union Station with a bit of the skyline in the background. It was obviously afternoon, which isn't exactly ideal for HDR, but what the heck right?
Hop on the bokeh train
Just a little bokeh fun for a Monday morning! I shot this at Union Station in Kansas City. In this case I was just experimenting with bokeh and having fun. Hope your week is off to a great start!
KC bokeh
I almost called this "KC and the bokeh balls" but it sounded way too corny, and brought back distant memories of bad 70's songs and bellbottoms. This is the Kansas City skyline, taken from my hotel room at night. I enjoy these pure bokeh or pure blur shots and really like all the twinkly little bokeh light balls floating all around. Just a fun shot!
Early morning in Kansas City
This shot was taken from my room in Kansas City, early in the morning. When I awoke, it was blue hour so I immediately stepped out on my balcony and set up for some shots. It is amazing how quickly the light and color can change - just 5 minutes before this shot it was full-on in blue hour. As you can see very plainly, it quickly turned somewhat gray. This was sort of a tightly focused shot on just a portion of the KC skyline. I like how the lights are casting a red hue on the streets. Next time I am there, I hope to get some free time to explore a little more of the city. In this shot I see several buildings and structures that I would like to explore a little closer. It’s really fun to me to walk around in a new city, because you never know what you might find. I enjoy architectural shots anyways, so a bunch of buildings - old and new - are great fun for me! Plus I think I see some candidates for some urban decay shots - add in a little HDR and I’ll be fired up!
The fountain at Union Station
Kansas City has a wonderfully restored train station, known as Union Station, and the fountain out front is equally impressive. It was created by the H&R Block Foundation as a gift to the city, which is actually known as “The City of Fountains”. As you can tell, it was later in the evening when I was there and I was happy to find it still operating. The nice part about being somewhere late is that you don’t have a lot of folks in the shots. I had spent the earlier part of the evening at the WWI Memorial atop a hill that faces Union Station, taking all sorts of shots, many of which included this fountain, though from a pretty good distance. The route back to my hotel went past this, and I figured why not grab a few close-ups?
Rusty old Pullman
Taken behind the Union Station in Kansas City. I had some free time after hours and was wandering around the old train station, when I located a staircase and a door that led out back. I meandered a bit until I found some old train cars in a partially hidden area back there. The fence wasn’t shut, so I assumed that meant I could walk in and get some shots - and I did. This rusty old thing was parked there, looking a bit worn and haggard but beautiful to me nonetheless. HDR + rust = a winner every time! I got a bunch of shots that day and now find myself looking for train stations in every town I visit! It’s funny how finding things like this spark an interest that you didn’t know you even had...
Night falls on Kansas City
Prior to my KC trip, I had read that the WWI Memorial was a great place to get a view of the city, so I planned to be there to take advantage of that. Luckily, my hotel happened to be a short 5 minute walk away so it worked out nicely. I spent probably 2 hours up there, taking all sorts of shots not just of the city but also the area around the WWI Memorial. It’s really a beautiful place. When darkness starting arriving, I made sure to position myself in just the right place to optimize my view. I sat on the edge of a big wall (which dropped off a good 50 feet to a lawn below), taking tons of shots, until a policeman asked me to get off the wall. Apparently there have been some accidents where folks have fallen off the wall, so he didn’t want me to ruin his evening I guess. He was kind enough to let me fire off this last HDR so I thank him for that!
This is a 5 exposure HDR shot at f/10, with exposures from 0 to -4. They were merged into an HDR in Photomatix and adjusted in PSE and Aperture.
Terminally addicted
I have come to realize that I really like old train stations. This one in Kansas City is fabulous and I spent a great deal of time wandering around and snapping off some shots. I find myself looking for train stations to visit in other places too. I recently went to Dallas and read online that they had a train station downtown, and per my map it was just a short walk from my hotel. So I cruised over there, only to be disappointed to find it nowhere near as nice as this, without the grand open space and "period look" that Union Station in KC possesses. I remember walking through numerous train stations in Europe a few years back, wishing now that I was more into photography at the time! Oh well, perhaps a return trip across the pond is in order!
A blue hour moment in Kansas City
My recent trip to Kansas City was quite a lot of fun from a photography perspective. When I checked into the hotel, they said my room was on the 14th floor and had a city view, which immediately pleased me. Isn’t that just pleasing to the ears? “Ah yes, a city view from the 14th floor”. Anyways, when I got there I dropped my stuff and immediately headed to the window to see what this view was all about. Fortunately, it was a sliding glass door with a tiny balcony (big enough for two legs of a tripod, with the 3rd leg back in the room) and actually did give me quite a wonderful view of the city. The next morning, when I awoke it was blue hour, which is such a fantastic time to shoot. I threw open the sliding glass door, set up the tripod, and stood in awe for a moment before clicking away. This is the view off to the right, with about half of the downtown area in the distance. I have some additional shots of the entire city, and I also had a great view over Union Station too! Basically, it was the perfect place to shoot Kansas City from! I also got various shots of KC at night from my balcony, so be prepared for more HDR work from KC coming your way!
This is a 4 exposure HDR taken at f/14, with exposures from 0 to -3. They were merged into an HDR in Photomatix and then I made some adjustments with PSE and Aperture.
Kansas City Southern Lines
“Not all those who wander are lost.” - J.R.R. Tolkien
It pays to wander aimlessly. At least if you are a photographer it does, especially when in a new place. Take this image for instance. I was in Kansas City, which if you regularly read about my posts you will know just happened last week. I had some free time after work and made my way to their Union Station, which is a fabulous place I might add. After snapping some shots of the interior, I started getting the itch for some shots of trains. How cool are trains? It was an active train station at one point, so I had to assume there were trains there right? Well I wandered around to where the Amtrak passengers hang out until their train is ready for boarding - figuring there should be something I could see there. When I got there, a Security Guard sort of fellow asked me what I was doing, and of course I told him I was looking for trains (hoping he would not get all twitchy about the camera and tripod over my shoulder). He told me it was closed, would open again at 6am tomorrow, and the last train just left - and pointed me back in the direction from which I had just come. Hmmm. I told him I was from out of town, and take photos as a hobby, and just wanted to see some trains. I guess my polite Texas attitude softened him up because he told me to follow him. He took me through some random hallways and showed me where they keep some old train cars for their museum out back. He told me it too was closed (meaning I could not get in the trains) but I could look around. In a sort of train garage tucked under the building, I saw this beauty. There was a fence between me and this train, but the gate was slightly ajar which to me says “Come on in and take as many photos as you like”. So I did. I was especially happy to find these nice puddles on the ground in front of the train, being a fan of reflections and all that. Anyways, hope you like it and look for more KC shots coming soon (including more train shots)!
This is a 7 exposure HDR taken at f/14 with exposures from +2 to -4. They were merged into an HDR in Photomatix, and then I made some adjustments in PSE, Topaz Adjust, and Aperture. I used Topaz Adjust to give it some grit, so to speak, and really like the outcome. Hope you do too!