Thursday
Oct072010
Lone Star
Thursday, October 7, 2010 at 9:34PM 
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.
tagged Austin, Capitol, Capitol Building, Goddess of Liberty, Lady Liberty, TX, Texas, USA, gilders, gilding, gold, statue in Photographs
Austin, Capitol, Capitol Building, Goddess of Liberty, Lady Liberty, TX, Texas, USA, gilders, gilding, gold, statue in Photographs
Reader Comments (13)
Wow- awesome shot!!
Really nice shot Alex! The fish eye is really nice in this shot. I love the sparking of the gilding tool!
Nice! So this will be in the Statesman when?
P.S. Did you have them guild/bling one of your incisors during a break?
This is a fantastic shot Alex. Reminds me a bit of Vincent LaForet's work with his image from the Empire State Building.
Awesome, Alex! What a great once in a lifetime opportunity!
Wow - great access and great picture! I would say that I'm jealous but, frankly, being up their on a scaffold would scare the willies out of me :-)
That should be on the front page of the newspaper! Great shot, as usual. :-)
cool - is that a hand holding camera in bgrd?
Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments. I had such a great time doing this photo shoot.
Wow! Awesome photo Alex!
WOW! What a capture and moment. This is a photographic piece of Texas history you have. Whatever you do don't give up your rights to this photo!
Outstanding!!! Excellent image in every way!
Wow. Great shot. I like the "double star" effect of the sun. I have the same problem shooting the fisheye. It's always challenging to keep the sun out of the shot but after awhile you get to where you use it to your advantage. You definitely achieved that here. I'm jealous - and not afraid of heights (but you already know that). How many other photographers were up there with you?
Tom