Skyline, June 2018 – Austin, Texas

In the grand scheme of things, compared to cities around the world, Austin has a modest skyline. And, this is not even the best angle. But I was down by the river last month with my photographer friend, Jim. I don’t come down here too often. My last visit was back last year in April. As expected our skyline continues to grow.

I also wanted to test the Canon G7X Mark II on tripod and even try my hand at good old fashion HDRs. The camera supports three frame bracketing, but I discovered that it doesn’t do properly timed long exposures in this mode. Strange. It turned out, however, with good dynamic range and post processing, I didn’t need HDR.

I was at my widest, which is only a 24mm equivalent. Even with my wide-angle Cinematics, it didn’t capture the entire skyline. But even this slice of downtown is telling. I titled this June 2018, since I’m sure the skyline will continue to grow. Everything left of center is new development, less than two-years-old. The tall building on the very left will be our tallest, which will be several feet taller than the current tallest on the extreme right.

Both of our tallest buildings are high-end condominiums and are the tallest all residential towers west of the Mississippi River. The Independent, on the left is 688 feet. The tower on the right is the Austonian at 683 feet. There is a rumored mix-use skyscraper planned near the center of this photo. If that is built as planned, it will rise to 850 feet.