A friend (Angelique Naylor) shot this from a kayak on Lady Bird Lake. Captures a lot of the buildings and the reflection of some of their colorful tops. Our building (the 360 Condos) is left of center with the spire to the left. The very tall one left of that is the Independent and the very tall one nearer and on the right is the Austonian.

Streetscape

It's the first of the month so it's Theme Day at City Daily Photo. Our assignments this year are to show elements of our city. This month it's a streetscape. Something typical or unusual or just something we like along a street. We chose this one. The owl is one of a pair in front of the new Proper Hotel and Condominiums. The view is looking west from the bridge over Shoal Creek on Second Street. The photographer shown is FFP. One can see the Austonian and the Ashton in the distance. The construction on the right will be an office people housing more Google employees. Across the street from that is the Northshore. I bet some pictures of the Butterfly Bridge show up here eventually from FFP's viewpoint! To see what other participating cities posted for Streetscape, click here.

Sunset from the Heights

Shot this on the 55th floor of the Austonian. Sun was setting. Visible landmarks: center near bottom is the excavation for the Trammel Crow project between Shoal Creek and San Antonio on Cesar Chavez; near foreground to the right is the W hotel and condos; behind the W you see the 360, our building. Seeing the W and the 360 look so small makes you realize how high this is!

A Different View...Soon to be Lost

I shot this from Brazos street with the construction for the Marriott Hotel in the foreground. When it rises this particular perspective with be obliterated. From left to right: 100 Congress, the Ashton, the Austonian, the W Hotel and Residences and looking small because it's furthest away (it's really taller than any but the Austonian) is the 360 Condominiums (our home).

Sunset Light

We were walking across the pedestrian bridge at Mopac the other day as the sun sank low. It made a particularly interesting reflection on, from left to right, Frost Bank, Spring, the 360, the W and the Austonian. No enhancements, just a cropped point and shoot photo.

Night in the City

Not a great picture, but I shot it with a Nikon S630 Point and Shoot from a moving boat so...all things considered...I like it.

Another Man's View

We went to a party at the W Residences. Here's Forrest with the master bedroom view behind him.

Edges in the Sky

I like how the Austonian (tallest building in Austin) appears to erupt through 1 and 100 Congress in this picture taken from Cesar Chavez. Today is theme day at City Daily Photo. The theme is edges. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

My Closeup, Please

This is the Austonian from the Colorado Street Side. It may not be the most beautiful building in Austin, but it is the tallest.

Splitting the Skyline

City Hall's spike seems to pierce the completed Austonian in this iPhone picture I shot the other day. See a different angle here, pointing to the W.

New Faces in Downtown

The W Hotel in the foreground will be open soon. The Austonian Condos in the background is open to residents and has a bee hive of activity to open restaurants and bars by Chef David Bull. FFP took this with the bulk of the W in the foreground and the skyline-dominating Austonian in the background.

One Congress Plaza From Above

Took this from the 56th floor of the Austonian. One Congress Plaza looks very odd from here, tall and thin, because it stretches out away from us. See here.

Pilates with a View

If you were moving into the Austonian (which some folks are doing this month I understand) you could do pilates while looking out over east Austin from the 56th Floor. Took this during the Women's Symphony League event last month.

Capitol View

From the south end of the Austonian Pool deck you have a straight shot at the Capitol. Buildings all over town are shortened or stepped down so that Capitol view corridors are available to remind us that we live in the Capital City. Enlarge for a better view.

The View

OK, one more from the Austonian. Only this one was taken from the south unit on the 11th floor that was decorated for the Women's Symphony League show house. As you can see the view from the balcony includes the office building One Congress Avenue and the luxury apartments, the Ashton. Oh, and a sliver of Lady Bird Lake. That's a lot different than the view from the 33rd floor shown here where you are looking down on the office building.

Makes Us Look Small

This is the view looking west from the 56th Floor of the Austonian. The nearest tall building (the not yet finished but topped out W Hotel and Condos) is 36 stories. Our home, the 360 Condominiums, is beyond that at 44 stories. I'll stop for now and go back to minutia on the ground. The skyline has changed so much in the last two or three years.

It's Windy at the High Rise

We attended the opening party for the Women's Symphony League Showhouse last night. It was at the Austonian which is the tallest building in Austin. These lovelies were offering up some food on the 10th floor pool deck. They are learning how windy it can be on the 10th floor but doing an admirable job of keeping the tablecloth and their hairdos intact.

Rally View

City Hall Plaza is the place where lots of rallies and concerts occur. This view, looking east across the plaza during the rally against hate on Saturday, shows buildings we are familiar with from other pictures. The Austonian and Ashton are nearer and dominate the view. The Frost Bank tower barely seems to poke up its head, but it looks tall from other angles as we know.The limestone blocks people are sitting on are both decoration and barriers for security.

Upward bound

I was walking back from errands Tuesday morning and had my camera on me, so I shot this photo of our neighborhood. (I was about a half block north of our home, the 360.) In the foreground, you see big equipment for the site work on the new federal courthouse. The building in the middle with two cranes poking out of it is the W Hotel, which is just about topped out. The tall building to the left is the Austonian (56 stories), which will be ready for move in around mid-2010. We'll be glad when we get a lot of new neighbors in these buildings.

We Don't Get Tired of the Sun Going 'Round

I guess there is no statutory limit on how many sunset (and sunrise) pictures we run. This is a sunset reflected in the clouds and buildings looking east a few days ago. FFP captured it for the few moments that it appeared this way. Picture not retouched or altered. Notice that the top of the Austonian is nearly glassed in. (Yesterday a lot of it was invisible in the clouds for part of the day.)