Stairway to Heaven

Just south of Sugar Land, TX about 20 miles as the crow flies, you’ll find the Brazos Bend State Park and the George Observatory. Nestled in just under 5000 acres of river bottomlands, the park boasts an abundance of wildlife including white-tail deer, coyotes, waterfowl and some of the biggest alligators this side of the Mississippi. All together a great spot to take some shots!

The observatory is run by the Houston Museum of Natural Science and is home to three domed telescopes. The largest is the 36-inch research telescope, one of the largest telescopes in the nation open to the public on a regular basis. The observatory also has a new 11-inch refracting telescope in another dome. The George Observatory is open to the public on Saturday evenings.

Shot taken with a Canon 40D , 17-40mm f/4L with circular polarizer at 17mm, f/13, 1/250th on SanDisk Digital Film. Cropped and rotated in Aperture 2.1 on a MacBook. It almost seems to be floating in mid-air, doesn’t it?

Here’s another view. This time more conventionally framed.

Shot taken with a Canon 40D , 17-40mm f/4L with circular polarizer at 17mm, f/11, 1/320th on SanDisk Digital Film. Cropped and enhanced in Aperture 2.1 on a MacBook.

And another image of the top of the entire dome. Now if we could just get those doors open!

Shot taken with a Canon 40D , 17-40mm f/4L with circular polarizer at 17mm, f/13, 1/250th on SanDisk Digital Film. Cropped and enhanced in Aperture 2.1 on a MacBook.