Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Trick or Treat

Because Robin asked for it! Happy Halloween everyone!

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/18, 1/50 sec, 250 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Merrick House

Yep, that's right, it's the house of the famous George Merrick. So Merrick more or less was the founder of everything Coral Gables and this is his house on Coral Way. It's an official historic site and ties in nicely with tomorrow's Halloween Trick-or-Trick picture.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/11, 1/20 sec, 18 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Skylight

This shot is for Friday, October 29th. This is an exterior breezeway at the UM School of Architecture. I was originally drawn to this particular spot because of all the arches in the that form the breezeway. As I was shooting those arches I realized that the sky made a beautiful "ceiling" to the breezeway and decided to make that more the emphasis of this shot.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/18, 1/100 sec, 18 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

The Holocaust Memorial (Miami Beach)

Reflections, seems like this term is popping up around me everywhere lately. And I don't think there is any better way to end this series of shots then with a reflection, so lets all take some time to reflect on things around us and remember that even though we all have hardships in our lives, a lot of people have endured and survived a lot worse.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/11, 1/80 sec, 55 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

The Holocaust Memorial (Miami Beach)

I feel like this is the most powerful shot I have from the Memorial. I don't know what else to say about this shot, I feel that it speaks for itself.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/4.5, 1/1000 sec, 79 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

The Holocaust Memorial (Miami Beach)

I am not going assign different names to each of these photos, I can't the words to accurately express how poignant this memorial is. This is the part of the memorial where the tower of people blend into the arm. This is also where the branded number on the arm is. This memorial extremely intense, enough said.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/11, 1/400 sec, 232 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

The Holocaust Memorial (Miami Beach)

I've a seen a variety of memorials including most of the war ones in DC and few in Spain, but this has to be the most intense one I have ever seen. This, for anyone not familiar, is the Holocaust Memorial on Miami Beach. I would write a description of this site but I wouldn't be able to do it honor so I'm going to link to the website which explains it very well. You can read more about the memorial at http://www.holocaustmmb.org/ - I would highly recommend you visiting this site if you are in the Miami area. I'll be posting a few more shots from this site over the next couple days and I truly feel they are some of most intense and some of the best photos I have ever taken.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/18, 1/125 sec, 23 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Sky High

I wasn't originally going to post this one because I feel that it's a bit light on the actual architecture, but part of the garage structure is there and I like the architecture of the crane itself. I think tomorrow I am going to post one more for the stadium construction site and them move on to some new material I shot today.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/18, 1/100 sec, 42 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Building Architecture

I believe these gentlemen are working on the parking garage for the new Marlins stadium. These guys were perfectly lit by the rising sun. Combine perfect lighting with the patterns of window openings and the orange support struts and I love how this one turned out. Not all architecture photos need to be of completed shots, it's important to remember how all the nice architectural features around us came to be.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/18, 1/250 sec, 18 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

New Marlin Stadium (Friday, Oct 22nd)

Technically the best picture I have taken, uh No. But I did take it as I was driving by the stadium so I'm gonna roll with it. This was really more of a "mistake" picture, for as I mentioned I took this shot while driving away from the stadium. I saw on my camera it looked like I completely underexposed it, but once I got in post production I noticed it was a salvageable shot. The stadium section is definitely not exposed real well, but the sky with bright sun-lit clouds on one side, the bright blue sky on the other, and the wave of cloud between them makes it all worth it.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/18, 1/250 sec, 18 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Plymouth Congregational Church (Coconut Grove)

Plymouth Rock? Plymouth What? Plymouth Congregational Church, that's what. This church is one of the coolest churches I have ever seen, and I saw some old school beauties in Spain. This church is made up mainly of coral limestone (you can see some of the coral outlines in the previous pics) and as is evident is partially covered in ivy. I was also lucky to get some really nice light late in the afternoon and some puffy white clouds to help off set that beautiful blue sky.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/11, 1/400 sec, 18 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Spire

I'm pretty sure this feature qualifies as a spire. I know its not really a tall pointy structure, but I think any pointy structure on top of a building qualifies as a spire. It may be hard to make up under the vegetation, and the years of weathering, but there is some seriously intricate detailing in that stone. I can only imagine all the work it must have taken to do that back in the day. This will be the final piece of this building I'm going to feature. Tomorrow will be the whole structure of this amazingly cool looking building.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/11, 1/400 sec, 250 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Bell Tower

Part two of four for this mini-set of shots. Here is the bell tower. I love the combo of colors from the limestone, to the ivy, the beautiful blue Florida sky, and let's not forgot the most important part - the BELL! I almost half expect to see Batman chilling here at night. I also like the few twigs and things growing from the top of the tower.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/11, 1/400 sec, 96 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

High Holy Man

This is part one of a four part set of pictures coming up. This shot, and the next two, will be different aspects of a larger building (it's a church) which will be shown in the final shot. This holy icon has a high perch upon the church, looking down upon everyone who enters. The coral limestone that makes up this building is everywhere and just utterly amazing, wait until you see the whole thing!

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/11, 1/400 sec, 109 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Coral Gables Congregational (Entrance)

I love the tower for this church, but ya gotta admit this is pretty nice entrance. The church has such a simple, old school spanish-style to it except for the intricately adorned details around this door and tower. I didn't get the deep blue sky for this shot because it was still a bit early, the sun hadn't really gotten completely up and over the horizon yet. But the light, papery blue sky still plays well off the yellow of the building.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/16, 1/6 sec, 25 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Coral Gables Congregational (Bell Tower)

And back on pace with today's picture, figure I'll put it up extra early to make for yesterday's going up late. Here we have the bell tower to the Coral Gables Congregational Church being nicely lit by the early rising sun. This was literally about a minute after sunrise hit the tower. The nice cool weather we had move in all gave a beautiful crystal clear blue sky to backdrop the tower. The contrast of the warm yellow of the tower and cool blue of the sky plays so well together. The early sun also gave some nice long shadows in a few areas. I'm a big fan of this shot.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/16, 1/80 sec, 43 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Coral Gables City Hall (Friday October 15th)

This is the picture for Friday, October 15th. Sorry for the delay but the weather has not been very cooperative most of this week. Fortunately the weather has taken a turn for the absolutely perfect and I went out bright and very early this morning to get some new shots. Okay I'm playing my one sepia card with this shot. We have Coral Gables City Hall and it's statue of George Merrick out front. It's an old school building made out of coral limestone so I decided to give it an old school sepia look. I'm not a big fan of sepia, but everyone now and then it has it uses. I think it works well here.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/16, 0.4 sec, 30 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Through the Looking Glass

A view of architecture viewed through another piece of architecture, going a bit meta here. I like photographing reflections. You obviously get a different perspective on a subject, but you also get a lot of cool little distortion effects. Here we have one of the business building in the Gables being reflected in it's neighboring building. You can actually see the lights on in a few of the offices of the mirrored building, which just add another layer of cool natural effects to the shot.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/20, 1/13 sec, 40 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Monotone Monolith

It's an old school road sign, so I figured I give it an old school look and go monotone. Most of the road signs in Coral Gables are extremely irritating, extremely hard to see little cement "V"s that sit caddy corner to the intersection with street names on them. They are such a pain during the day and impossible to see at night. But a few lucky corners have some old school pillars with the intersecting streets on them. This is the one for Coral Way and Granada Blvd. Hopefully it stops raining here and tomorrow I can go out and get some fresh shots... or else tomorrow will be a... I don't know.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/11, 1/25 sec, 43 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

El Prado Entrance (Urn)

I promise this is the last of the El Prado Entrance shots! The site just has so many different features to it... Anyways this urn adorned the top of one of the columns that make up the main entrance to the area. You can see it atop the column in a the shot a few days ago of the entire front entrance. I like how the drab colors of the urn contrasts so nicely with the green leaves and blue sky behind it.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/13, 1/200 sec, 171 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

El Prado Entrance (Arch)

Okay I am almost done with the El Prado Entrance photos, just today's and one more. I promise these will be the last shots from this site. This is the other breezeway but here I wanted to focus more on the archway at the end. I also decided to switch this one to monochrome to give a bit more of a classic look.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/11, 1/125 sec, 40 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

El Prado Entrance (Breezeway)

I told ya there are a lot of different aspects to the El Prado Entrance to Coral Gables. There are breezeways flanking each side of this magnificent structure. Many of the pillars in these breezeways have flowering vines or bougainvilleas growing on or around them. I have been having a hard time digging up information about this structure online, but I'll keep looking and let you guys know what I find.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/13, 1/250 sec, 18 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Hobbit Gate

A couple of days ago I put up a picture of a coral window looking out onto a large tree, this is one of the actual gates that accompanies these windows. These little gates inhabit the four corners of Granada and Coral Way. I haven't looked up their history yet, but I am going to try and find out some more info about them. This one was originally shot in color but I love the pattern of the shadows on the grass and the coral rock always works great in black and white. The monochrome is also a nice little change from the big colors of the last few pictures.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/11, 1/100 sec, 18 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

El Prado Entrance (Fountain)

Told you there were more El Prado Entrance pictures coming and here we are. This the fountain in the very front of the entrance. It is a very large and round fountain, but unfortunately it was not operational when I was there. Luckily the water stains on the bottom of the upper bowl let a nice stained pattern to it. Combine that with the nice bright blue sky in the background and we have a nice little scene.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/13, 1/160 sec, 18 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Hobbit Window

Wish all my windows could look like this and have this view! On each of the four corners of the Granada / Coral Way intersection there four little mini-gates, each leads to their respective corner properties. Each has a little wooden door (expect to see one tomorrow) and a one of these mini windows. This particular window looks into a small park that inhabits one of the lots and is almost perfect aligned with a giant tree behind it. Very cool.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/11, 1/15 sec, 55 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

El Prado Entrance

The El Prado Entrance to Coral Gables has to be one of prettiest entrances to any city I have ever seen. This entrance is basically a small park and this is the front you drive through when coming from north of the Gables. It really is a very big area, I spent around 45 minutes just shooting a few parts because the main area was taken up by 16 different families doing Quince shoots, damn real photographers trying to make a living and getting in the way of my work! Anyways, there will be a few more shot of the different areas of this entrance coming this month. Maybe I'll even do some research into this site and throw some useless knowledge tidbits out there as well.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/13, 1/160 sec, 18 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

The Biltmore (Patio)

Another shot from the Biltmore. This is one of the, for lack of a better term, patio areas on the side of the hotel. I love all the columns and arches that encompass a rather large fountain. There is also a nice symmetry to the area, which in this shot is off set a little by the one staircase being it up by the late afternoon sun. Before I took this shot there was a large group of even serving staff in their black uniforms walking in and I couldn't help by think that it must be nice to have this view walking into work.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/16, 1/50 sec, 24 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Alhambra Plaza

This is such a cool building in "downtown" Coral Gables. I'm not sure of the exact name of the building, despite some serious googling. I know the plaza is called Alhambra Plaza since it is off of Alhambra Circle and Alhambra Plaza. It is one of the large buildings downtown and has cool color pattern to it.

Shot on Canon Rebel f/20, 1/125 sec, 48 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Alhambra Water Tower

Good old George Merrick really did work hard to make the City Beautiful (Coral Gables) very beautiful. This water tower is one the many structures that helped accomplish his goal. As it's plaque reads:

"This "lighthouse" which has never seen the sea, serves as a testament to founder George Merrick's vision for the City of Coral Gables, and a time when everyday things could be turned into art."

The water tower was built in 1924 and was used by a local utility company for city water up until 1931. The tower actually is two structures in one. Inside their is a steel water tank and it is surrounded by the decorative outer shell. The tower was eventually purchased by the city in 1958 to save it from destruction. It was completely restored in 1993 by utilizing original pictures from 1926. This is very cool, very unique, structure that adds to the character of the City Beautiful.

Shot on Canon Rebel at f/20, 1/125 sec, 20 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

The Biltmore (The Tower)

One of what will be a few shots from the Biltmore since it has some many architectural features to it. in reality I could probably do just month of Biltmore architecture but that wouldn't fair to you guys so I'll try not to overload with shots from this historic resort. The Biltmore has been in operation since the 1920's and one of it's more prominent features, which can be seen from a good ways out, is its large tower. This shot was taken from the side of building and also encompasses some of the roof and patio areas from the hotel rooms. Also since I was shooting late in the afternoon, on a very clear day, I got a beautiful blue sky behind it. No photoshopping here!

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/9, 1/125 sec, 30 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Architecture)

Coral Gables Police and Fire Station (The Original, also known as the City of Coral Gables Public Safety Building) - October 1st picture

As requested by the Facebook faithful, October's theme is Architecture. This picture is for October 1st. This shot is an architectural design feature above one of the entrances to the original Coral Gables Police and Fire station. There are two figureheads above the doors with numerous smaller faces, both animal and people, surrounding them. This building is on the National Register of Historical Places and according to their website this station was utilized from 1925 - 1949 as a Fire station and police/correctional facility (ie drunk tank). I have driven by this building countless hundreds of times and never knew it was there until I started researching places for this months theme... learn something new everyday! I like this particular picture because that little cat face has such a weird expression on it, kind of freaky actually.

Shot on Canon Rebel T1i at f/9, 1/125 sec, 30 mm, ISO 200

Photo 365 - On Assignment - October (Mystery Theme)

Sorry guys but no post today. I had an after school faculty/student football game and now I'm off to support a friend's fundraiser auction. Tomorrow I will be announcing October's theme and posting two pictures (after the Cane's game of course!). Stay tuned!

Shout out to fellow blog http://dumbfoundeddivorcee.blogspot.com