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http://GigapanMagazine.org vol 1 issue 3 SculpturWorx Studio in Houston, Texas is one of our favorite places to take photographs. As soon as we co-purchased a beta version Gigapan we started planning a SculptrWorx panorama. The parking lot of the studio is full of amazing concrete sculptures. Each of the 20-foot tall Presidents heads weighs 3½-tons. The Beatles sculptures in the background are nearly 40 feet high and weighing close to 5 tons each. The creator of these amazing sculptures is 82-year-old artist David Adickes, David is Houston’s unofficial “artist in residence.” His sculpture portfolio includes a 67-feet tall Sam Houston statue near Huntsville, “The Virtuoso” a 36-foot concrete sculpture of a cello player, and statue of an ex-girlfriend, who used to be a Playboy model. Adickes is also an excellent musician and writer. He made his living primarily through painting until 10 years ago. His oils and sculptures are displayed in ten major art museums across America and in many countries, as well as private collections. Click on this link to find out what it would be like to drive around Texas towing a 20 foot tall Obama head – Obama & Fab 4 - http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/25213/ There is also a Flickr site dedicated to Adickes and his work- http://www.flickr.com/groups/davidadickes/pool/ The greatest public art of all time -The Bean - http://gigapan.org/gigapans/36622/ |
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This GigaPan is now in a series of three GigaPans: http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/most_popular/?q=salem+church Every year, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, one of the churches in Braes Interfaith Ministries* host the Community Thanksgiving Service, and this year it was held in the new Sanctuary of Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church. I attended this very special service and I can only say that it was perfection and I wished that the 90-minute service could have been repeated. It was *most* uplifting. Last Sunday was the first occasion that I was in the new Nave and realized that it was going to be the focus of my next GigaPan, what you see is the result of how incredible the scene was the day before Thanksgiving: a rare view of sparkling blue sky in Houston and how magnificiant this Church appears to those that drive by it. Regarding the Community Thanksgiving Service, the following is a quote taken from the internet: Braes Interfaith Ministries is an extension of the ministries of our neighborhood congregations (Southwest Ministerial Association), helping us to do together what we could not do well alone, as we care for hungry and hurting people in this area of Houston," says David Roschke, pastor of Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church (http://www.salemhouston.org/). This GigaPan is the first GigaPan I have taken with the robot in some time and I am most pleased with the results. It is a 46 column by 20 row (920 stitched photos) GigaPan taken with a Canon SX110 camera and stitched with the GigaPan Stitcher. Additional details can be found in Stitcher Notes with information concerning the GigaPan Stitcher run. Note: This absolutely glorious panorama can be seen in Google Earth as a curved panorama on a curved surface by clicking the link, View in Google Earth (assuming that you have Google Earth installed on your computer). *Braes Interfaith Ministries is comprised of these member congregations: Bethany United Methodist Church Braeswood Assembly of God Congregation Beth Israel Corpus Christi Catholic Church St. George's/St Patrick's Episcopal Church St. John's Presbyterian Church St. Philip's United Methodist Church Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church Southwest Central Church of Christ Westbury Baptist Church Westbury United Methodist Church Willow Meadows Baptist Church |
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This panorama is my answer to Kilgore's GigaPan, The View From Above, http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=7536. It is not as *grand* as his, but then Houston, Texas is not Bath, England.
Hand-held panorama of the Houston skyline comprised of 44 photos taken in a brisk wind, using a P&S camera, the SX110. Note: at the altitude of a six-story parking garage, the wind velocity was enough that this panorama could not have been accomplished had I not used image stablization since the camera was at maximum optical zoom. I went job-searching today and was told that for the for job I was seeking, I might as well go to the Moon! So, I went to the top floor of the parking garage and looked for the Moon, but all I found was this incredible sweeping panorama of downtown Houston all the way to Reliant Park and the Astrodome, and we also see the Texas Medical Center and Rice University:) As time goes by, there may be a *large* number of snapshots discovered in this hand-held panorama, stitched using the GigaPan Stitcher. |
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This is the pinnacle of my 2009 GigaPan effort :) 1000 feet up looking out on all of Houston ... what an experience, and I may be going back again.
From Wikipedia: The 75-story, 1,002-foot (305.4 m) tall JPMorgan Chase Tower of Houston, Texas, formerly the Texas Commerce Tower, is the tallest building in Texas, the tallest five-sided building in the world, and is the 45th tallest in the world. http://tinyurl.com/5qkn68 This hand-held panorama has been stitched using the GigaPan Stitcher software and the 26 photos comprising the panorama were taken with a Nikon D70 using a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens and a Heliopan UV filter. Additional details can be found under Stitcher Notes. |
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Another view of the beautiful Tamara can be seen here: http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=29457 Tamara, a beautiful woman form the State of Texas and her fiance, a footbal coach, pose in a panorama taken in Houston's Hermann Park by the reflection pool with a obelisk at one end and Sam Houston at the other. A great time was had by all and after we parted, they met with friends and continued having additional photos taken, which we may see again in an upcoming GigaPan. A view in Google Earth may be considered extraordinary. |
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An earlier GigaPan of Sam Houston Statue can be seen here: http://share.gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?id=9906
This should be entitled something like, "Continuation of Engle's Transportation Series, Past and Future," or a better one would be simply, "One Lucky Shot." Just playing around with taking hand-held photos using the SX110 and just accidentally caught two trains on either side of Sam Houston Statue. It is only 9 images, but the panorama looks cool and happened on a hot day in Houston, Texas. Using the robot, I do not believe I could have captured a moment like what we see above: 9 photos in less than a minute [left to right]. This is a reason to always try to carry a camera for those unexpected moments in time we call great panoramas. |
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Wreaths Across America - Remember, Honor, Teach - http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/ This picture was taken at the Houston National Veterans Administration Cemetery by two sons of WWII veterans. “The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” - General Douglas MacArthur “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity. - General Dwight David Eisenhower “We’re gathered today, just as we have gathered before, to remember those who served, those who fought, those still missing, and those who gave their last full measure of devotion for our country… One of those who fell wrote, shortly before his death, these words: ‘Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own. And take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind.’ Well, today, Veterans Day, as we do every year, we take that moment to embrace the gentle heroes of Vietnam and of all our wars. We remember those who were called upon to give all a person can give, and we remember those who were prepared to make that sacrifice if it were demanded of them in the line of duty, though it never was. Most of all, we remember the devotion and gallantry with which all of them ennobled their nation as they became champions of a noble cause… Our liberties, our values, all for which America stands is safe today because brave men and women have been ready to face the fire at freedom’s front. And we thank God for them.” —President Ronald Reagan "But the world must remember that it was not simply international institutions -- not just treaties and declarations -- that brought stability to a post-World War II world. Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest -- because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if others' children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity." - President Barack Obama Sargent Bill Cahir Memorial Fund - http://www.billcahirmemorialfund.org/ God bless America and watch over our fallen heroes. |
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In a snapshot, a falcon is seen banking out of a turn to fly straight at this GigaPanographer. A few blocks away are a few swans, but I was not aware of any other bird types until I saw this beautiful bird in flight. Two words... big and amazing and I was able to capture it as this scene unfolded. Note: This panorama was stitched from 37 photos taken with a Nikon D70 and aNikkor 18-70mm kit lens. The overall focus could have been a tad better, but the photos themselves were NEF or RAW converted to 300 dpi JPG files and then stitched with Stitcher version 0.4.4087 with the result that in the *Thinking* snapshot you can easily see the bike wheel spokes at a good distance from the camera lens. |
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Note: an earlier GigaPan, http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=30905 , did not include the panoramic view of Pasadena and the Houston Ship Channelarea as does this panorama.
Taken from the 24th floor of Hilton Americas Hotel: http://tinyurl.com/2og9ru An stunning view of Houston from Galena Park and the Houston Ship Channel area westward to the heart of the downtown area, especially so since there are two pillars not shown in this panorama, but yet the view can almost be considered seamless except that the railing shows where there should be a pillar(s). The GigaPan Stitcher comes though with flying colors on this one. The view, taken from the 24th floor and was breathtaking as I took it using my trusty Nikon D70 (soon to be retired) and a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens. There is no Photoshop on this panorama, only the GigaPan Stitcher, and the collection of photos were taken hand-held. |
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The work of the American architect Ralph Adams Cram.
Unedited version, this is how it came out of the stitcher. Still trying to figure out how to make the Gigapan perfectly level... But at least I couldn't find major stitching errors (apart from some ghosting of the flags) in this one. |