The Fire Sinks Behind the City

Gary, JoPaul, and I went to the parking deck at 24th St. and 7th Ave. South based a tip a total stranger gave us a couple of weeks ago. It was one of the best locations in our sunset quest. You can get more of a sense of the skyline than up on Red Mountain.

Birmingham Sunset

Gary and I spent a lot of weeks this spring chasing the perfect spot to get the sunset behind the Birmingham skyline, but never found the "perfect" spot. Of course it would move with the seasons too. Tuesday night Jo Paul, Gary and I went back to Stratford Road so Jo Paul could try a panorama. We waited patiently for the sun to set (8:01 pm) and got a few shots.

Here the sun sinks behind a cooling tower at Plant Miller as it pumps power to Birmingham and Alabama. 


Once the sun was down, the sky sort of went purple and pink and the lights of the city started to come up. That's Plant Miller way off on the horizon to the left, still lighting the city (and cooling the interiors of all those buildings).

Highlands Golf Sundown

From behind the 17th green at Highlands Golf Course near downtown Birmingham, AL.

Birmingham from The Club

Gary and I went to the parking lot of The Club on Red Mountain, overlooking Birmingham, for a few night shots. I present the same picture in color and then black and white.

Behind Sloss at Night

Need to catch the blog up with my Flickr stuff, so over the next few days I'll put up some posts from earlier in January.

On January 10, Gary and I went to a little place behind Sloss Furnace and tried to get some shots from a different angle than usual. The wind was whipping around so much it was hard to get any decent long exposures, but a couple came out okay.

Got a jet taking off in the first one.

A little different view of part of the Birmingham skyline.

Stratford Road Time Lapse

The lights come up in Birmingham.

Riveting Railroad Reflection

I guess I like making photos of reflections, especially in a fresh coat of shiny paint on the side of a railroad car. This was at the red caboose that used to be Victoria Station restaurant on Morris Avenue in downtown Birmingham, but is now home to kinetic.com, an internet company. The car is red, but appears black in the dark, and the red is the reflection of a traffic light a block away.

Night Shoot Birmingham

Last night our photography small group from church went to one of our old standby locations to shoot light trails from a bridge over the Red Mountain Expressway. I think the stars around the lights are my favorite part of this.

We've done the light trails thing several times, so some of the old timers were looking around for some other inspiration. The tower part of the Sirote Permutt building nearby is interestingly lit by purple LEDs.

And here we go with the "love locks" on the bridges. In Paris, the loony tourists virtually destroyed a bridge with the locks, throwing the keys in the river. At least with the combination lock, there's no key to toss into someone's windshield.

Vulcan Sundown

Our small group from church went to the Vulcan Statue overlooking Birmingham last evening for some photography. I tried to compose a short time lapse of the lights coming on, but with a bunch of photographers and others walking around the observation deck, it was too shaky. I thought just the last frame was better straight out of the camera than the whole time lapse.

What's That?

This sculpture is outside the greenhouse at Birmingham's Botanical Gardens. This strange head is protruding from a turtle's shell, but it looks more like a cross between a snake and dog head. 

White Rose

There weren't many roses blooming at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, but this one was lovely in the evening light.

Shared with 52 Photos Project.

Stars on Alabama

Nothing special about this shot taken last week at 20th Street and Morris Avenue in downtown Birmingham, except I love the star bursts.  No special filters, just f22 with a 7 leaf aperture, and 14 pointed stars. The mini is kinda cool, too. 

Run Into the Light

Sunset last evening at Railroad Park, downtown Birmingham, Al.

Also decided to post this to 52 Photos Project: Gold.

Light Tunnels and Brad

Railroad tracks run right through the center of Birmingham, dividing North from South.  Only some of the streets cross the tracks, some above on bridges, and about five below, through tunnels.  The city has chosen to light those tunnels with ever changing colorful LED lights, which definitely makes for some interesting night photography.  Our Catchlight Small Group from church visited the tunnels closest to Railroad Park last night.  

Both the roadway and walkway tunnels have gotten this colorful treatment.

While we were there, Brad from Oregon stopped by to chat and sing us a song or two.  Thanks, Brad.

Day 5 Black and White Challenge

I was nominated to participate in a 5 day Black and White Challenge by Rob Napola.  The object is to post one black and white photo every day for 5 days, and nominate another photographer to participate each of those days.  Today I nominate Debby Andreas.

Five Points South at dusk, Birmingham, Alabama.

Weekend Reflections: Birmingham, Alabama from Railroad Park

This is Birmingham, Alabama reflected in the pond at Railroad Park near downtown and Regions Field, home of the Birmingham Barons baseball team.

This is one frame from the time lapse I put together here, and except for minor sharpening is straight out of the camera.

For other Weekend Reflections from around the world, visit James's blog.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Ruffner Mountain Sunset

The Catchlight small group from Church of the Highlands hiked up Ruffner Mountain last evening to watch and photograph the sunset

and the lights of Birmingham coming on.

I had some trouble with lens internal reflections of the specular lights (I believe because of the UV filter on the front, but not yet confirmed) but a few came out usable.

Lens Baby? Nope.

As I flew out of Birmingham on Friday, I snapped this out the window.

I thought it resembled one of those Lens Baby images where everything except a very small spot is out of focus, making it look like a photo of a model instead of the real thing.  In this case, however, all the blurring is from the heat and turbulence coming out of the engine to the right.  Still looks like a model of Birmingham, though (click on the image to see it larger to really see what I'm talking about).