After leaving Fredericksburg, which was a bit of a disappointment, we made our way back to Austin. The day before we read about the state park, but we put it on the maybe list… Then we saw the sign on the street, and spontaniously decided to visit the park, even if it was just for 30 minutes (it was getting dark fast). It is a pretty rock to hike, but it is at least 1h drive from Fredericksburg, even if the maps make it look less.

We stumbled more or less through a happy accident onto the Benini Sculpture Ranch in/near Johnson City, TX. We were walking though Johnson City on Sunday afternoon, found only one art gallery open, chatted with the owner who strongly suggested that we try to get to the sculpture ranch as long as there is some daylight left. We drove about 6 miles through ranch land including cattle grates, and found the ranch, which was a really nice equivalent to Stormking, a sculpture park 2h north of NYC. It was the end of an “Arts Encounter” and it was really nice to meet a handful of the artists who are exhibiting on the ranch, including the Benini’s themselfs, who were most generous and tremendously nice people. The interesting bit about the Benini Ranch is that it was Lyndon B Johnsons ranch before, where he had 3 trailers to write his memoirs. The trailers got then later replaced with a real house by the next owners, and then Benini bought it in the 70s, and made it a sculpture park with his works, and tons of other great artists. If you are in Austin, try to make the 1h drive to the ranch, it is really worth the time.

Here are the views from the top of the mountain:

Bettye is currently exhibiting a couple of her metal sculptures at the Benini Sculpture Ranch in/near Johnson City, TX, including two of her magnificent Texas Long Horns. One of them you can see right next to the highway, the other one (see below) is in the ranch, some 5 miles off the highway. I personally think that they would make great pieces on a NYC penthouse, or would look great at Stormking.

I did another Wall Street panorama set upon request from Der Spiegel, but unfortunately they did not wanted to use it (yet). So, if you are interested licensing them, contact me.

Many many megapixel.

Eric Hanson and Greg Downing from xrez.com invited me (and 70 others) to take part in the Yosemite Extreme Panorama Project. The project attempts to make an almost complete virtual panorama of the walls of the valley, in insanely high resolution. Teams went to 24 locations with gigapan bots and Canon G9s and shot each a 3-4 gigapixel panorama of the opposite wall. Sometime later this year they will map those panoramas onto a 3D model of the valley, but you can see the individual results now (Silverlight plugin necessary, use your scroll wheel for zooming in).

Update: the first previews of the 3D renderings are online: HDRlabs blog and Autodesk blog

Of course, I tried to shoot some panoramas, in the beginning with great effort, towards the end of the weekend with a bit less, since I was running out of memory, and nature is great, but not my thing.

Here are the results, and more after the jump:

(Read the rest of this story.)

I haven’t taken much day panoramas lately, but the clouds were just too pretty to not take a quick hand-held panorama that evening.

Astoria Park is right around the corner. It has a nice running track, but is otherwise not the nicest park. The fact that the Triboro Bridge is under renovation doesn’t really help. Close up it’s still an ugly bridge. The Hells Gate Bridge has much more class, although it could use a bucket or two of that hells-gate-red. But, over on Astoria Blvd, a block east of the world manor, is the best Gyros NYC is to offer. And as far as day panoramas are concerned, I think I stick with the night panoramas…
Digital, about 100 megapixel.

David and Jeff were so kind to let me up on John’s rooftop, and while I was waiting for the sun to set completely, I took 2 quick panoramas during the sunset. Great view from up there.
Digital, about 110 megapixel.

Sunday morning in Manhattan

Digital, about 9000×6000px.

I moved into my appartment in Astoria 5 years ago. It’s a great neighbourhood and I call it sometimes East Manhattan, because it doesn’t feel like Queens. It had a great view to the north of the Triboro Bridge and I could see Manhattan from the windows on the south side of my building.

Some day in the summer of 2005 the small two story building across the street was demolished, and I started documenting the new construction in October 2005, trying to take a picture every morning. November 30, 2005 was the last time I was able to see the Triboro Bridge from my appartment.

The basic construction was finished in May 2006, but it took them another 6 months or more to finish the interior. When I took the last picture of the sequence on January 19, 2007, nobody had yet moved in.

This is not really a panorama of the 360 degree kind, it’s a 470 day panorama.

Update: I redid the video, and uploaded a HD version to vimeo, as you can see above.

The front of Grand Central Station shortly before sunset.
Analog, about 13000×6000px.

Sunrise over the southern tip of Manhattan and the South Street Seaport.
Digital, about 19000×4000px.

The famous New York Stock Exchange, where money becomes liquid and flows and flows and flows and where it lands nobody knows.
Digital, about 17000×6500px.

The Fuller Building or as it is better known, the Flatiron Building, a name it acquired because it’s shape resembles the irons of its day, was one of the tallest buildings in New York City when it was built in 1902. Since it was one of the first buildings to use a steel skeleton, the building could be constructed to 285 feet, which would have been very difficult with other construction methods of that time. It was designed by Chicago’s Burnham and Root on a triangular island at 23rd St., Fifth Ave., and Broadway. Because of it’s unprecedented height locals began betting when it will fall down. The building is also said to have helped coin the phrase “23 skidoo,” or scram, from what cops would shout at men who tried to get glimpses of women’s dresses being blown up by the winds created by the building’s triangular shape.
Analog, about 24000×7200px.

It’s not easy to find good places to shoot Manhattan. Lots of the good ones are owned by Con Edison or other companies, and they don’t let anyone on their property. I was trying to get a shot of the bridge from the south, but no such luck.
Digital, about 17000×4500px.

There is actually a really ugly/beautyful dump right under the bridge, right on top of the subway tunnel.
Digital, about 17000×6000px.

Now, four months later, the construction is almost finished, the facade is coming up. I plan to take another panorama from the exact same location when it’s finished.
Digital, about 17200×6500px.

This is the analog version of a digital panorama two months earlier from almost the same location, just a bit closer to the water.
Analog, about 9600×3700px.

This is the view from my desk. The weather in NY is usually like this at this time of year, but these embellishing clouds are a rare and welcome sight. I just placed my Graflex on the sill outside the window and took 3 shots. Once upon time Park Ave was called 4th Ave and still is at certain places in Manhattan.
Analog, about 12000×6000px.

So far this is my largest panorama.  I especially like the ghost people…
Analog, about 24200×8700px.

I shot this quickly one clear and pristine morning with my 3MP Nikon at 105mm. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry that day and the location wasn’t a very good place to shoot, so it’s just a single row panorama.
Digital, about 23000×1700px.

Astoria and Astoria Park have some great views of the city.
Digital, about 13000×3500px.

Among the nice things Queens offers are the magnificent and dramatic views of the Manhattan skyline.
Digital, about 18500×1300px.

I’m still not sure what the deal is with this building.  My guess is that it’s an atelier for artists, since the PS1 is right next door.
Digital, about 11700×3500px.