Intersection Overkill, Austin, TX (big pics!)

[priller]

In Austin they're building this huge intersection, 5 levels high. It's way up in the NW corner of the city, where 7 or 8 years ago this intersection barely needed a traffic light. Its crazy. I started calling it "Intersection Overkill" because it seems like they just went nuts on it.

Anyway, yesterday I spent a lot of time looking at pictures by Paul Strand, who did a lot of somewhat abstract images, and it inspired me to go out and try to do something along those lines. And I thought all the unfinished bridges at this intersection might be a good subject for that.

So here are a few of them:
















And here's what the actual intersection looks like, in a plain shot:

[Boo_Radley]

1. Goodness gracious

That's nuts. It's like they're intentionally trying to make it complex, expensive and dangerous.

[priller]

19. I finally got a good explanation for this

You can't tell from this picture, but there are a lot of buildings quite close to this intersection. A friend of mine told me that they had to design this intersection in such a crammed fashion because there was simply no room to spread out. So they had to stack the ramps on top of each other. Makes sense to me.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Are you telling me that Texas, too,

has "bridges to nowhere"?

[FM Arouet666]

3. Great Shots

I like the inclusion of the last photo, just an ordinary overpass in construction, transformed into an austere monument to engineering madness. Black and white is key, highlighting the form, and I love the lighting as well.

[priller]

9. Yes, concentrating on form

Part of that whole "thinking in black & white" thing I've read about.

I've noticed that when I sit down at the computer and look at my pictures, I tend to concentrate on the detail, rather than overall shapes. You know, is it nice and sharp, is DOF what I wanted, do the levels need tweaking, etc, etc. But then I look at pictures that I've printed, or pictures from other photographers that I like, the ones on the wall that really jump out at me are the ones with strong forms and shapes.

(I guess this shouldn't be surprising to me. I read long ago, when the Apple engineers were designing the original Mac, their research showed that people remember shapes much more readily than details. So they decided against the "rows of square buttons with pictures in them" approach, and decided to emphasize shape for their icons. In the old days, applications were kind of diamond shaped, documents were rectangular, etc.)

So that got me thinking that I need to concentrate more on form, and I figured doing sort of abstract shapes is probably the easiest way to start.

Not to abandon the details, mind you. This is a photo I have on the wall from Elliott Erwitt, who I really like.




Even though there is lots of detail, and humorous detail at that, yet the photo still jumps out and grabs me from the wall. You see the black lines before you get close and make out what they really are.

Interesting to think about. Makes me wish I had *some* art background.

[bvar22]

4. Good job.

I really like these, especially #2.


I am tempted to photoshop bush* onto this cross with a caption,
"Bush* died for your Sins!"
You could add the Lesser thieves Tom Delay and Dick Cheney to the other lesser crosses.

[priller]

5. Glad you picked up on the crucifixion idea here

I have to admit it didn't occur to me. But now that you mention it, it really jumps out at me. Many paintings of the crucifixion, or of Golgotha, with the 3 crosses.

[Ms. Toad]

6. The second and fourth

are really spectacular!

We had fantastic lighting today along the drive home but, alas, no camera with me.

[GOPFighter]

7. I like #5. Very dark, foreboding!

Which is exactly how I would feel as I approached the intersection!

[DS1]

8. Stock photo worthy

[priller]

10. Thanks for all the kind words

It really means a lot. Thanks!!!

[lakemonster11]

11. Cool pictures.

Are you using a red filter to darken the sky?

[priller]

13. I did the "channel mixer" method in Photoshop

It seems like a lot of people use PaintShop Pro, so this explanation may not make sense. But the channel mixer is a good way to convert to b&w, because it lets you choose how much from each R,G,B color channel you want.

When I first tried the channel mixer in its default mode (which uses the red slider at 100% -- similar effect to a red filter), the sky looked great but the bridge structures generally did not. That's because they had some red in them, and they ended up being too bright. So I selected the sky, did the channel mixer with mostly red, then inverted the selection to get the bridges and such, then did channel mixer again with mostly blue. That kept the nice sky and kept the structures darker, so they had had contrast with the sky.

[Blue_In_AK]

15. PaintShopPro X has the channel mixer, too. n/t

[priller]

16. Okay, good to know.

:thumbsup:

[CC]

12. Great pics.

Love the angles, curves, textures and the sky was a great backdrop.

[alkaline9]

14. All very nice!

I like 2 a lot. 3 is awesome. But 5 is amazing!

Thanks for sharing... every photo I see on here makes me want to go out and find my own overpass under construction!

[F.Gordon]

17. I need to pay attention

Excellent work. You certainly had the clouds cooperating with you and I love your B&W oconverion. Have no idea who Paul Strand is but I guess I could google him. I usually don't look much at others pixies... I just want to do my own thing... suck at what I do all by my lonesome.

[priller]

18. Paul Strand, a few examples:

New York City Hall Park:




Town Hall:




Ranchos de Taos Church:



Burying Ground, Vermont:




Ranchos de Taos Church, detail:




Blind:




Young Boy, Gandeville, Charente, France:

[Maestro]

20. Great shots!

3 1/2 hours up the road in Dallas we can match that. I prefer to use 281 now when travelling to Austin and San Antonio.