12 replies to this topic

[John T Roberts]

I originally posted this thread as a celebration on my 1000th post (since that board started recounting again) on the Skyscraperpage Forum. It has also been posted on the Skyscrapercity Forum, as well. Several of these have been posted here before, while others are being posted for the first time. I would appreciate some comments, so let me know what you think.

On Valentine's Day 2004, we were treated to a beautiful snowfall. I took this picture of my house in the snow.


In December, I took these skyline shots of Dallas.




Fort Worth:




I also went back to my favorite hilltop to shoot both skylines at once. For the first time, I used a digital camera to shoot this image. Dallas is on the left and about 45 miles away and Fort Worth is on the right, about 14 miles away.


The historic Montgomery Ward Retail Store/Warehouse (1928).


Two major downtown Fort Worth projects opened this year, the 20 story Pier 1 Place and the 1 million square foot RadioShack Riverfront Campus.

Pier 1 Place at night with reflection:


Pier 1 Place from a slightly different vantage point.


RadioShack Riverfront Campus Entry at night:


RadioShack's Fountains:




Parts of downtown at night:




Looking down Main Street to the Tarrant County Courhouse:


I had the opportunity to go inside the Tarrant County Courthouse and take some interior photographs. The building is modeled after the Texas State Capitol Building and is even clad in granite from the same quarry. Fort Worth's Courthouse was one of the first steel buildings built in the city, using the granite as just a veneer. It is 194 feet high, and for many years was the tallest buildings. It opened in 1895. Some people have asked me if it had a rotunda in the center. The answer is yes, but it is very different than most. It has an elliptical rotunda, and is the only building that I know of that does. The building is very difficult to photograph, but I did my best.

First floor looking to the side and partially up the rotunda:


Looking directly up into the dome:


During the summer, I had a chance to tour the W.T. Waggoner Building, which was a former bank and I took these photographs.






Now moving along to the less beautiful parts of the city. I shot this picture a few days ago along the railroad tracks and near the grain elevators. All of the remaining shots were taken on the city's South Side.


Finally, I have some abandoned buildings.


These two are next door to each other:

[JBB]

I saw this post over on the other forum, but since I'm not registered over there, I never had the chance to comment. Fantastic shots! I really love the second pic of the Dallas skyline and the FW pic taken from Pier 1.

[Sam Stone]

Great pictures, John. What building is that on Henderson? It's very beautiful despite its condition.

[John T Roberts]

John, are all of your pictures taken with a digital camera? If so, what are you using? Even if not, what are you using? If it's auto-everything (digital or not), do you find you have to fiddle with settings for certain situations?


Also, I forgot to mention earlier: I like the shot of your house. When was it built?

Donnie,
All of my current pictures are taken with a digital camera. Some of the oldest photos on the site were taken with a 24 year old Canon AE1 Program SLR. For the last two years, I have been using an Olympus C-4040 digital camera. It allows for the user to control the aperature and shutter speed. Even though it took great photographs, the controls were hard to operate and I was still used to the feel and controls of an SLR camera. The controls required you to look at the LED display. This year, I upgraded to a Nikon D70 Digital SLR and I really love it. I can shoot fully automatic or fully manual and all of the controls are on easy buttons on the camera which can be operated by the fingers while looking through the viewfinder. As for fiddling with the settings, I mix it up. If I'm in a hurry, I set everything to automatic, and don't worry about it. When I wish to control depth of field, trying to be more creative, or shooting water, then I use manual settings. When I'm doing the night shots, I always fiddle with the settings.

My home was built in 1929. It has a lot of character and I really like it.

[mosteijn]

These are just absolutely stunning! I especially like the shot of your house, I would love to get a place like that someday (although my ultimate dream would be to live in something vertical downtown...)

[John T Roberts]

Thanks, Jonny. I really like the character of these old 1920's houses on the South Side. I need to dig up a shot of it when everything is green. The bushes that somewhat hide the porch were half dead when that photograph was taken in February. I have since replaced them with new ones of like kind of the living half of the hedge, but they are short and the porch looks naked with the short bushes.

[Bill Sievers]

Love those pictures John! Your housr BTW has a lot of "character"! Reminds me of a lot of places around the TCU area.

Do you by chance have any shots of the old store front on Jennings? I'm not sure of the name of it, but I remember it was supposedly declared a historical landmark a number of years ago. Over the sidewalk I remember it had a canopy along the entire front of the building. I bought my first new amateur radio transmitter from Amateur Electronics, Inc., located at 215 So. Jennings in that building in September of 1963.

Thanks!

Bill

[Bill Sievers]

Well I found the picture of the building on South Jennings I referred to in my previous post. It's the Bicocchi Bldg., and the picture on John Robert's Fort Worth Architecture page where I found it, shows the scene looking directly into the southwest corner of the bldg. where the amateur radio store was located. Brings back a lot of memories. Great picture of that building John!

Bill

[John T Roberts]

Thanks, Bill. I was going to respond that I thought it was the Bicocchi Building, but somehow I didn't do it. I apologize.