Downtown noir

Photo_doug goes all noir on downtown Houston, making it seem like the set of a 1940's gumshoe mystery.



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My name is Smith

Photo_doug added this great picture of 1400 Smith Street looming over the Smith Street pedestrian ring.


You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome!

Downtown at Night

Telwink brings us this unusual view of Houston. It's downtown.. at night.. from what appears to be either the old Sheriff's building, or maybe one of the new lofts north of the bayou. Either way, it's a great clear shot.

Swooosh!

Swooosh!, originally uploaded by bill barfield.

The clouds rush by above while the traffic rushes by below. This great shot of the Southwest Freeway trench is brought to us by HAIF pool member bill barfield.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome!

sonic cell phone

sonic drive-up, originally uploaded by S. J. Alexander.

Again, a cell phone camera does a great job of catching the riot of colors at this Sonic drive-through. The noise in the photo just adds to the grittiness of the scene.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

Green Chevron

chevron, originally uploaded by S. J. Alexander.

Your eyes can't see it, but your mind knows it's there -- the sickly green glow from beneath the canopy at the gas station.

A photography professor would reject this picture because the white balance is off. But without the greening of the scene, it simply wouldn't work. It conveys that 2am feeling in your stomach when you're hungry, salty, and just need enough gas to get home.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

texas children's hospital

texas children's hospital, originally uploaded by S. J. Alexander.

We've seen a lot of good cell phone photographs lately, and this is certainly one of them.

Just because you don't have a professional camera doesn't mean you shouldn't be out there shooting and capturing the world around you, like S.J. Alexander did. This picture of the Texas Medical Center was captured on his cell phone.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

round

round, originally uploaded by S. J. Alexander.

Objects that are the opposite of round for a round object in this photo from S.J. Alexander.

Looming Luminosity

img250, originally uploaded by S. J. Alexander.

The mall looks almost menacing in this shot by S.J. Alexander.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

Sunset- Houston

Sunset- Houston, originally uploaded by I-SEEN-IT.

A bulging water tower stands silently as the sun slips below the horizon in I-SEEN-IT's shot from the University of Houston-Downtown.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

The curve of Buffalo Bayou is captured in this image from telwink.  The vertical elements of both the stairwell and the downtown skyline enhance the sinuousness of the water's flow.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

Telwink brings us this unusual view of downtown Houston from across the bayou.  It's not a view you see very often, but one that I'd like to see more of.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

Hermann Planet

Hermann Planet, originally uploaded by I-SEEN-IT.

I-SEEN-IT sees things differently than the rest of us in Hermann Park. A great shot shows that there's still lots of creativity left in modern photography.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

Getting out of town

More Phun With PhotoShop, originally uploaded by bilbao58.

I-45 north of downtown never looked so good as in this shot from Bilbao58. The problem is the cars are going the wrong way. With a skyline as good looking as that one, they should be headed into town.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

Sky

Sky, originally uploaded by bilbao58.

Another great mixture of glass and sky. Not one to let a few clouds get in the way, bilbao58 shows us how to make lemonade out of lemons.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

Early Evening Light

Early Evening Light, originally uploaded by bilbao58.

Bilbao58 captures the length of the downtown skyline, but frames it so that it's easy to imagine that Houston's skyscrapers go on and on.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

"No, I think it's this way..."

"No, I think it's this way...", originally uploaded by bilbao58.

Timing is everything, and leave it to bilbao58 to capture the moment when the tourists are pointing one way and Sam is pointing another. Great job!

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

City Flag

City Flag, originally uploaded by I-SEEN-IT.

Proper use of white space (or in this case "blue space") can completely transform a photograph. Cropping is sometimes as much an art as shooting the picture in the first place. I-SEEN-IT demonstrates this well in this photo from the HAIF Flickr pool.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

Modern hitching post

This building is next door to yesterday's HAIF Photo of the Day selection, and again it's one that I had daydreams about when I lived nearby.

I don't know its history, but I always imagined it was some kind of a saloon or feed store in days gone by and that junker repair shop in the back was a blacksmith's shop back when people in Texas still got around on horses.  It didn't take much for my Yankee imagination to imagine all kinds of Lone Star lore that could have come from what is now a run-down check cashing place.

Thanks again to telwink for capturing another one of the places in Houston I never realized had such an impact on me.

The demise of deco

This was one of the buildings that fascinated me most when I moved to Houston.  I lived around the corner and would drive past it several times a day.  Across the street was a run down dive bar, and there was always a roach coach next door.  

I always imagined that some day it could be HAIF world headquarters are something equally stupid.  But nothing became of my plans, or anyone else's apparently.

After a couple of years of lingering interest, one day the windows were boarded up, and a fence sprung up around the property.  My hopes were raised that maybe something would finally happen here.

That was six years ago.  And from this great picture telwink captured, it appears nothing has happened since.  Fortunately, we'll always have this picture to remember it by even if it gets torn down.  Telwink managed to capture it in a photo even better than my memory and imagination did.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

Washington Avenue

Washington Avenue, originally uploaded by bilbao58.

I'm a sucker for city scenes, and this one from bilbao58 shows us a little slice of Washington Avenue.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

Medical Center construction panorama

It took a lot of work, but telwink managed to put together a six-photo high dynamic range photograph of construction in the Texas Medical Center.  

Go see the original here.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

Opposing Sides

Opposing Sides, originally uploaded by bilbao58.

Bilbao58 looks up and notices repeating patterns. Good job catching the light so that not only is there a luminance contrast on the right side of the photo, but a hue contrast on the left.

You can add your photos to the HAIF Flickr pool, too. All are welcome.

Water Fountain-HDR

Water Fountain-HDR, originally uploaded by I-SEEN-IT.

Running water and a canopy of bamboo (?) give this scene a tropical feel. Thanks to I-SEEN-IT for adding it to the HAIF Flickr pool.

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Still Life With Freeway

Still Life With Freeway, originally uploaded by bilbao58.

Again, bilbao shows us how to use an absence of color to draw attention, much like advertisers use white space.

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All Askew

All Askew, originally uploaded by bilbao58.

Bilbao58 uses light and position to bring out more angles than are naturally in the scene. The jutting of the Hobby Center roof points toward the Bank of America Center downtown.

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The beauty of rust

Bleeding Freeway, originally uploaded by bilbao58.

Bilbao58 shows us how highlighting specific colors can turn an eyesore into a work of art. His picture Bleeding Freeway will have you looking twice when you're stuck in traffic.

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OK, everybody move in closer

Photos of individual skyscrapers are great.  But sometimes you need a grouping to really bring showcase them.  This is telwink's photo Standing Tall which shows the Wedge International building backed up by what used to be Enron and Enron II.  Great contrast between Wedge's stone and the glass shooting up from Smith Street.

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Going whole Hogg

Once again, telwink is gracing the HAIF Flickr pool with his HDR goodness.

This time it's the Hogg Palace in all of its red brick glory, with nice green accents from the nearby palm trees.

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Nothing to be Humble about

The old Humble Tower is one of the better recent examples of old downtown Houston buildings getting new life.

Thanks to telwink for managing not only to capture the building, but also the sun on a gorgeous Houston afternoon.

Gray and the grid

I've Looked At Clouds..., originally uploaded by bilbao58.

The members of the HAIF Flickr group have been very busy over the last few weeks, and they've posted some really impressive work.

This one comes from bilbao58, who takes a gloomy day and still manages to turn it into a work of art.

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M.D. Anderson Library (lobby/ study area)

M.D. Anderson Library (lobby/ study area), originally uploaded by b2tse.

For those of us who aren't students or staff, it's nice to see what things look like inside the University of Houston. This is the M.D. Anderson Library as captured by b2tse. Nice job with the dark chairs in the filtered light.

Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

Campus Recreation and Wellness Center

Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, originally uploaded by b2tse.

Another shot of the University of Houston from b2tse. This one shows the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.

Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

Moody Towers

Moody Towers, originally uploaded by b2tse.

I'm not a fan of this type of architecture, but I know a lot of HAIFers are. Usually, the better trained you are at architecture the more forms you appreciate.

These are the Moody Towers at the University of Houston, as shot by b2tse.

What's the proper term for these? Brutalist?

Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

The Social

The Social, originally uploaded by kshilcutt.

Burgers, TV, wifi, and church -- what more can you ask for from a Sunday?

Thanks to kshilcutt for capturing this slice of Houston life.

Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

Old Street Sign

Old Street Sign, originally uploaded by kshilcutt.

Houston has several styles of old street signs that survive to this day. Here we see the 1000 block of Malone, as captured by kshilcutt. The metal hanging signs they use today probably won't last as long as these mosaics, or the carved obelisks of the past.

Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

Old and New

Old and New, originally uploaded by kshilcutt.

A classic Houston shotgun shack and modern condos side-by-side.. but for how long? Kshilcutt took the picture and doesn't think it will be long before the little one gets squashed.

Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

A step back in time

Wabash, originally uploaded by kshilcutt.

There are still places in Houston where you can step back into the city's past. This is one of those places. If I'm not mistaken, it's on Washington Avenue. Kshilcutt took the picture and could probably fill in the blanks.

Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

Main and Congress

Main and Congress, originally uploaded by kshilcutt.

Ever since light rail and bricks came to Main Street, this seems like the most photographed part of Houston. Whether you think light rail was a success or a failure, the rehabilitation of a once blighted corridor is at least visually compelling.

Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

Hubcap Grille

Hubcap Grille, originally uploaded by kshilcutt.

I've driven past this place a dozen times. Has anyone ever gone in?

Thanks to kshilcutt for the picture.

Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

Royal Blue Royalton

The Royalton along Allen Parkway competes with mother nature's royal blue sky.


Another great pic from telwink.


Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

Houston Rush Hour Traffic

Houston Rush Hour Traffic, originally uploaded by fmulder21.

Seeing the traffic all piled up on one side of the Southwest Freeway during rush hour makes you wonder at the possibilities of reversible freeway lanes like they have in other cities. But with the closeness of the downtown and West Loop junctions, there's probably no way to work that out.

Thanks to fmulder21 for being at the right place at the right time.

Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

After the Storm

After the Storm, originally uploaded by bilbao58.

Bilbao58 bring us this HDR shot of D'Amico Street in upper Montrose. Very evocative. To me it looks like the deep, damp southern plantation country. To another commenter in the HAIF Flickr pool it looks like California.

Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

A big part of architectural photography is figuring out the angles and patterns. Telwink has done both with this shot of the American General building along Allen Parkway.


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Hazard St.Bridge

Hazard St.Bridge, originally uploaded by fmulder21.

Fmulder21 gives us a look at the architectural details of the Hazard Street Bridge from a vantage point that few will see.

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Hazard St Bridge

Hazard St Bridge, originally uploaded by fmulder21.

I remember the days when this was nothing but a trench full of mud and four slow lanes struggling to get through.

The renovation of this stretch of 59 was very controversial and lots of people fought hard against it. Now that it's done, it hard to imagine it any other way.

Thanks to fmulder21 for the pic.

Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.

Unusual General

An unusual view of the American General building is revealed by telwink. Though Photoshop has a lens correction feature that would straighten this out, it looks kind of cool the way it is.


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Telwink went all black-and-white for this shot of 3333 Allen Parkway. I watched this building go up when I moved to Houston. I seem to recall there was a Sears warehouse or something on the site before. I'm sure my fellow HAIFers can correct me on this.


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Unknown house with a dome

Does anyone know what building this is? Telwink did a great job capturing it and posting it on the HAIF Flickr group, but the mystery remains. All we know is that it's near West Gray.


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AIG Parkway

Telwink is at it again -- not letting light or shadow get in the way of a great photograph of a deserted Allen Parkway winding past the AIG campus.


Amateur or professional, all are welcome to join the HAIF Flickr photo group.