Raleigh Tonight

The face of downtown Raleigh is beginning to develop into a configuration worthy of the term "skyline".  Here's a view after tonight's sunset. You can see the girder framework of the latest construction. Check it out - the crane was moving (second photo), work was going on at 8 pm.

The Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts has a bit of an otherworldly glow at night. This was one of the few nights of the week that no events were taking place. Meymandi Concert Hall, on the right, is my home-away-from-home.

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Raleigh monuments near the State Capitol

Here is a quick photo tour of a few of Raleigh's downtown monuments. First is the Raleigh Police Memorial to fallen officers, in front of City Hall.

"Honoring the memory and sacrifice of those who lost their lives serving the city of Raleigh"

George Washington.

Zebulon Baird Vance

Polk, Jackson, and Johnson.

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Eight views from Boylan Avenue Bridge, and one nearby

I walked across Raleigh's Boylan Avenue Bridge, a place where you can catch a perspective of the town that differs greatly from most.

If you are inclined to immediately look down from a height, you might get a first impression like this. The paths of the rails clearly connect "here" to "there", the latter obviously downtown, judging by the relatively tall buildings. The two routes look as if they must surround and corral the buildings, though the lines actually go through downtown Raleigh, not too far from the very center.

If your eyes are drawn to the sky, you might see this above Raleigh's nascent skyline.

With this much vertical coverage, we might say that the clouds are beginning to show pathways almost as clear as the tracks below.

Pivot your head tourist style and you can take in an even wider view.

Railroad lines often pull together industrial areas and business or even residential zones. A long view compresses the perspective, exaggerating proximity.

I'm drawn to document scenes like this, both because I hope that eventually things will improve and people won't hang out in such surroundings for lack of a better place to be and better things to do, and also, frankly, because I find an odd kind of beauty in scenes of urban decay, graffiti, trash, etc.

The contrast of complementary colors (blue sky and orange tower) cried out for a photo.

More compression. More unadorned concrete and corrugated metal, against brick, against glass and steel towers.

At one end of the bridge is the Boylan Heights Historic Neighborhood, where beautiful old homes hide in the bushes. I hope that our homeless people are never hidden from our sight. Much of our life is what we make of it, but there are many factors over which we have little or no choice. We can't all live in restored Victorian houses, but no one should be without shelter. That miniature soapbox rant was evoked by a quick look at a neighborhood of contrasts. I'll save those concerns for another day and a better forum. For now, I'll stick to visual exploration and pleasure. I hope the viewer can find some enjoyment in my photos.

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Downtown Raleigh from 25 meters

I've been hoping to get my 2013 photo projects going with some wintery atmosphere. To this point, the NC Piedmont has had slightly warm to close to average seasonal temperatures, which means any precipitation has been rain. It's hard not to "expect" a snow covered landscape (or cityscape) when thinking about winter, but there are also characteristics of the daylight that go with the season.

Yesterday, late afternoon, I drove to downtown Raleigh with the aim of making some images of the performing arts center in "golden hour" light. I found myself on a roof at an eye level of maybe 80 feet above the surrounding streets. I did this as an establishing shot, to kind of get my bearings. The light never developed as I'd anticipated, or at least not from this vantage, so I ended up looking at other things.

I realized I had found a good lookout post (atop a parking deck). While waiting for the clouds to develop and daylight to drop to levels similar to the city's artificial lights, I explored the abstract shapes around me. There is almost always some gritty texture to be found in concrete structures.

A narrow angle of view (telephoto lens) renders a kind of compression of distance (we don't have many cues for depth perception), making two dimensional shapes out of three dimensional objects.

A look over the edge of the roof gave a good view of the long approach from the south (McDowell Street).

I managed to time the shutter release well enough to catch this pulsing warning beacon atop a radio tower.

The stair well/elevator housing is an odd looking structure when isolated against the sky.

I heard some thumping, and looked down in time to see a man looking up at the basketball he'd thrown after dribbling.

I've long wanted to find a viewpoint to photograph this plant, and stumbled on it from my garage roof hideaway.

I try not to overdo fisheye shots, but once in a while the extremely wide view is useful. In this case, I think the curved lines worked okay for the shapes of the roof and sky, and the leading lines of the wall and curb.

Another view over the edge.

 We're accustomed to seeing these buildings from street level. I tried composing things with just the roof of the convention center as a base for the upper portion of the BB&T tower.

This shot gives an idea of my lonely surroundings as I worked (this is looking ESE, away from the sunset).

At this point, I had some vantage points and directions scoped out, so I watched the development of the sky, and tried to catch it in as many interesting ways as I could in a short time.

I turned away again to catch this.

Then back for the final trails of light.

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