Goddess of Liberty

Photograph ©2010 Alex Suárez. All rights reserved.

Here's another view from Wednesday's gilding of the star held by the Goddess of Liberty.  In this shot you can see her exaggerated features (which are better suited for viewing from a distance).  

I had so much fun on this photo shoot.  I got to shoot people doing something quite unique, in a cool place, up high, with great weather.  Sprinkle in a little historical significance and some technical challenges to overcome and this, I’m sure, will be one of the most memorable photo shoots of my life.  

Lone Star

Photograph ©2010 Alex Suárez. All rights reserved.

As part of the restoration of the Texas Capitol building, the star held by the Goddess of Liberty statue on the tippy-top of the Capitol was gilded.  William Hayden (left) invited me up to document the process.  I should note that the company, The Gilders' Studio, donated the gold for the gilding of the star.  This is one of many shots I took during a couple of hours up on the scaffolding.  

 

I couldn't have asked for better weather.  Photographically, it was a bit challenging as I was shooting into the sunrise the whole morning.  I was free to walk around three sides of the scaffolding that surrounded the statue as they were working on the 4th (East) side. This image was shot with a 10.5mm fisheye lens.  I was extremely close to the subjects, so I took the opportunity to use this fisheye lens for part of the photo shoot.  

Fun With Fish Eyes

Fun With Fish Eyes, originally uploaded by Suarez.

Photograph ©2010 Alex Suárez. All rights reserved.

I had the pleasure of borrowing Tom Haymes’ new fisheye lens (AF DX Fisheye-Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8G ED). Since he was visiting Austin, we walked over to the Capitol rotunda (the only round room I could think of at the time) to have ourselves some fun. I went to high school with both of these gentlemen in the early 80s where we studied photography. Tom and I also were roommates in college for several years. It’s good to get back together with old friends.

FYI--those portraits you see around the perimeter of the room are of former governors of Texas.

Thanks Tom, for letting me use your lens.

This is a very unflattering angle. It makes us look heavier than we are (we don’t need any help in that department) and it gives us double chins from looking down at the camera. I still think it’s a really fun shot.

Texas Capitol

Texas Capitol, originally uploaded by Suarez.

Photograph ©2009 Alex Suárez. All rights reserved.

View of the Texas Capitol shot during Trey Ratcliff’s Sunset Photowalk in downtown Austin, Texas last night. This is NOT an HDR image. It is a single image, not tone mapped in Photomatix.

I had a great time. Met a lot of great photographers. Hope to see a lot of you at the next CapMac Advanced Photography SIG meeting.