Photo Essay: To Infinity And Beyond

In addition to our dining expedition in Houston, Texas, a trip to the Space Center was in order. Well, mostly because the Urb wanted to. As a traveler, hitting up popular attractions once in a while doesn’t make your travel experiences any less authentic unless you let it by letting those attractions become the single story of the place.

As a photographer, finding new angles and ways of photographing those popular spots remains an ongoing challenge.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the Space Center.

With the mandatory astronaut shot now out of the way….

There’s a certain reverence this picture evokes with the image of the flag above the lit up spaceship component/capsule/gadget. It almost forces visitors to respect it without fully understanding what it is.

According to the guide, one of those longhorns owned by NASA is apparently worth $500,000. As in half a million dollars. Since NASA operates with gazillions and bazillions of dollars, owning $500,000 a piece cattle makes sense.

One of the engineers working the weekend shift with a bag of half-eaten Rold Gold pretzels by his side. This scene told me that getting out of that chair needed to be kept to a minimum while monitoring the space station.

More interesting than the space engine spare parts we were looking at was the look of admiration and pride on this woman’s face. The backstory? I overheard her telling a friend that her son had worked on one of the engine parts.

The distorted wide angle view of this shot belies the fact that the shuttle behind the man is a real life-sized replica of what you see regularly launched off at Cape Canaveral, Florida

This shot took me back to a scene from the Wizard of Oz when the curtains were drawn and the wizard looked startled in front of his contraptions and controls.

Used available  artificial light to light up this shot giving it its space-age, theatrical  feel. Flash should always be your last resort and leveraging any available light will give your photos a more natural composition.

Getting ready to bite into a $4.00 freeze-dried ice cream sandwich bar and wondering why I paid $4.00 for it in the first place.

And the super-private Urb makes a slight appearance, albeit mysteriously behind sunglasses.

~ by geotraveler on November 18, 2009.

Posted in General, North America, Photography, United States
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20 Responses to “Photo Essay: To Infinity And Beyond”

  1. Love the smile on the woman’s face, such pride.

    angryredhead said this on November 18, 2009 at 8:37 pm | Reply

  2. I feel as though I just had a tour! Thanks — and it was fun to see super private URB (my guy is too!).

    Lyn said this on November 18, 2009 at 8:52 pm | Reply

  3. I love these! Especially the one with the unconcerned longhorns. Very ‘what’s all the fuss about’ kind of a pic. Also love that you placed it in between two tech based photos.

    neha said this on November 18, 2009 at 10:11 pm | Reply

  4. Fave photo is of you and the Urb, of course, but the one of you eating the freeze dried ice cream took me back to some elementary school class trip to a museum. Thanks for the memory!

    Julie said this on November 19, 2009 at 6:21 am | Reply

  5. Love these, Lola. Especially the wizard-of-oz and flag-above-spaceship-thingy!

    Nick said this on November 19, 2009 at 9:56 am | Reply

  6. After all this what I am most struck by is the $500,000 dollar cow. Seriously? :)

    http://www.theprettyproject.com

    Pretty Project said this on November 19, 2009 at 3:02 pm | Reply

  7. Some great pix! I like the longhorns the best because its so unexpected.

    Fly Girl said this on November 19, 2009 at 4:45 pm | Reply

  8. Great photos! Thanks for sharing them! If memory serves me right from my tour in Fla, that “spaceship component/capsule/gadget” under the flag is a shuttle engine. But don’t quote me! :-)

    Eric Skaggs said this on November 19, 2009 at 4:52 pm | Reply

  9. A half-million dollar steer at NASA? Who knew. Nice photos.

    slamdunk said this on November 19, 2009 at 5:30 pm | Reply

  10. All about astronot! cool. .

    lambang said this on November 19, 2009 at 10:21 pm | Reply

  11. these are some amaizing pictures. I had a great time looking at your photos

    SexyPolitico said this on November 20, 2009 at 12:48 am | Reply

  12. Nice pics. Thank You for sharing them :)

    kukee said this on November 20, 2009 at 11:16 am | Reply

  13. [...] Lola Akinmade shares her favorite shots from the Space Center in Houston. [...]

    Recent Reads: Space Center Houston, Asian Street Stalls, and Thoughts on Bangkok – Travel Blissful | Travel Blissful said this on November 20, 2009 at 3:47 pm | Reply

  14. Terrific pics. I agree with you that more popular attractions can sometimes be as authentic. These shots are shot with a fresh eye.

    Nancy said this on November 22, 2009 at 9:15 pm | Reply

  15. Hi Lola,

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    Joy Petaway said this on November 23, 2009 at 2:38 am | Reply

  16. I loved Toy Story….

    Nomadic Matt said this on November 23, 2009 at 4:44 am | Reply

  17. Unsurprisingly, I love your photos. They are gorgeous. I just got back from a trip that I struggled with all the low-light handheld pictures I had to take in museums much like your photos here. Do you share any technical tips on how to accomplish this or perhaps even just some of the EXIF data associated with these photos? I would appreciate the opportunity to learn more.

    Thanks!

    Alanna said this on November 23, 2009 at 6:06 am | Reply

  18. @Everyone – Thanks for your comments!

    geotraveler said this on November 23, 2009 at 5:43 pm | Reply

  19. Hi Lola, great pics from what I would probably normally consider *yawn* boring material! But they’re so interesting, and especially with your great captions. 500K cows??

    Carlo said this on November 26, 2009 at 10:21 am | Reply

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