Early for Me, But a Good Morning in Austin

I haven't been very active lately with regard to this blog specifically, or even my photography in general. But against all odds, I got up this morning with 4 hours sleep and headed downtown with my cameras to explore the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge. It was built across Lady Bird Lake in 2001 in response to fatal accidents between pedestrians / cyclists who who regularly lost contests with automobile traffic on the Lamar Boulevard bridge. Clearly, it's a terrific resolution of the problem - the pickup trucks and Audis hardly ever take out a pedestrian or cyclist on this bridge and, as an added benefit, there's room for the occasional photographer to set up a tripod and get a few shots of Austin's growing skyline.

You'll note I'm still enamored with HDR, and it seems likely that I'll continue my experiments with it for a long time to come. The location of this pedestrian bridge is great, though there are a few things I'd change if it were up to me. First, I'd declare the railroad bridge next door to be prime graffiti real estate and require the artists to submit their entries in advance, insisting statements be rational and in correct English - or Spanish for that matter. Oh, and the art or messages should be colorful. (I should mention here that I'm surprised that I don't see any plea to keep Austin weird. That's okay, I'm just sayin'. . .) Next, I'd have them move the power station, or at least find some way to camouflage it. And I'd move the Frost Bank building a block or two in one direction or another - just make sure it can be seen from all the best vistas.

I should mention I was nervous this morning as I took these shots. As soon as I set up my tripod a lady jogger stopped and asked me if I was setting up to take a shot of the shuttle. I'd heard last night that the shuttle would leave Houston piggybacked on its 747 en route to LA, but I didn't hear anything about there being a flyby in Austin. So now I had to keep my head on a swivel lest I miss my last chance to catch a shuttle flyby. One more thing to remember. . .

Above is the very pleasant-to-the-eye and much safer Lamar bridge with traffic picking up as the sun climbs higher. It'll be a full-fledged rush-hour in a while, when the sun clears the skyline.

While on the west side of the bridge, I thought I'd get a shot across the bridge towards the city to catch the raised flower beds in the foreground. A nice touch.

Back to the west, I wasn't sure how the HDR would play with movement in the frame. The traffic on the Lamar bridge is blurred but there are enough other points of interest in the picture that the blurring doesn't seem to distract too much. The HDR program I use actually handled the shell, approaching the bridge from upstream, very well.

Here's the "money shot" for the morning. . . the NASA 747 and the piggybacking shuttle arriving with the sunrise. I have to admit there's a lot to be said for getting up early. . . if you don't overdo it.