Houston, Texas – University of Houston (HDR)

From the University of Houston…this is the Light Sculpture called “A, A” located at MD Anderson Library.   So very cool!  We were just in Houston for a quick stop over last weekend and I only had time for one shot, this was my target.  We pulled in on a Friday nite and students were walking around enjoying the beautiful 80 degree evening.   I had no worries about them as it was dark and I knew my exposures would be long enough not to include them in the shots.   I had seen a photo of the sculpture in a magazine and noted it for my next visit.  The U of H is about 10 minutes form downtown and easy to get to!  Parking is somewhat fun as it is a major college…especially a Friday nite…we ended up taking some reserved spot…as I only needed 20 minutes of photo time.  Luckily we received no summons! Ah to be a rebel!  LOL

I basically know nothing about U of H or this spot…so here is some info from the web:  The A,A is a sculpture by artist Jim Sanborn located at the University of Houston.

The A,A is located outside the University of Houston’s M. D. Anderson Library. Completed in 2004, it was installed on campus at a reported cost of $240,000. The work of art took the sculptor a year to complete. The A,A is composed of portions of poems, novels, and prose from a number of different languages from different parts of the world. Some languages included on the art includes Arabic, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese. At night, a built-in light projector casts light through the sculpture. This causes the effect of illuminating the sculpture’s text onto the outside of the library’s walls.

In addition to the sculpture in front of the Anderson Library, there are two additions from Sanborn within the library. These include a 24-ft.-long bronze scroll detailing the history of papermaking that hang from the ceiling of the first floor and bronze panels along some of the guardrails containing portions of poems and other literature.

Talke Photography Settings:

Camera:  Nikon D300

Lens: Nikon 12-14 f/4

Setting: Aperture  Mode

Focal Length: 14.0mm

ISO: 200

Exposure:  HDR 5 exposures (+2 to -2)

Aperture:  f/11

Gear:  Tripod

Post Process: Adobe CS4, HDR Efex Pro