Layne's Lunch

Back in downtown Salt Lake City at the Gallivan Center.  Nothing special here, just me messing around and taking pictures. The highlight of this picture is that I have now posted one picture every day for the entire month.  Not an easy thing to do.

A little HRD of a shed in a field.  Nothing special, just playing around as the sun went down. 

This shot is out west of my house.  I thought the gate was kind of interesting with the sunset in the background.  It was getting dark so the shutter was open for a long time on the third bracketed shot.  Maybe it bit too much on the saturation?

This was a fun shot.  I took it with my new 70-300 lens with a +2, -2 bracket.  I ran it through photomatix then cranked up the saturation.  It wasn't much of a sunset in person, but now . . .

One more shot from the roof of the Church Office Building.  This time looking North toward the state capitol building. Nice view from up there.  You ought to take a minute and have a tour next time you are in Salt Lake City. 

Here is a shot of the conference center from the 26th floor of the Church Office Building.

This is what the Salt Lake temple looks like from the 26th floor of the church office building.

Here is another shot of the city creek tower.  This one is from the 26th floor of the Church Office Building.  Yes, it is an HDR, but I turned the saturation down quite a ways.  Sometimes Photomatix gets a bit carried away with the saturation.

Inside the LDS Conference Center there is a hall that has busts of all the former presidents of the church.  I thought it would be an interesting challenge to try and photograph some of them.  Considering the bright sun and the dark hall, it is amazing that the HDR came out this well. 

This a unique angle on a well photographed spot.  Everyone likes to take pictures of the waterfall on the conference center.  So I went up on the roof and found where the water starts.  I think it is interesting how the conference center spire, the waterfall, the center of temple square and the new city creek project all share a common axis.  Someone was thinking.

The fall leaves around the conference center.

Here is a shot of another famous building in Salt Lake.  The McCune Mansion was built in 1900.  Since then it has been beautifully restored.  Now the McCune Mansion hosts weddings, anniversaries, retreats and other events.  Some day I need to go in and have a look.   This shot is an HDR from the top of the conference center. 

Temple square is always beautiful, but since there are not many visitors between October conference and when the lights are turned on, most people miss the fall leaves.   All of the flower beds are torn up and replaced with winter flowers and bulbs. They have been working on the Christmas lights for several weeks, but now the real work begins.   The workers are out in force right now stringing up the lights.  It won't be long now and Christmas will be upon us. 

The Regent is coming along nicely.  This building will be a 20 story residential building.  It looks like they have about 5 stories to go.  If you look at the web site you get the impression that this building is going to be a bit upscale.

Ok, here is an easy trivia question for you.  Does anyone know how lives in the apartment on the top floor?  The one with the green windows.   Green windows mmmm....... bullet proof glass???? Would it help to know the address?  That would make it too easy.

City Creek continues to rise out of the ground.  Here is a shot of the cranes looking west from State Street.

The other day as I wandered around the city I passed the Salt Palace.  I don't remember the last time that I walked in that building.  The entrance is kind of cool.  No fancy Photoshop here.  I just walked in and snapped a picture.

Last Saturday I went up Farmington canyon to see if I could get some better pictures of the fall leaves.  The colors still are not in full splendor.  However, the clouds and the light were pretty cool.  This is an HDR looking west out of Farmington Canyon toward the lake. 

This is an HDR of the new city creek residential high rise on the corner of South Temple and West Temple.   It has been fun to watch this building grow out of the ground over the last year.  I think the whole city creek project will be a fantastic addition to downtown SLC.  I look forward to it being completed.  My hope is that downtown businesses surrounding the city creek project will come back when the project is done.  There are a large number of empty store fronts right now.  It makes the city feel deserted and run down.

If you have never been on Temple square when the sun is coming up, you need to take the opportunity.  It is calm, peaceful and beautiful.  The amazing thing is when the sunrise hits the temple.  This picture is of one of the water features just east of the temple.  The lights in the water give it a surreal feeling.

No, this is not upside down.  I walked by the reflection pool the other morning on the way to work and it was perfectly calm.  I was glad that I had my camera with me.

This was kind of a fun shot. I went out on the fire escape and took a panorama looking north. You can see all the way out to the airport and up to city creek canyon. I don't do a lot of panoramas because they are hard to look at on the computer screen and they take up lots of disk space. I had to chop this one down quite a bit to get it to upload to blogger.

One more shot of the inside of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. This is a picture of the column capital on the second floor. The craftsmaship is amazing.

It is a challenge to find a time when the reflecting pool in front of the Salt Lake temple is completely still. Early in the morning it is calm and peaceful on the plaza. No kissing, no fighting, no weddings. The panhandlers aren't even out yet. It is my favorite time of day on the square.

This shot is of a fountain on Temple Square. It was taken just as the sun was coming up. The square is beautiful and peaceful at that time of day.

Yes, you are right. This is the most famous picture spot in Salt Lake. Yes, it has been overdone. Well, this is my blog and I get to choose, so you have to put up with a few common photos. I just thought the clouds and the colors really looked nice.

The lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building is amazing! The one feature that really catches my eye is the ceiling with the chandelier. I tried my best to get a good HDR of this, but even after two trips over there I am still not happy with the result. I decided just to post what I had and maybe, as I get more experience with both the camera and the software, I can go back and try again.

Before we leave the O.C. Tanner building I thought I ought to give you one more picture of the stairs.

Fall is in the air. We had our first frost on October 2nd. The garden is done and the leaves are turning. We even got a skiff of snow in the mountains.

I am posting this picture out of obligation. Anyone who says they are taking pictures of downtown Salt Lake City and doesn't post a few pictures of Temple Square is certainly violating some law or city code of some kind. I'm sure the temple is the most photographed item in the city, but this statue would certainly be in the top 10. . There is a long standing joke about this statue. If you have ever been on this corner you will notice that Brother Brigham is facing Zion's bank. So, he has his hand out to the bank and his back to the temple.

If you want to see something amazing, you need to stop by the newly remodeled O.C. Tanner building in downtown Salt Lake (15 S. State Street). They just completed a $24 million renovation of the building. Incredible! . Here is a quote from the Sept 5th Deseret News by Carma Wadley. The interior of the building is graced by a spiral staircase made of limestone. The inside of the staircase is highlighted with a Flora Cascade chandelier, done by London's Sharon Marston and made up of 4,000 strands of end-emitting fiber optics with more than 14,000 hand-folded shapes in white polymer and steel interwoven in. Plus, there are some 3,000 hand-blown glass leaves in gold and amber tones. The 26.4-foot-high chandelier weighs 243 pounds, a definite showpiece. . Getting a picture of the entire chandelier was almost impossible. I didn't feel comfortable setting up a tripod in the middle of the jewelry store at lunch time so I rested the camera on the 3rd floor railing and did a 5 shot stitc