Santa Fe New Mexico to Flagstaff Arizona

I drove 384 miles today from Santa Fe New Mexico to Flagstaff Arizona. We really enjoyed staying in Santa Fe. While all of the stores were displaying very beautiful but expensive things, very few tourists seemed to be purchasing things. It was clear that the Covid-19 virus has impacted Santa Fe hard. I would say that fully one third of the stores were vacant, another third were closed, and the remaining third that were open, weren't busy. The town was not packed at all and those tourists that were there were not carrying packages. Anyway, we stayed at the historic La Fonda Hotel. I woke up around 4:30 and decided to check out the Orionids meteor shower. While I didn't see any, there were countless stars in the sky above Santa Fe.

We knew we had a long drive to Flagstaff so we got up early, had breakfast at a nice cafe that has been in the same location since 1909 and got on the road. We refueled the minivan and ourselves in Gallup New Mexico. We then decided to stand on a corner in Winslow Arizona (such a fine sight to see).

Our stop here was brief but enjoyable. The road from Windslow to Flagstaff seemed to mainly be climbing and we passed several towering mesas and red rocks were prevalent.

Tomorrow we intend to return to Route 66 to see the Arizona towns of Williams, Seligman, Kingman, and Oatman.

Union Station - Ornate Stairway

This is one of the beautiful stairways leading into Chicago's Union Station's great hall. Amazing!

How I took this shot:

This handheld vertorama was stitched from 4 HDR sequences each containing 3 shots ( -2ev, 0ev, +1ev). I would have used my tripod but one of the security guards was already watching me, I didn't want to give her a pretense to kick me out. It's happened to me more than a few times before.

I See Everything

Last June, my niece Alexandra, her boyfriend Josh and I decided to head down to San Diego for the weekend. Neither of them had really spent much time there and I wanted them to see the Midway aircraft carrier museum. We stayed at the Embassy Suites, San Diego Bay which has a spectacular atrium. Since I had my fisheye lens I decided to try a vertorama with it. This consists of 5 HDR sequences each consisting of 3 shots. I didn't really think Photoshop CS6 would be able to stitch it together but it did it without a problem. Pretty amazing!

'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky

'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

This is the Sefton Grand Atrium in the San Diego Natural History Museum. It's a big space, 4 stories tall with 5,000 sqare feet of floor area. It's often used for special events like corporate parties and concerts.  When Kathy and I walked into the Museum, I looked up and knew I would want to get a shot from the top looking down. Just before we left the building, we took the elevator up to the 4th floor to take this shot. I had to do a 3 shot vertorama with my 14mm lens and I still couldn't fit it all in. Each of the 3 HDR shots was created from 10 individual exposures and then photo merged in Photoshop to create this composite view. I like the unique viewpoint of the Allosaurus dinosaur on the bottom center of the photo.

Time will never fade

Time will never fade, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

The Old Post Office Pavilion in Washington DC was built in 1899. It features a spectacular atrium that towers over a food court on the first level. This vertorama consists of 4 images stitched together.

Nave of the National Cathedral

Nave of the National Cathedral, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

This vertorama was shot looking east to the main alter of the National Cathedral in Washington DC. The nave will seat about 3,500 people. The flags of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and US territories line either side of the nave. Even though we arrived early, I was surprised at how few visitors were in the Cathedral. The reflections of the stained glass that were being projected onto the limestone columns were amazing. I definitely want to visit again.

I did have to apply some geometric corrections to this image. My 14mm lens tends to distort and that distortion is exaggerated by panoramas and vertoramas.

Luxor Pool Vertorama

Luxor Pool Vertorama, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

The pool at the Luxor way after closing time. The wind was really blowing those palm trees around. Not the best conditions for shooting HDR's. I love how you can see the top of the pyramid and the light beam in the building on the upper right.