A trip to Butler University's Holcomb Planetarium and Observatory this week made for great picture-taking, and it would have been a lot better ... if it had not been for dense clouds in the night sky.
Members of the Indy Meetup Photo Club paid a visit there Thursday as a group outing, and we enjoyed an entertaining show indoors with the slide show and constellation projector. But when we were ready to climb to the mirror telescope to look at the real sky and attach our cameras to the 'scope to take some pictures, the guide gave us the bad news about the cloud cover. Maybe for another day.
But the night didn't end for me there. The temperature was a wonderful balm, so I roamed a small portion of the campus to grab some night shots I found interesting. Most of those were taken in and around the south mall, which is fronted by three stalwart buildings -- Irwin library on the east, and Atherton Union and Jordan Hall on the west. ResCo, one of the newer residence halls, also fronts the mall, just south of the library.
When I was done there, I drove a few blocks north to Hinkle Fieldhouse (lead-off picture) to capture some after-dark shots of a place I've visited a dozen times or so in the past four years to see the Butler Bulldogs play basketball.
These shots are from that shoot.
Above: A nice backlit shadow magnification effect, not to mention leading lines, in a bench scene in the south mall of Butler University.
Above: The northwest end of Irwin Library, juxtaposed with landscaping that fronts the south mall.
Above: A couple silhoutted by the warm light along Atherton Union on the south mall's west side.
Above: Atherton Union, looking southwest in the south mall.
Above: I always try to manage at least one prone shot in a shoot. This was that night's shot, looking south toward the Phi Delta Theta fraternity on the west pedestrian path of the south mall.
Above: A bench outside Holcomb Planetarium and Observatory.
Above: A nicely illuminated tree toward the northwest end, near Jordan Hall, of the south mall.
Above: The planetarium projector.
Above: Jupiter's red "eye," as captured from the planetarium slide show.
Above: The mirror telescope in the observatory is massive, and I included a picture-taking IMUPC member in the bottom left corner to offer some perspective. The telescope, along with the lines in the observatory dome and the telescope's shadow, also present some interesting shapes and lines composition.
Above: IMUPC member Bob Coleman inspecting the mirror inside the telescope. The staff opened the scope portal, introducing some luscious twilight sky to add some sweet blue color to this image.
Above: When it was my turn to climb the short stairs to inspect the telescope's mirror, I wanted to see if truly was a mirror in the classic sense. Sure enough; that's my camera and those are my hands holding it on the right as I took this picture of the mirror.
Above: IMUPC member Phil Taylor tries out the adaptor that connected his camera to the new picture-taking telescope that staff brought downstairs to show us, even though we couldn't use it because of the dense clouds.
Excellent! I was fearful the night may have been a wash since there was such a heavy cloud cover...but looks like you took full advantage of the event and the evening. Butler is indeed a beautiful campus...and right here in the city. I especially liked the bench with the backlit shadow magnification effect and the leading lines. A lot of philosophical writing could come from that one picture.
ReplyDeleteI was amazed, too, at how well your photos turned out that were taken inside the planetarium. As always...I'm a huge fan!!!!!