We are encased in a world of light and cloud

January 17, 2009 8:21 PM

Photos of shadows in the clouds over Austin. via bldgblog
posted by signal (23 comments total)

That's my favorite building here in Austin. It looks like it could shoot down an alien spacecraft.
posted by Nattie at 8:32 PM on January 17, 2009

Very cool!
posted by DiscourseMarker at 8:32 PM on January 17, 2009

Interesting phenomenon, brilliant photos!!
posted by ninazer0 at 8:41 PM on January 17, 2009

That's fantastic. I'll see those buildings in a whole new light (no pun intended) from now on.
posted by immlass at 8:49 PM on January 17, 2009

Cool pix, but needs more spell-checking!
posted by subgear at 8:58 PM on January 17, 2009

Wow, thanks. I miss Austin now.
posted by littlerobothead at 9:12 PM on January 17, 2009

The ninth one is just spooky.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:15 PM on January 17, 2009

Hooray light pollution!
posted by Big_B at 9:16 PM on January 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

The ninth one is actually the Bat Signal.
posted by twoleftfeet at 9:40 PM on January 17, 2009

These make me feel like I'm about to start falling upwards.
posted by tepidmonkey at 10:11 PM on January 17, 2009

The Frost Tower down on Congress Ave.

Many a photography student's choice here in Austin
posted by Zangal at 11:03 PM on January 17, 2009

Yes thanks and I miss Austin now too. Sigh. Unfortunately, the Austin I miss is gone, gone, gone.

(But I will be there in early March if anyone from the AustinFilter side of the site is thinking *meetup*!)
posted by fourcheesemac at 2:56 AM on January 18, 2009

From any corner Frost Tower looks like an owl's face. As if it didn't loom ominously enough already.
posted by Roman Graves at 3:43 AM on January 18, 2009

light pollution.

pah. I like it.
posted by krautland at 6:30 AM on January 18, 2009

The things in the clouds are interesting, but the photos mostly make Austin look about 300% uglier than it is. I blame the Frost tower for 200% of that.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:33 AM on January 18, 2009

Roman Graves: that's because a Rice architecture alum built it. It makes me smile every time I go by it.
posted by immlass at 9:08 AM on January 18, 2009

If Austin weren't throwing so much light energy up into the sky,
(a) they'd be able to see the stars when it isn't cloudy;
(b) they'd reduce their energy consumption by an order of magnitude.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:51 AM on January 18, 2009

immlass: who are you referring to? Neither Duda, Paine or Tom Stacy is a Rice grad as far as I can tell.
posted by phoffmann at 10:49 AM on January 18, 2009

Those are really cool shots. They remind me of a giant concert in downtown Houston in 1986 with a laser light and fireworks show called Rendez-vous. The clouds were, of course, a serendipitous coincidence. I can't remember much about the music but the light show with fireworks and lasers shooting from the tops of skyscrapers into the sky and reflecting off of the clouds was an awesome sight.
posted by mrducts at 11:04 AM on January 18, 2009

I've always wanted to capture that in a photo...especially the bizarre "clock face" lights that show up near the stadium at UT.
posted by blixco at 11:51 AM on January 18, 2009

Oh, number nine is delightfully creepy.

The one of the Capitol(??) building (#11) makes the building appear as though it's a scale miniature being photographed in a low-lit room.
posted by chronic sublime at 3:03 PM on January 18, 2009

Nice.
posted by carter at 4:23 PM on January 18, 2009

Phoffman: That's the conspiracy theory version.
posted by immlass at 2:42 PM on January 19, 2009